Christ in Christian Tradition


Book Description

Examines the development of Christology and the concept of Christ and His presence through the late eighth century




Leontius of Jerusalem


Book Description

"Leontius of Jerusalem is known almost entirely for contributions to technical Christology in his Against the Nestorians. Yet his little-known and little-studied Testimonies of the Saints and Aporiae - presented here in full for the first time in a text based on the only textually-significant manuscript, and with a translation into modern English - have their own intrinsic interest. Both were addressed to a specific audience of anti-Chalcedonian ('Monophysite') churchmen, Syrians who considered the exiled patriarch of Antioch, Severus, to be their leader. Both were aimed at inducing anti-Chalcedonians to accept reconciliation with the official, Chalcedonian church at the time (the mid-530s) when the failure of initiatives sponsored by the Emperor Justinian suggested that outright separation was imminent, and new imperial initiatives were undertaken."--BOOK JACKET.




The Making of the Medieval Middle East


Book Description

In the second half of the first millennium CE, the Christian Middle East fractured irreparably into competing churches and Arabs conquered the region, setting in motion a process that would lead to its eventual conversion to Islam. Largely agrarian and illiterate, Christians often called "the simple" outnumbered Muslims well into the era of the Crusades, and yet they have typically been invisible in our understanding of the Middle East's history




Ecce Homo


Book Description

Interacting with theologians throughout the ages, Riches narrates the development of the church's doctrine of Christ as an increasingly profound realization that the depth of the difference between the human being and God is realized, in fact, only in the perfect union of divinity and humanity in the one Christ. He sets the apostolic proclamation in its historical, theological, philosophical, and mystical context, showing that, as the starting point of "orthodoxy," it forecloses every theological attempt to divide or reduce the "one Lord Jesus Christ."




The Humanity of Christ


Book Description

This work is a critical analysis of Karl Barth's unique adoption of the concepts anhypostasis and enhypostasis to explain Christ's human nature in union with the Logos, which becomes the ontological foundation that Barth uses to explain Jesus Christ as very God and very man. The significance of these concepts in Barth's Christology first emerges in the Gottingen Dogmatics and is then more fully developed throughout the Church Dogmatics. Barth's unique coupling together of anhypostasis and enhypostasis provides the ontological grounding, flexibility, and precision that so uniquely characterizes his Christology. As such, Barth expresses the Word became flesh as the revelation of God that flows out of the coalescence of Christ's human nature with his divine nature as the mediation of reconciliation. This ontological dynamic provides the impetus for Barth's critique of Chalcedon's static definition of the union of divine and human natures in Christ from which Barth transitions to an active definition of these two natures. Not only does anhypostasis and enhypostasis explain the dynamic union between the divine and human natures in Christ, but also the dynamic union between Jesus Christ and his Church, which reaches its apex in the reconciliation of humanity with God, in Christ. The ontological foundation of anhypostasis and enhypostasis in Christ's union with his Church explains the importance of the royal man in understanding genuine human nature, the exaltation of human nature, and the sanctification of human nature.




The Rise of Christian Theology and the End of Ancient Metaphysics


Book Description

It has rarely been recognized that the Christian writers of the first millennium pursued an ambitious and exciting philosophical project alongside their engagement in the doctrinal controversies of their age. The Rise of Christian Theology and the End of Ancient Metaphysics offers, for the first time, a full analysis of this Patristic philosophy. It shows how it took its distinctive shape in the late fourth century and gives an account of its subsequent development until the time of John of Damascus. The book falls into three main parts. The first starts with an analysis of the philosophical project underlying the teaching of the Cappadocian fathers, Basil of Caesarea, Gregory of Nyssa and Gregory of Nazianzus. This philosophy, arguably the first distinctively Christian theory of being, soon became near-universally shared in Eastern Christianity. Just a few decades after the Cappadocians, all sides in the early Christological controversy took its fundamental tenets for granted. Its application to the Christological problem thus appeared inevitable. Yet it created substantial conceptual problems. Parts two and three describe in detail how these problems led to a series of increasingly radical modifications of the Cappadocian philosophy. In part two, Zachhuber explores the miaphysite opponents of the Council of Chalcedon, while in part three he discusses the defenders of the Council from the early sixth to the eighth century. Through this overview, the book reveals this period as one of remarkable philosophical creativity, fecundity, and innovation.




A History of Christian Theology (Repack)


Book Description

A Historical Examination of Christian Theology through a Trinitarian Framework Theology is important. But so is the story behind the specific doctrines that have been debated, defined, and refined throughout church history. In this book, professor Gerald Bray introduces readers to the history of Christian theology, the Trinity (our doctrine of God), and the Bible (our knowledge of God). Unlike other books on the topic, Bray's volume is not organized primarily by time period or distinct doctrinal categories. Rather, it puts theology first and history second, following a Trinitarian pattern that begins with God the Father, moves on to God the Son, and ends with God the Holy Spirit. This unique approach offers readers a more holistic understanding of the development of theology, paralleling the order in which the church wrestled through challenging theological issues and controversies related to God, man, and salvation. Accessible: Aimed at non-specialists, not just the academic community Unique Organization: Uses a Trinitarian framework to provide a more holistic understanding of the development of theology Historical: Explores the Jewish background behind the development of Christian theology Written by Gerald Bray: An internationally renowned historian and theologian Replaces ISBN 978-1-4335-2694-7




Evagrius and His Legacy


Book Description

Evagrius of Pontus (ca. 345-399) was a Greek-speaking monastic thinker and Christian theologian whose works formed the basis for much later reflection on monastic practice and thought in the Christian Near East, in Byzantium, and in the Latin West. His innovative collections of short chapters meant for meditation, scriptural commentaries in the form of scholia, extended discourses, and letters were widely translated and copied. Condemned posthumously by two ecumenical councils as a heretic along with Origen and Didymus of Alexandria, he was revered among Christians to the east of the Byzantine Empire, in Syria and Armenia, while only some of his writings endured in the Latin and Greek churches. A student of the famed bishop-theologians Gregory of Nazianzus and Basil of Caesarea, Evagrius left the service of the urban church and settled in an Egyptian monastic compound. His teachers were veteran monks schooled in the tradition of Clement of Alexandria, Origen, and Anthony, and he enriched their legacy with the experience of the desert and with insight drawn from the entire Greek philosophical tradition, from Plato and Aristotle through Iamblichus. Evagrius and His Legacy brings together essays by eminent scholars who explore selected aspects of Evagrius's life and times and address his far-flung and controversial but long-lasting influence on Latin, Byzantine, and Syriac cultures in antiquity and the Middle Ages. Touching on points relevant to theology, philosophy, history, patristics, literary studies, and manuscript studies, Evagrius and His Legacy is also intended to catalyze further study of Evagrius within as large a context as possible.




Encyclopedia of Early Christianity


Book Description

First published in 1997. What's new in the Second Edition: Some 250 new entries, twenty-five percent more than in the first edition, plus twenty-five new expert contributors. Bibliographies are greatly expanded and updated throughout; More focus on biblical books and philosophical schools, their influence on early Christianity and their use by patristic writers; More information about the Jewish and pagan environment of early Christianity; Greatly enlarged coverage of the eastern expansion of the faith throughout Asia, including persons and literature; More extensive treatment of saints, monasticism, worship practices, and modern scholars; Greater emphasis on social history and more theme articles; More illustrations, maps, and plans; Additional articles on geographical regions; Expanded chronological table; Also includes maps.




The Byzantine Christ


Book Description

St Maximus the Confessor is one of the giants of Christian theology. His doctrine of two wills was ratified by the Sixth Ecumenical Council in AD 681. This text throws new light upon one of the most interesting periods of historical and systematic theology.