The First Christian Centuries: 4th Century: First Council of Nicaea and Aftermath

This book is a contribution to the study of pagan-Christian relations in Late Antiquity.It explores the attitudes to friendship-and in particular to the theories and sayings on the subject formulated in classical Greece and Rome-of certain eminent Christians in the century following the conversion of the emperor Constantine.Dr.White investigates the role of friendship in the personal lives and in the theological and ascetic writings of these men,from Basil,Gregory of Nazianzus,John Chrysostom and Synesius in the Eastern Empire,to Augustine,Ambrose,Jerome and Paulinus of Nola in the West,as well as in the monastic theories of Pachomius and Cassian.Two early chapters provide the background evidence for the most important Classical theories,from Homer to the Neoplatonists,and for the Biblical material which occurs most frequently in discussions of the relevance of friendship to the Christian life;some of the problems involved in the confrontation between pagan and Christian ideas are thereby clarified.

The findings of this important study will be of great interest to many: the visitor to the Holy Land keen to know more about the traditional Gospel sites and to think more deeply about their significance;the New Testament aschaeologist,needing to evaluate the reliability of the earliest written sources;students and scholars of early Christian history and spirituality,wishing to know how Christians in Palestine responded to the new possibilities of the Constantinian era;and all of those (of whatever tradition)who are concerned with the future of Jerusalem as city and symbol.

The fourth century is often referred to as the first Christian century, and for the Jews a period of decline and persecution. But was this change really so immediate and irreversible? What was the real impact of the Christianisation of the Roman Empire on the Jews, especially in their own land?Stemberger draws on all available sources, literary and archaeological, Christian as well as pagan and Jewish, to reconstruct the history of the different religious communities of Palestine in the fourth century.This book demonstrates how lively, creative and resourceful the Jewish communities remained.

The Creed takes an interdisciplinary approach,linking the present to the past by drawing on recent biblical scholarship,liturgical studies,theological explanations,and historical research.By expalining the functions and meanings of the ancient creeds in the context of today's questions,The Creed stands to make a substantial contribution to the current effort to have the Ecumenical Creed of Constantinople recognized once more as the confession of faith common to all Christians.

The relations between Paganism and Christianity in the fourth century seemed a suitable theme for a course of lectures at the Warburg Institute. The eight lectures here collected were delivered in the academic year 1958-9 and are published as they were delivered. It was, however, considered expedient to translate into English the two lectures which were given in French and the one which was in German.. The lecturers were left free to choose their own subject and to add the notes they wanted for publication. Specialists will judge each paper on its individual merits. For the general reader I have added, by way of introduction, a few pages on the problem of Christianity and the decline of the Roman empire. They were originally part of the two Taft Lectures which I delivered in the University of Cincinnati in 1959. A. M.

The following work was written in the early part of last year, for Messrs. Rivington’s “Theological Library;” but as it seemed, on its completion, little fitted for the objects with which that publication has been undertaken, it makes its appearance in an independent form. Some apology is due to the reader for the length of the introductory chapter, but it was intended as the opening of a more extensive undertaking. It may be added, to prevent mistake, that the theological works cited at the foot of the page, are referred to for the facts, rather than the opinions they contain; though some of them, as the “Defensio Fidei Nicenæ,” evince gifts, moral and intellectual, of so high a cast, as to render it a privilege to be allowed to sit at the feet of their authors, and to receive the words, which they have been, as it were, commissioned to deliver.

The growing scholarly attention in recent years to the religious world of late antiquity has focused new attention on the quest for holiness by the strange, compelling, often obscure early Christian monks known as the desert fathers. Yet until now, little attention has been given to one of the most vital dimensions of their spirituality: their astute, penetrating interpretation of Scripture. Rooted in solitude, cultivated in an atmosphere of silence, oriented toward the practical appropriation of the sacred texts, the desert fathers' hermeneutic profoundly shaped every aspect of their lives and became a significant part of their legacy. This book explores the setting within which the early monastic movement emerged, the interpretive process at the center of the desert fathers' quest for holiness, and the intricate patterns of meaning woven into their words and their lives.

Arnobius of Sicca was a Christian convert writing under the persecution of the Emperor Diocletian. This study of the man and his writings demonstrates the importance of Arnobius' contribution towards the final triumph of Christianity against the Roman Empire.

This volume includes selections from the works of Athanasius, Gregory of Nazianzus, and Gregory of Nyssa. Through these works and those of other early Christian thinkers, this book surveys the development of early church theology. Long recognized for the quality of its translations, introductions, explanatory notes, and indexes, the Library of Christian Classics provides scholars and students with modern English translations of some of the most significant Christian theological texts in history. Through these works--each written prior to the end of the sixteenth century--contemporary readers are able to engage the ideas that have shaped Christian theology and the church through the centuries.

Saint Athanasius was one of the great leaders of the early Church.During the fourth century there were many great men and woman of faith,but none of them did more to further the cause of Christ than this diminutive bishop from Egypt.Trying times require the best of men and the best from men,and that is exactly what the Church got in Athanasius.At a time when the Church faced the most insidious heresy of all,Arianism,one man rose above all others to combat it-and combat it he did.On several occasions his great struggle for the truth brought him near to martyrdom.But such was no to be God's will.Instead,he was to spend the fifty years of his adult life in a courageous, bloodless, martyrdom tenaciously fighting for the truth. For his life-long defense of the divinity of Christ, Athanasius is called the "Father of Orthodoxy" and "the Thirteenth apostle".

MacMullen explores the influences of paganism and Christianity upon each other. In a rich discussion of the different strengths of the two systems, he demonstrates that pagan beliefs were not eclipsed or displaced by Christianity but persisted or were transformed. The victory of the Christian church, he explains, was one not of obliteration but of widening embrace and assimilation. This fascinating book also includes new material on the Christian persecution of pagans over the centuries through methods that ranged from fines to crucifixion; the mixture of motives in conversion; the stubbornness of pagan resistance; the difficulty of satisfying the demands and expectations of new converts; and the degree of assimilation of Christianity to paganism.

Arianism is the archetypal Christian heresy. It was not only a watershed historically; its central issue-the question of Christ's full co-equal divinity as Son of God-remains an issue of deep concern to every generation of Christians, including our own. The traditional critique of Arianism is that its errors arise from an over-intellectual approach to Christianity, that it failed because it lacked a gospel of salvation. Questions about that traditional view have been raised here and there in recent years. This book challenges it head on. It does no on a basis of careful scholarship, and at the same time in a lively and readable style.