Eunomius of Cyzicus and the Nicene Revolution

Eunomius of Cyzicus and the Nicene Revolution
Author: Richard Paul Vaggione
Publisher: Clarendon Press
Total Pages: 425
Release: 2000
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9780198146780

Full and fascinating... Vaggione's study is to be welcomed. The Expository Times'Dr Vaggione's book is the first to provide a full survey of the issues, doctrinal and church-political, involved in the rise and fall of Anomean theology and of its relation to the Nicene settlement... Dr Vaggione has read his sources with great subtlety and uses what you might think meagre materials to considerable effect.' -ADAMANTIUS (Journal of the Italian Research Group on 'Origen and the Alexandrian Tradition''A distinguished and most learned study.' -Journal of Ecclesiastical History'Full and fascinating... Vaggione's study is to be welcomed.' -Expository TimesThe doctrine of the Trinity has been central to Christian faith since the fourth century, but it is often the cause of more confusion than understanding. The author here overcomes this by looking at it from the point of view of one who vehemently rejected it. Eunomius of Cyzicus was condemned as a heretic during his lifetime in the fourth century and after. Richard Paul Vaggione uses Eunomius' life to examine how the whole Christian community, including ordinary men and women, helped determine how this often abused doctrine was - and is - understood.

Basil of Caesarea (Foundations of Theological Exegesis and Christian Spirituality)

Basil of Caesarea (Foundations of Theological Exegesis and Christian Spirituality)
Author: Stephen M. Hildebrand
Publisher: Baker Academic
Total Pages: 345
Release: 2014-03-18
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1441245294

Fourth-century church father Basil of Caesarea was an erudite Scripture commentator, an architect of Trinitarian theology, a founder of monasticism, and a metropolitan bishop. This introduction to Basil's thought surveys his theological, spiritual, and monastic writings, showing the importance of his work for contemporary theology and spirituality. It brings together various aspects of Basil's thought into a single whole and explores his uniqueness and creativity as a theologian. The volume engages specialized scholarship on Basil but makes his thought accessible to a wider audience. It is the third book in a series on the church fathers edited by Hans Boersma and Matthew Levering.

The Nicene Faith

The Nicene Faith
Author: John Behr
Publisher: St Vladimir's Seminary Press
Total Pages: 266
Release:
Genre: Church history
ISBN: 9780881412666

N this sequel to The Way to Nicaea, Fr John Behr turns his attention to the fourth century, the era in which Christian theology was formulated as the Nicene faith, the common heritage of most Christians to this day. Engaging the best of modern scholarship, Behr provides a series of orignal, comprehensive, and insightful sketches of theology of the key protaganists of the Nicene faith, presenting a powerful vision of Christian theology, centered upon Christ and his Passion.

Basil of Caesarea's Anti-Eunomian Theory of Names

Basil of Caesarea's Anti-Eunomian Theory of Names
Author: Mark DelCogliano
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 316
Release: 2010-07-12
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9004189106

Basil of Caesarea’s debate with Eunomius of Cyzicus in the early 360s marks a turning point in the fourth-century Trinitarian controversies. It shifted focus to methodological and epistemological disputes underlying theological differences. This monograph explores one of these fundamental points of contention: the proper theory of names. It offers a revisionist interpretation of Eunomius’s theory as a corrective to previous approaches, contesting the widespread assumption that it is indebted to Platonist sources and showing that it was developed by drawing upon proximate Christian sources. While Eunomius held that names uniquely predicated of God communicated the divine essence, in response Basil developed a “notionalist” theory wherein all names signify primarily notions and secondarily properties, not essence.

The Eternal Generation of the Son

The Eternal Generation of the Son
Author: Kevin Giles
Publisher: InterVarsity Press
Total Pages: 273
Release: 2012-05-07
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0830839658

Theologian Kevin Giles defends the historically orthodox doctrine of the eternal generation of the Son of God. He argues on biblical, historical and theological bases that, given its fundamental meaning, this doctrinal formulation is indispensable, irreplaceable and faithful to Christian revelation.

The Ecumenical Legacy of the Cappadocians

The Ecumenical Legacy of the Cappadocians
Author: Nicu Dumitra?cu
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 295
Release: 2016-04-29
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 113750269X

This book brings the Cappadocian Fathers to life and explores their contributions to subsequent Christian thought. Melding together a thematic and individualized approach, the book examines Cappadocian thought in relation to Greek philosophy and the musings of other Christian thinkers of the time. The volume is unique in that it details the Cappadocian legacy upon the three central divisions of Christianity, rather than focusing on one confession. Providing a multifaceted assessment of the spirituality and beliefs of the fourth-century Church, contributors interweave historical studies into their philosophical and theological discussions. The volume draws together an international team of scholars from a variety of academic backgrounds including philosophy, theology, and Classics. The contributors bring their unique perspectives to bear on their analysis of the Cappadocians’ theological contributions. Special attention is given to the Cappadocians’ influence on pneumatology, Christology, and ethics. The Ecumenical Legacy of the Cappadocians sets the Cappodocians’ theoretical views in relief against the political and historical background of their day, enlivening and vivifying the analysis with engaging biographical sketches.

Imitations of Infinity

Imitations of Infinity
Author: Michael A. Motia
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
Total Pages: 289
Release: 2021-11-26
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0812299612

We do not have many definitions of Christianity from late antiquity, but among the few extant is the brief statement of Gregory of Nyssa (335-395 CE) that it is "mimesis of the divine nature." The sentence is both a historical gem and theologically puzzling. Gregory was the first Christian to make the infinity of God central to his theological program, but how could he intend for humans to imitate the infinite? If the aim of the Christian life is "never to stop growing towards what is better and never to place any limit on perfection," how could mimesis function within this endless pursuit? In Imitations of Infinity, Michael A. Motia situates Gregory among Platonist philosophers, rhetorical teachers, and early Christian leaders to demonstrate how much of late ancient life was governed by notions of imitation. Questions both intimate and immense, of education, childcare, or cosmology, all found form in a relationship of archetype and image. It is no wonder that these debates demanded the attention of people at every level of the Roman Empire, including the Christians looking to form new social habits and norms. Whatever else the late ancient transformation of the empire affected, it changed the names, spaces, and characters that filled the imagination and common sense of its citizens, and it changed how they thought of their imitations. Like religion, imitation was a way to organize the world and a way to reach toward new possibilities, Motia argues, and two earlier conceptions of mimesis—one centering on ontological participation, the other on aesthetic representation—merged in late antiquity. As philosophers and religious leaders pondered how linking oneself to reality depended on practices of representation, their theoretical debates accompanied practical concerns about what kinds of objects would best guide practitioners toward the divine. Motia places Gregory within a broader landscape of figures who retheorized the role of mimesis in search of perfection. No longer was imitation a marker of inauthenticity or immaturity. Mimesis became a way of life.

Heavenly Realms and Earthly Realities in Late Antique Religions

Heavenly Realms and Earthly Realities in Late Antique Religions
Author: Ra'anan S. Boustan
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 351
Release: 2004-08-16
Genre: History
ISBN: 113945398X

The idea of heaven held a special place in the late antique imagination, which was marked by a poignant sense of the relevance of otherworldly realities for earthly life. Such concerns can be found not only in Judaism and Christianity but also in the Greco-Roman religious, philosophical, scientific, and 'magical' traditions. Transcending social, regional and creedal boundaries, the preocupation with heaven in Late Antiquity serves as a focus for an interdisciplinary approach to understanding this formative era in Western culture and history. Drawing upon the expertise of scholars of Classics, Ancient History, Jewish Studies and Patristics, this volume explores the different functions of heavenly imagery in different texts and traditions in order to map the patterns of unity and diversity within the religious landscape of Late Antiquity.

The Power of Patristic Preaching

The Power of Patristic Preaching
Author: Andrew Hofer, OP
Publisher: CUA Press
Total Pages: 415
Release: 2023-04-28
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0813236533

The Word made flesh is manifested in the lives of those dedicated to his proclamation. The Power of Patristic Preaching: The Word in Our Flesh presents seven early preachers who show, by life and speech, the divine Word’s power at work in weak human life. The book is inspired by this question preached by Origen, “For what does it profit if I should say that Jesus has come in that flesh alone which he received from Mary and I should not show also that he has come in this flesh of mine?” In seven chapters, The Power of Patristic Preaching studies the exemplars of Origen for holiness, Ephrem for the humility of repentance, Gregory of Nazianzus for purification and faith, John Chrysostom for the hope of salvation, Augustine for love, Leo the Great for love of the poor and the weak, and Gregory the Great for accepting our own weakness. With an emphasis on the incarnation, deification through the virtues, and proclamation, The Power of Patristic Preaching serves as a resource for those dedicated to the ministry of the Word (clerical, religious, and lay), and as a text for students of early Christian theology and practices. A Catholic work for a broad ecumenical audience, the book gives a cry from the heart in a suffering Church traveling through a world that is passing away.

Gregory of Nyssa: Contra Eunomium III. An English Translation with Commentary and Supporting Studies

Gregory of Nyssa: Contra Eunomium III. An English Translation with Commentary and Supporting Studies
Author: Johan Leemans
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 798
Release: 2014-07-24
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9004268251

Gregory of Nyssa's Contra Eunomium, one of the major books on trinitarian theology of the 4th century, documents the exchange between Eunomius and the Cappadocian Father in the last episode of the so-called "Arian Crisis". The present volume is devoted to the third and last book of Contra Eunomium. It offers a fresh English translation with a running commentary in the form of ten studies by first-rank specialists. Seventeen shorter papers enlighten various aspects of Contra Eunomium and other writings of the same author. The contributions will be of interest for scholars of historical and systematical theology, philosophy, spirituality, rhetoric and the history of the Early Church.