Product Description
Lynn Cohick provides an accurate and fulsome picture of the earliest Christian women by examining a wide variety of first-century Jewish and Greco-Roman documents that illuminate their lives. She organizes the book around three major spheres of life: family, religious community, and society in general. Cohick shows that although women during this period were active at all levels within their religious communities, their influence was not always identified by leadership titles nor did their gender always determine their level of participation. The book corrects our understanding of early Christian women by offering an authentic and descriptive historical picture of their lives. Includes black-and-white illustrations from the ancient world. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Informative and challenging
Cohick clearly presents vast amounts of information that challenge many of the stereotypes about what women did and what was permitted women to do in the Greco-Roman world.One of her most enlightening sections occurs in her Conclusion under the subtitle of "Expanding Our Imagination."She writes: "It is perhaps surprising to the modern reader to see that women were active in the commercial world as merchants, vendors, artisans, and shopkeepers.Women populated the marketplace, selling, buying, and loaning money.... Women enjoyed the Roman banquet and the baths....For those who study the New Testament, the fact that women were present in most communal venues entails a reassessment of who would have heard a missionary preacher like Paul or Peter speak to market crowds.Women were present alongside men in public places - women from a wide swath of society, including slaves and wealthy patrons.Such a realigned vision offers an opportunity to reflect on the challenges faced by the early church concerning not only gender but also racial and social diversity.And it allows the contemporary church to examine its own record" (pp. 324-25).This book should be required reading in any course on New Testament Introduction and any course on Early Church History.

An Essential Work
With this volume, Cohick has supplied an essential work for those who would understand Scripture in its historical context.This review's author knows of no other work which so patiently, carefully, or completely explicates the lives of women in the Greco-Roman world.Although Cohick steers clear of debates about the place of women in the contemporary Christian church, her study cannot fail to illuminate such discussions.

Excellent Study of Women in the Greco-Roman World
This book is a fascinating study of the lives of women in the Greco-Roman world.There are a number of debates about the roles of women during this period and their implications for Christianity today.Cohick does not intend to address any contemporary theological debates about women, but rather seeks to look at the data we have on this topic and offer a comprehensive look at what women did during this period.In the course of her study, Cohick critically examines the relevant ancient sources with a critical eye towards the motivations and context of the various sources.In the course of doing this, she presents an intriguing picture of the lives of women in the Greco-Roman world.Particularly fascinating are her chapters on marriage and matron ideas and wives and the realities of marriage showing clearly that in the Greco-Roman world, as in our own time, cultural ideals do not always become reality.In these chapters, as in the others, a wealth of Greco-Roman sources are consulted, including Jewish, Gentile and Christian sources.I teach courses in the history of Christianity at both the undergraduate and graduate level and have already suggested this book to several students interested in the roles of women in early Christianity.Its value for that topic is quite clear.This book is a valuable resource for anyone interested in the Greco-Roman period,though, whether or not that interest intersects with religious studies.One final note on this book which sets it apart from many others:it is a lively and engaging book.It does not simply contain a wealth of important information; it is also an enjoyable book to read.I would strongly recommend it to anyone with interest in these areas. ... Read more

Product Description
Christian dualism originated in the reign of Constans II (641-68). It was a popular religion, which shared with orthodoxy an acceptance of scriptual authority and apostolic tradition and held a sacramental doctrine of salvation, but understood all these in a radically different way to the Orthodox Church. One of the differences was the strong part demonology played in the belief system. This text traces, through original sources, the origins of dualist Christianity throughout the Byzantine Empire, focusing on the Paulician movement in Armenia and Bogomilism in Bulgaria. It presents not only the theological texts, but puts the movements into their social and political context. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A valuable source to continue "the Missional church conversation"
The Missional Church and Denominations: Helping Congregations Develop Missional Identity.
Ed. By Craig Van Gelder. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2008. Paper, 282 pp. NP. ISBN: 978-0-8028-6358-4.

The book is the second of a series in what is called: "the Missional church conversation," published by Eerdmans and under the editorship of Craig Van Gelder of Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota.

The authors attempt to provide a reinterpretation of Missio Dei to specific denominational bodies, including Lutheran, Reformed, Episcopalian and General Baptist Conference.

David Forney's chapter on "Living in the City--Journeying outside the Gate: A Missional Approach to Polity," is an interpretation of Hebrews 13:12-16 and an example of the use of biblical analogies to remind denominations of their agenda. The discussion is very pertinent for churches in denominations which in some way or other may have forsaken the city as the center of Jesus Christ's and St. Paul's concerns.

Section I of the book: "A Missional engagement with denominations and denominationalism" includes four chapters with historical analyses, theoretical propositions, and considerable well-thought missiological principles. This reviewer is curious to discover whether some pastoral leaders who were trained in Missiology during their seminary sojourn in the late 20th century may "be up to the challenge" as they review their missiological stance, and devote their pastorates to the ultimate fulfillment of the Missio Dei. However, the Holy Spirit in His sovereignty "will blow where it listeth," and "young men and women" will have dreams and visions as fulfilled in the Pentecost experience.

Section II: "A Missional reframing of ecclesiology and polity for specific denominations" offers suggestions and specific Missional strategies from the perspectives of scholars from the Episcopal Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the Evangelical Covenant Church, and the General Baptist Conference. As some of these ecclesiastical bodies were the product of Pietism and on occasion immigrant communities of the 19th and early 20th century American denominational landscape, it seems to this reviewer that as they faced decline during the last three decades, they are awakening to rediscover their mission to the secular culture of their constituencies.

The Gospel and culture network of which "the Missional church conversation" was a component, has attempted to inspire and instruct churches and pastors through their publications, some of which this reviewer has used in seminary classes during the first decade of the 21st century. All the publications on the subject have been substantial, well developed and challenging. A bibliography is included in p. 5.

The book is worth to be studied, and used practically by local Missional entities [mission boards, local church mission task forces or committees] and future-oriented seminary learners and pastors.
The conference that conceived the book took place in November, 2006 and the book was published in 2008 and now is being reviewed in 2010 for publication.

I offer the above chronology to portray the fact that academic and Missional convocations, conferences, and forums about significant issues of global mission take a long time to be published. By the time they are reviewed they may be outdated. The gap between germination, dialogue, excitement, and the possibility of impact on local church constituencies is thus veiled by the "immediacy" of materials published in blogs which may have become the "on the air Library of Congress" for many learners in seminary campuses around the nation.

It is a reality of our times that while corporations and for profit entities confront the challenge of communications in an almost instant manner, churches, seminaries, and denominational bodies are very slow in implementing dreams into realities.

David F. D'Amico: Retired Evangelism and Missions professor and CBF representative to the UN living in Louisville, KY.
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Product Description
Prominent among the pagan critics of the early Christians was Porphyry of Trre (ca. 232-305), scholar, philosopher, and student of religions. His Against the Christians, condemned to be burned in 448, was a work of admirable historical criticism. The surviving fragments of this work, newly translated by Biblical scholar Hoffmann, present Porphyry's most trenchant comments on key figures, beliefs, and doctrines of Christianity. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

Eye-Opening Reading
This well researched book summarizes the pagan response to the Gospels.It's fascinating and extremely surprising.

A Pagan's Perspective on Christianity
This was an interesting look at Christianity from the perspectives of the Roman/Greek pagans. The only way to remove Porphyry's 15 book work refuting Christianity was to burn them as well as the 30 book reply by Apollnarius and other Christian works which referenced Porphyry directly.

Evidently, Porphyry's work included refutations based on geography referenced in the Gospels, as well as Babylonian law texts 'borrowed' to flesh out the five books of Moses during the Babylonian period, etc. The quotes that have survived have been paraphrased to hide their source and survived in lesser known works. This book is interesting from its historical perspective. I have to admit it was refreshing to hear a defense of Idolatry, the folly of worshiping a criminal and the hypocrasy of celibacy, as since Peter was married (1 Cor. 9:5). Porphyry's criticisms are unique because unlike Celsus, he had studied the gospel writings in significantly more depth (since he was a former convert?).

The Epilogue wasn't bad - it was carefully written and researched, though more footnoting would help.

The book gave me a new perspective on the debate. It is regrettable a form of Graeco-Roman polytheism did not survive to the modern era. Its debate adds new depth to religious thought.Its disappointing to hear from other reviewers that this book would only appeal to 'Christian haters'. This accessment is wrong. However, if you have a hard time reading opposing ideas about 'biblical difficulties', you probably should not read the book.

Because of the dilution of Porphyry's words, and the selection of words design to annoy rather than enlighten, the quotes are not as razor sharp as they should be. You get what survived the intellectual purge and the reason why to evaluate them afresh.

Masterful and Ancient, debunking of Christianity
A priceless refutation of both Christianity and Judaism by one of the most astute minds of the third century A.D. Mid-East. Given Christianity's indelible record of death and destruction, its refreshing to examine opposing views of the religion of Christ, from a period before the west completely succumbed to Christianity's barbarous hordes. The pagans have been so maligned in Christian literature and practice, most people are unaware of the depth of their philosophical insight and the logical clarity by which they dismantled the blind faith based Christian religion and its equally questionable parent, Judaism. Read this book and learn how an accomplished thinker of this era viewed these then revolutionary religions, as they bludgeoned and conspired their way to the dominant positions they occupy today.

A unique ancient perspective
This book presents a reconstruction of Porphyry's third century work "Against the Christians" taken from the (probably 4th century) text of Macarius Magnes.The excerpts by Porphyry are divided thematically and are accompanied by references to the biblical passages he was referring to.Because almost no anti-Christian works survive from antiquity, this reconstruction is particularly valuable as an insight into how 'pagan' or non-Christian philosophers may have viewed Christianity.Porphyry was obviously familiar with Christian teaching and scriptures, and composed a sophisticated refutation of its doctrine.There were clearly many who were deeply familiar with Christian doctrine and did not reject it out of ignorance.This book would primarily be important for studies on early Christianity, the persecutions and the religion's spread, as well as for philosophy.Because this is one of the only extant philosophical sources that was directed against Christianity. the work is essential reading for Christian-'pagan' relations in the empire.The epilogue to the book may provide a useful background for someone unfamiliar with the context.The translation is good, and the book well-organized and easy to go through. Definitely recommended.

the fraud exposed
Porphyry is one of history's most astute minds. Our understanding of Aristotle (for instance his Categories) would be much poorer without Porphyry's commentaries. His employment of Alexandrian critical methodology utilised historical analysis to arrive at an understanding of mythical & pseudo historical texts. One such critique by Porphyry exposed a popular book on Persian religious practice, the"Zosimus", to be a recent book and therefore a fraud. He also analysed the Odysseyconcluding that its stories were to be interpreted as allegories. Employing this very same technique, he demonstrated christian mythology to be a series of unhistorical myths. Where-as the god of Greek philosophy (as posited by Aristotle for instance), employed logic and argument to arrive at the "unmoved mover", the Christians demanded that their god be accepted solely on the basis of unquestioning and blind acceptance. In this world of Greek thought, the bible's myths had no chance of survival. (It is not without reason that the Christian's holy book states in 1 Corinthians 1:22-25 "Jews demand miraculous signs and the Greeks look for wisdom, but we teach Christ crucified... the foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom"and 1 Corinthians 3:19-20 "For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God's sight... 'The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile.'")

Porphyry's work it should be noted was written in the context of the philosophical debates of his times, like those of Stoics refuting Epicureans (& vice versa), even the debates between (pagan) Simplicius and (Christian) Philoponus (later) in the fifth & sixth centuries.That Christianity is a fraud was evidently already known in antiquity. Had Porphyry been heeded humanity may have been spared considerable suffering. One amazon reviewer suggests emotively that it is anti-semitic - one suspects solely on the grounds that it critiques what are essentially jewish myths. The same critic even goes so far as to claim that this book will only be appreciated by "Christian-haters". These claims need to be seriously addressed and corrected.
Criticism of Christianity cannot ever make Porphyry's text anti-semitic. Indeed it was on Christianity's exhortation that the greatest acts of anti-semitism have been perpetrated because the christian religion is founded on anti-semitism, refer: 1 Thessalonians 2:14-16.
(One can go further; Hitler's entire campaign to eliminate Jews was a Christian one. Hitler wrote in his Mein Kampf that it was his Christian duty not to tolerate Jews or breed with them; that it "is a sin against the will of the Eternal creator" (p.391 the Manheim translation of Mein Kampf); and that Christian intolerance has been Christianity's greatest strength - and begrudgingly acknowledges this intolerance to itself be Jewish (pp. 412-413, Manheim translation of Mein Kampf).Hitler's Mein Kampf does not name the actual biblical passages that demand intolerance, but they can be found in the Old Testament (especially Deuteronomy 20:16 - as well as other passages, eg, Numbers 33: 51-56, Deuteronomy 12:2-3, etc); and the passages on racial purity can be found inEzra 9:1-2 & Ezra 10:1-4. In p. 598 (of the Manheim translation) Hitler stated that his aim was to re-start where the Germans left off 600 years earlier - that is, restart the Christian Crusades of the Teutonic Knights!)
It pays to remember that a translation of any writingcarries with it certain conventions. One convention that was thankfully abandoned centuries ago is the "de verbo ad verbum" (word for word) translation which rendered texts unintelligible in translation. On this basis, for instance, a modern translation of Plato's use of the greek word "idea" instead now translates "idea" as "forms" to render its greek meaning unencumbered by modern english assumptions on the word. Similarly, the greek word "historia" although literally "history" (in english) would lose the greek meaning of the word: that the history itself has either been WITNESSED by the author (eg Herodotus/ Thucydides), or those the author is quoting from (eg Polibius).

That Porphyry successfully exposed Christian doctrine to be a fraud can possibly be best attested to by the scurrilous reactions to his doing so. It should be noted that Theodosius' edict to have the book burnt was an act emulated in the book-burnings by that other Christian embarrassment, Hitler, (over) one and a half millennia later.

It should be embarrassing to christians that most of Porphyry's other writings on logic were used without interruption by both christians and non-christians: thus Porphyry's logic was sound when used in non-Christiansubjects, but the same logic applied to Christianity was flawed!









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Customer Reviews (6)

Back to the drawingboard
I was eager to read this book only to find it a terrible dissapointment.One would think that a 'scholar' such as he would have at least a basic understanding of the Hebraic roots of Judeo-Christianity.
It was obvious that he clearly was clueless to the known Messianic signs spoken of in the Gospels.He is also clueless to the Pharisidical Judaism of the time..not comprehending that all of Christ's teachings were completely in keeping with true Judaism. All of which can be found in contemporary Rabbinical teachings of His time. This book, which some unfortunate readers will swallow as truth will only continue to propagate a backward understanding of the gospels.
Like it or not..the New Testament writings are Hebraic and explain what fulfilled Judaism is.Those who need to divorce Judaism from Christianity are offering a church which is already confused, just more confusion. It is through studying the Hebraic roots that we even begin to understand the 'difficult' sayings of our Lord; 'fullfillment of the Law', binding and loosing (the Law)..etc as well as the parables.The delivering of the deaf mute..was a Messianic sign, because the Rabbi's knew that 'they' had to ask the said demon its name but He did not.Lazerus's resurrection was a Messianic sign because the Rabbi's believed that anyone could come back to life during the first 'three' days after death.Cleansing of a leper wasMessainic sign because the Rabbi's understood that it was a 'divine' punishment, that only God could lift. How else can we link Isa 53 with the 'stripes' He was to received as part of fulfilling the punishment the Law required for transgression, and yet 'minus one'. Had our Lord transgressed the Law, then the Jews themselves could have legally killed Him.Remember Paul (Saul)?He also does not understand John and his huge part in the whole picture, in that the Kingdom 'began' with John.He was the 'breachmaker' as fortold in prophecy.This is Hebraic roots 101.
People, please study the Hebraic roots of Christianity and do not waste your time with this book. The fact that he keeps defending his position as 'not' anti-semetic, should give you a clue.

Skip to the middle, if you must
Zahl, true to the tradition of German theological scholarship, employs the first chapters of his book as response to questions raised by both his predecessors and his successors. Though essential to understanding the work within the matrix of "Historical Jesus" scholarship, such methodology can, for non-academic readers, seem dreadfully tedious.

Complexity notwithstanding, this book is an essential read. If you find the first chapters tiresome, skip them. Once you understand the intricacy of the claims Zahl is advancing and refuting, you may choose to re-read the introductory chapters for advice on where to look for counter-argumentation.

Picking a (good) fight.
Given an unfair choice between understanding Jesus as a first century Jew, or Jesus as a Christian, Paul F. M. Zahl, dean of the Cathedral of the Advent (Episcopal), would probably choose Jesus as the original, "first" Christian. He suggests as much in the title of this provocative short work.

Zahl's small but rich book deals with the fundamental questions surrounding the relationship of Christianity to its mother faith, Judaism, and more specifically, the relation of Jesus of Nazareth to first century Judaism. Zahl attempts to provide a corrective to what he sees as the prevailing re-judaizing and re-culturation of the founder of the Christian faith, Jesus of Nazareth. This tendency, he believes, has been motivated by a shared Christian "Holocaust guilt" and results in a contextualized second-century historical figure that is inadequate to the realities of the unique claims of both the founder and the faith or Christianity.

Zahl claims that "what has occurred within wide sectors of Christian self-understanding since 1945 has been so to detach the Jesus of history from the Christ of faith that it has become hard to say whether the Christ whom Christians worship is the same as the rabbi Jesus who taught and lived in a specific time and place." (p. 5). The result of this has been the tendency to understand Christianity as a variant of first-century Judaism, not much different in substance from the norms of Jewish ethical teachings and monotheistic belief. In the end, the risk is, as Zahl sees it, that Christianity becomes "a form of Judaism for non-Jews" (p. 5).

The corrective for this inaccurate understanding of Christianity is to understand its founder, Jesus of Nazareth, as uniquely Christian and discontinuous with his contemporary Second Temple Judaism. It is this discontinuity, claims Zahl, that becomes the centrifugal force of the movement that ultimately became the Christian church. As such, Zahl emphasizes that Jesus of Nazareth was indeed, "the first Christian" who was at the center of this centrifugal dynamic.

Zahl is not unaware, nor insensitive, to the potential discomfort that a position of choosing to understand and interpret Jesus as uniquely and overtly Christian over his ethnicity may cause. He handles those objections not only through acknowledging the risk involved, but more importantly, through the courageous commitment to theological and scholarly discipline.

The early chapters of the book contain the groundwork for the treatment of Jesus as the first Christian. They include a survey of the search for the historical Jesus movements, a responsible and balanced treatment of Jesus as a first century Jew and as a religious figure who shaped a unique eschatology that led, naturally, to a discontinuity with the Jewish religion of his time. The heart of Zahl's arguments is found in the subsequent chapters titled, "Jesus the Christian" and "The Centrifugal Force of Jesus the Christian."

This is a readable but responsible treatment of an important, often complex, subject. Zahl provides a stellar example of responsible scholarship and theological thinking.

Creative, compassionate, shocking - like the first Christian
A bold and timely application of innovative research to the human condition:

SUMMARY
Preface. This book defies the traditional categories of New Testament studies and systematic theology.
Introduction. Zahl hopes his presentation of Jesus' message will help heal racial and ethnic divisions.
Chapter 1. Search #1 for the historical Jesus failed because it sought the rationalistic Jesus of its own time. Search #2 ended with a Jesus consumed with an eschatology (theology of the end) that is as alien to modern mankind as to traditional Christianity. With the immense human suffering of the 20th century, Search #3 found hope in his eschatology. Search #4 ignored the results of Search #3 to find the Judaistic Jesus that seemed to sever the root of past anti-Semitism. Zahl sees his work as springing from Search #3.
Chapter 2. Obviously, Jesus was a first-century Jew who ministered almost exclusively to Jews in the context of his culture.
Chapter 3. The difference between the eschatology of John the Baptist and that of Jesus gave rise to Christian compassion.
Chapter 4. Five radical themes of Jesus' teaching originated from his unique eschatology: 1. repentance of the whole person, not just of specific sins; 2. exorcisms that announced the coming of the kingdom of God; 3. opposition to the contemporary interpretation of the law of Moses; 4. inner purity; 5. association with sinners.
Chapter 5. Jesus' teaching on the inability of the human heart to overcome its own depravity is supported empirically, and yet psychologically that idea cannot be accepted without the hope of salvation from above.

CRITIQE
There are some minor problems that future revisions could remedy. In some places, the book could have been improved by better editing, e.g., "former" and "latter" should have been transposed in the last sentence of the first paragraph of p. 41. Controversial statements, e.g., that the Council of Trent in effect repudiated Augustinianism, are sometimes made without supporting arguments. References provided to arguments deemed beyond the scope of this short book would help some readers.

Read Other works
Try reading 'The Incredible Shrinking Son of Man' for some true scholarship and unbiased analysis of the Jesus myth.

Maybe too reality based for some of you. ... Read more

Product Description
Along with this first full-scale critique of Christian supersessionism, Soulen's own constructive proposal regrasps the narrative unity of Christian identity and the canon through an original and important insight into the divine-human convenant, the election of Israel, and the meaning of history. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

very good assessment and conclusions drawn
Soulen's book will get you to rethink OT theology on a few levels. first is supersessionism and the place for Israel. Second, is God's dealing with mankind through the Promise(s) given to Abraham. This he says is a key to understanding many OT issues and passages and governs how God deals with Israel and the nations. Many other positive things to say, it is definetely worth the price, even though it gets a little thick in chapters where he traces the development of supersessionism (ie when talking about Rahner, Barth, etc). Not a long or hard read either.

Refreshing breath of air
One result of the Holocaust was Christianity's self-examination of its relationship to Israel and its contribution to anti-Semitism. Often, harsh criticism has been aimed at Christianity in light of these issues but there has not always been an attempt to offer an alternative understanding to help recover what seems to have been lost from Jewish-Christian relations.Soulen attempts to remedy this problem.

In the first part of his book Soulen correctly identifies the problem of supersessionism or the Church's belief of its superiority over Israel as the people of God. For Soulen, the standard model of interpreting the Scriptures (Old Testament) and the Apostolic witness (New Testament) developed over time into the belief that the Israel of old ceased to be important to the thinking of Christianity. And this unfortunate occurrence is highlighted in three pairs of thinkers: Justin Martyr and Irenaeus in the second century; Friedrich Schleiermacher and Immanuel Kant in the early modern period; and Karl Barth and Karl Rahner in the post-Holocaust years.Any self-examination on the part of Christianity must acknowledge this regrettable trend.

In his second part of the book, Soulen argues that supersessionism was the result of attempting to make the Scriptures center on Christ rather on the hope of the God of Israel as the Consummator of creation.Furthermore, Soulen presents the following proposition: the God of Israel works through his people Israel to bring about the consummation of creation, namely the eschatological shalom. If you accept Soulen's picture of the Scriptures, then you will not lose perspective on the permanent importance of Israel for the Church. What Soulen develops in this part of his book is the picture that both Testaments of the Christian bible underline the importance of Israel as the avenue through which God addresses, redeems and perfects his creation, for the Jew and for the Gentile.

Overall, I find it refreshing that Soulen endeavors to recast Christianity in light of what we have in the Bible rather than deconstruct Christianity and reinvent a new religion, as many current authors do.His reworking of our understanding of the valued place of Israel appears to parallel that of the early church, before the Fall of 70 CE, before Judaism and Christianity basically parted ways.If you are looking for an alternative model to consider regarding how the Church and Israel should interact, thus book is a good place to begin.You will come away a little frustrated as to what significance does Christ hold for Israel today. Soulen does tiptoe around that issue. But that question presented a problem for Paul (Romans 9-11) and so Soulen's work serves a good jumping off place to address the Messiah question from a Jewish perspective.

Changed the way I read the Scriptures
I've long sensed in my reading of the Bible that the writers of the New Testament books took their Jewish heritage and its meaning in God's interaction with the world far more seriously than later Christian exegetes have. The most striking example of this, of course, is the still pervasive opinion in Christendom that Saul/Paul renounced his Judaism in favor of Christianity, and advised others that Christian grace had nullified the Law of Moses. To paraphrase Soulen, Christian theology has chronically relegated Israel and God's interaction with Israel to a propaedeutic function, serving only to prepare for and foreshadow God's real work in Christ. Christian theologians have tended to interpret all of history within the economy of sin and redemption, with the result that God's distinction between Jew and Gentile is purely functional - a means to an end, namely Christ's redemption - and, therefore, after Christ being Jewish no longer has meaning in God's plan. To support this argument Galatians will inevitably be quoted: "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus." True enough, but in chapters 9-11 of Romans Paul explicitly rejects the collapsing of the Jew-Gentile distinction (and do we really want to argue that the distinctions "male" and "female" no longer have any significance in God's plan?).

Soulen demonstrates convincingly that supersessionism is not a new phenomenon, but permeates Christian theology almost from inception. While it is a bit discouraging to see that our most influential Christian theologians harbor crucial contradictions within their construal of the Biblical narrative, in this case it seems true that a problem well defined is a problem half solved. Soulen recontextualizes the economy of sin and redemption within the larger economy of creation and consummation, which enables a more coherent and consistent reading of the Biblical narrative, and holds great promise for the restoration of continuity between the Old and New Testaments.

Taking note of the review above questioning Soulen's comments on the centrality of Christ in the Biblical narrative, I would contend that Soulen's recontextualization does not minimize Christ's work, but rather clarifies how Christ's redemption victoriously accomplishes God's original intentions for God's creation. The bold thesis is that sin did not thwart God's purposes for creation, or cause God to resort to "Plan B." This is not to say that Christ's crucifixion was part of God's original intentions, but rather that, while Christ's crucifixion and resurrection were made necessary by humanity's sin, our sin and God's redemption have been beautifully, mysteriously taken up by God into God's original creative purposes.

Highly, highly recommended reading.

A Nice Explanation of Supersessionism
Soulen's work is a nice introduction to the issue of supersessionism from someone who disagrees with this doctrine. The best part of this work is his categorization of the three main types of supersessionism: (1) punitive (Israel is rejected because of disobedience); (2) economic (Israel's special role has expired with the coming of the church); and (3) structural (the Hebrew Scriptures are ignored).
Soulen also does a good job of showing how theologians such as Kant and Schleiermacher have contributed to the view that God is forever done with national Israel.
The reader should be aware that this book is mostly historical and philosophical. It does not grapple with keys texts such as Matthew 21:43; Galatians 6:16; and 1 Peter 2:9-10. Thus, someone looking for a biblical examination of supersessionism will need to look elsewhere. Still, for an overall introduction to supersessionism from a historical point of view, this is a good book to get.

Unity at what price?
I agree with Dr. Soulen completely on his assessment of the problem.Supersession is simply incorrect doctrine.I agree with all of his analysis of the latent problems that exist in supersessionist doctrine.I am completely in favor of unifying the content of all of the Scriptures, Old and New Testament.

I disagree strongly with Dr. Soulen's new interpretive scheme that accomplishes these goals, however.I do believe there is a way to unify the Scriptures, and to reconcile Old and New Testament, Law and Grace, Israel and the Church.But Dr. Soulen believes it is necessary to see God _primarily_ as consummator rather than redeemer, while I would propose that the secret to unifying the scriptures is to see him as the revelator.

Anyway, the field is complex and would be difficult to cover in a short review.The following two quotes from the concluding chapter of Dr. Soulen's book will have to suffice to illustrate the implications of his approach:

Page 172:

"The church is commissioned to make disciples of all the nations... It has no comparable commission to seek the "conversion" of the Jewish people.This is especially true of the gentile church.Nothing in the Apostolic Witness [the New Testament] remotely suggests the validity of a gentile-Christian mission to non-Christian Jews.Christians should not hide or minimize their faith in conversation with Jews.But the church, above all in its gentile portion, should cease organized mission efforts among the Jewish people.Instead the church of the Gentiles should seek to live before the Jewish people in such a way that Israel can reasonably infer that here the nations of the world truly worhip the God of Israel and in this way manifest the truth of its gospel.(see Rom 11:13-14)."

Page 175:

"The unity of the Christian canon is not best unlocked by insisting that everything in the Bible points toward Jesus Christ... Without doubt everything turns on Christ, but not everything concerns Christ."

I am trying to be fair in extracting enough of the above passages to show that Dr. Soulen is not completely one-sided.If I had left out some of those sentences, of course the passages would have seemed more extreme.

Nevertheless, I disagree with Dr. Soulen on these specific points and several others.I do believe that the unity of the Scriptures is best unlocked by showing how everything points toward Jesus Christ.I believe the Scriptures document the gradual revelation of the nature of God, for his own glory.I believe that Hebrews 1:1-4 states that Jesus is the final Word of revelation of God's character.

I think it is possible to see the Scriptures this way and still avoid the problems that Dr. Soulen (correctly) decries, those of triumphalism and latent gnosticism.

Despite our disagreement, the motivation segment of this book is right-on, and I am glad that Dr. Soulen has exposed these problems as well as he did.I hope this can be the beginning of further discussion of ways to resolve these issues. ... Read more

Product Description
Covers the emergence of hermeneutical questions in the patristic period. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Hermeneutics aren't what they used to be.
Froehlich gives an introduction to the Jewish background, and first four centuries of Christian Bible interpretation.Methods from the pre-christian rabbis to Augustine are examined.

It is surprising to see how different the interpretaions by early theologians are from their counterparts today.Early interpreters saw different levels of meaning in the text.There was a literal surface level for the unspiritual, and a deeper level for the spiritual.Not all interpreters agreed on allegorical interpretation, but all acknowledged the divine author of Scripture put deeper meaning and hidden treasures of revelation in the sacred text.

Translations of eight ancient authors are given in the rest of the book.

Sifra
Ptolemy
Irenaeus
Origen
Papyrus Michigan Inv. 3718
Diodore of Tarsus (2 texts)
Theodore of Mopsuestia
Tyconius

I found the book very intresting and informative.Froehlich does a great job of describing interpretation during those early years.

One just assumes the Bible was always interpreted in a literal fashion like it is today.I think this kind of knowledge is a little hard to find. ... Read more

Product Description
The writings in this volume cast a glimmer of light upon the emerging traditions and organization of the infant church, during an otherwise little-known period of its development. A selection of letters and small-scale theological treatises from a group known as the Apostolic Fathers, several of whom were probably disciples of the Apostles, they provide a first-hand account of the early Church and outline a form of early Christianity still drawing on the theology and traditions of its parent religion, Judaism. Included here are the first "Epistle of Bishop Clement of Rome", an impassioned plea for harmony; "The Epistle of Polycarp"; "The Epistle of Barnabas"; "The Didache"; and, the Seven Epistles written by Ignatius of Antioch - among them his moving appeal to the Romans that they grant him a martyr's death. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (18)

Very Nice Little Book
I was very happy to find that not only are the translations in this little book easy to understand, in many ways they are better than the majority of of the same books a person can find translated online for free.The only negative thing I have to say is that it is too bad that there weren't more books in this book.I'm keeping this on my desk for reference material now.

Be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks!
1 Peter 3:15 states "...Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect"

This book is a valuable resource on two fronts for the Christian that wants to learn more and defend the faith.

First, these writings give great insight to the issues and challenges confronting the nascent church. To me, the most entertaining and eye-opening of all the writings is the letter from Polycarp to the Phillipians. According to many sources, Polycarp was a student of the John the Apostle and is unwavering in defending the faith and the importance of the church maintaining its adherence to Biblical teachings....as true today as it was two thousand years ago.

Second, these writings are important for refuting the spurious claims of those that would attack the validity of the Bible. I come in contact with a number of atheists and agnostics and often hear from them that "the New Testament wasn't even written until 200-300 CE" (or AD for us traditionalists!). I can't BELIEVE how often I hear that particular piece of misinformed garbage! This book is just one of many ways to refute that claim.

Specifically, both the writings of Polycarp and Barnabas quote from the New Testament - not refer, but quote...as in word-for-word...verbatim. This is especially true for Polycarp - heck, he quotes from both the Gospels and the Epistles so much that I bet if there was a "fair-use doctrine" back in the early 100's he would have pushed the limits!

Of course, I'm exaggerating a bit but in Polycarp's letter to the Philippians there are 14 quotes from the New Testament...books that some claim were not written until 150 years after Polycarp's death!

The fact of the matter is that I just don't have enough faith to look beyond the overwhelming evidence of the validity of the New Testament..and this book is a well-organized and informative collection of a small piece of that body of evidence.

Needed and Useful
This book contains not only the words of the Early Church Fathers but their words are put in a modern translation that is easy to read and just better than previous English translations. You will learn a lot about what the Early Church believed and how they lived. A must read for anyone who wants to learn more about the Early Christians, Early Church.

Affordable Yet Priceless Heritage
It is debatable whether we can truly know our faith without having considered what those who have gone before us discovered. C. S. Lewis warned about generational amnesia - that is, forgetting by ignoring what previous generations have learned. The early church understanding of who Jesus was and is gives us a better sense of why we believe as we do. And it stands in stark contrast against the accusations that the church has become something far different from what it once was. The doctrines of today are developments of the seeds planted in that early church.

The Staniforth translation is crisp and readable. The Penguin Classic price is right. There is no excuse for neglecting this priceless heritage.

WOW! We have writings of early trusted church pastors!
Why isn't this book on every evangelical seminary's guidebook to help us avoid many of the false teachings of the modern cults and churches? After studying in seminary and being mostly influenced by Dallas Seminary's Lewis Sperry Chafer and majority of trusted pastors of the last 150-200 years (Charles Spurgeon, Charles Swindoll, Graham, Kenneth Wuest, D.L. Moody, Matthew Henry, G.Campbell Morgan, J. Vernon Mcgee, and host of other popular writers), this is the first time I have known that we have actual writings of the early church pastors in such an easy to read guide format.

How the faithful looked at their impending martyrdom is beautifully seen in "the letter of Ignatius to the Church in Rome" and in Pastor Polycarp's martyrdom written down by the faithful for our edification. It is amazing how their view of faith included trust in Christ all the way to the end, just like John Wesley taught.

It is awesome to know that the early Church always baptized in the name of the Holy Trinity as I read in the last pages of this book, in "teachings (didache/gk) of the apostles".

It is awesome to read that worshipping Christ as God was a normal practice of faith among early Christians from the beginning and how much these trusted pastors exalted our LORD's words and life, death and resurection as the foundation for all Christians.

Surprisingly, our early church also saw great significance in the life of Christ as they saw our imitation of Christ's Perfect life to be a holy goal of every Christian every day of our lives. They did not interpret "be ye perfect as your Father in Heaven is" allegorically or as pre-Grace-dispensational in any way. To them, good works of Love motivated by Faith in Christ's Perfect Life and passionate suffering at the Cross, with His victory over satan through death and Resurrection, was a much stronger emphasis of the basis for our Salvation than simply saying a "magical" 4 laws or sinner's prayer to welcome Jesus in our hearts. The early Church's view of God's Grace is clear: "By Grace you are saved, not by your own doing, but by the will of God in Christ Jesus" spoken by Polycarp, the trusted disciple of John called and appointed to lead the Church in Smyrna. However, it is also true that they took Paul's words in Galations 5 as Holy Scripture and took all of Christ's words inline with James' letter, rather than show an adverserial relationship between Christian good works and our faith in Christ. To them, Christ's calling to holiness, His perfect obedience through the pains of the cross, revealed faithful calling of the Christian to live holy lives as part of our salvation, rather than as a separate past/present/future salvation message that I have heard by majority of our teachers in the past 200 years.

I was surprised to read that John Calvin, Martin Luther, and John Wesley, honored many of these early Christian writings and always taught reading them for edification and Biblical understanding as PART of our sola scriptura belief, and they never intended that anyone should read the scriptures and privately interpret it against the writings of all these early church pastor's teachings. No wonder all Christians everywhere agreed for majority of the first 1800 years of our faith on the significance of Baptism, Holy communion and hosts of other early church practices and beliefs and none of them tried to use "saved by Grace unto good works" as beyond what the early church taught, that there are jewish cereminial laws we were freed from unto Christian good works in Love.

The view of humility in Ignatius truly is humbling against majority of our teaching in the western culture, since he would never want any believer to independent of the Apostolic Christian Church to exalt oneself above the honest teachings of the Apostles and trusted pastors of the early church.

I would highly recommend this translation. Easy to read and follow without liberal antiChristian slants from some other early church books. The print material is also easy to read unlike the glaring papers used by Meier's Eusebius edition and there is not much antiChristian antihistorical Christian bias one finds in some of the early church translations. ... Read more

Product Description
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. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

Bible Study Leading to Holiness not Haughtiness
Douglas Burton-Christie has produced an excellent, readable work of scholarship that reveals the seminal value of biblical text for the Christian monastics of fourth-century Egypt. Burton-Christie explores the spirituality of these early monks within the three major divisions of the book: The Desert Hermeneutic in Its Setting, Approaches to the Word in the Desert, and The Word Realized. I particularly enjoyed his chapter on "The Humble Way of Christ", which explores the virtue of humility as an essential monastic spiritual trait. He also tackles the often misunderstood concept of monastic renunciation as rightly understood to be a spiritual tool to develop an inner freedom for the monk, which finds its parallels in monastic traditions of other faiths.

I would recommend this book for anyone interested in delving more fully into the spirituality of early Christian monasticism as well as for those who wish to see how the primitive roots of Christian monasticism touch other, non-Christian, spiritual traditions.It is particularly gratifying to see how the early monks, while devoted to the study and memorization of Scripture, allowed the Word to work deeply towards a profound expression of Christian love.

Words of Biblical Wisdom: The Marvels ofthe Monastic Garden

Monastic Origins:
Nothing is more likely than Alexandrian Christianity gained adherents among the Therapeutae, and that their institutions were adapted to the new religion. Eusebius was so much struck by the likeness of the Therapeutae to the Christian monks of his own day as to claim that they were Christians converted by the preaching of St Mark, which is most likely.
"The semi anchoritic character of the Therapeutae community, the renunciation of property , the solitude during the six days of the week and the gathering together on Saturday for the common prayer and the common meal, the severe fasting , the keeping alive of the memory of God, the continuous prayer , the meditation and study of Holy Scripture were also practices of the Christian anchorites of the Alexandrian desert." (Prof. C. Scouteris)

The Desert, a City:
In the fourth century, the deserts of Egypt became the center of a resurgent Therapeutae movement, we now call monasticism. Groups of Christians, illiterate peasants as well as learned intellectuals moved out to the deserts beyond the Nile Valley and, in the famous words of Saint Athanasius, made the desert a city. They perfected the techniques of discipleship and spiritual direction, of prayer and asceticism, that have remained central to monasticism ever since. Seeking to guide the soul's long journey into God, plotting out the subtle ills of the human heart, they practiced wisdom sayings, and maintained oral tradition of the Fathers teachings. These Desert monks were also brilliant storytellers, some of Christianity's finest, inspiring the Eastern monastic communities, and translated to became classics of Western spirituality.

The Word in the Desert:
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 unique book explores the setting of which the early monastic movement emerged, the elders interpretive methods as a catalyst of the desert fathers' quest for holiness, and the spiritual meaning lived through their words.

Words only as response:
The Word of Biblical wisdom, centered on sayings and teachings of Jesus Christ, were taken seriously by the Desert Fathers, as a personal guide for their lives. Later on, through careful analysis of their sayings: The Apophthegmata Partum, called by Coptic monks and laity; "The monastic Garden" were recorded and used as early as the Pachomian later koinonia, and read to this moment in the refractory during meals to the congregating Coptic monks. Starting with their hermeneutic, and how scripture was their fountain for holiness. D. Burton-Christie offers a fascinating tour in their ever living thought, that reveals secrets of the continuity of Coptic Monastic Traditions: from its origin and through its growth, within the setting in Sketes.
The monastic tradition of silence limits advise to a question, as St. Macarius, instructing us in response to Evagrius Ponticus request: "Do not speak, unless when asked to" i.e. in response to a question. Wisdom words in response to a question was the basic way of teaching in Alexandria Catechetical school, in Q&A., an effective Neoplatonic tradition.

Epilogue:
D. B-C came to few conclusions of his in depth analytical study of the Desert fathers, stressing the vital role at which scripture 'permeated' their experience, and shaped their capacity to make sense and live the word, and inspired their quest for holiness, and shaped their spirituality. He rightly concluded that scripture may have played a central role in this process, and that certain key biblical texts may have influenced the development of early monasticism.
He claims that it is utterly clear that the texts were proclaimed, recited, memorized (especially the Psalms), ruminated upon, and discussed.

Most Cited Scripture:
The author gave an index of Biblical citations and their frequency in the 'Sayings,' the most complete count is from Mortari's translation. Biblical citations from the OT, Psalms is the most frequent, then Genesis, Isaiah, and quotations of Matthew are the most frequent from the NT, followed by Luke and John, Hebrews and James reflect the Alexandrine tradition, from Revelation only 1.
This confirms that in spite of the differences in the sources of the sayings, the Greek translation, albeit some obvious glosses, is generally representative.
For a Coptologist, it is clear that a story as the identity of Melchizedek (p 170) is a Byzantine addition, since this monks bragging is contrary to the tradition.

Analysis of the role of Scripture and Sanctified Living among Monks
Douglas Burton-Christie is a professor of Christian Spirituality at Loyola Marymount University specializing in monastic studies.This book is a reworking of his doctoral dissertation.As such, "The Word in the Desert," is extremely throrough, scholarly, and keeps the central thesis in mind throughout.

Burton-Christie's purpose in writing is to examine "how the use and interpretation of Scripture shaped the quest for holiness amongst the desert monks of early Christianity (4)."But before he begins examining the role of Scripture and Sprituality, he devotes significant space to the formation of and life in early monastic communities (and why not? This is a doctoral dissertation).While this section was interesting and provided some necessary foundations, this section was the most frustrating to read as I was anxious for Burton-Christie to actually get into the meat of his thesis.

Once the backgound of monstacism was firmly in place, Burton-Christie moved into monstic ideals of the Holy Life and the role Scriputre played in this life.The interplay between these two ideas made for an informative and enjoyable read.The illustrations were excellent and made the weighty subject matter entertaining.As a result of reading this book, my knowledge of and respect for the monastic lifestyle has grown.

I would recommend this book, but those who have had some historical and/or theoligical training would benefit most from reading it.

Desert Fathers quest for holiness, embodying the Word

"The Desert Fathers quest for holiness and the shape of their spirituality, suggests that their continuous rumination upon scripture, their desire to embody the texts in their lives, was a primary source of the compelling spirituality that emerged from the desert."D. Burton-Christie, Epilogue


The Book in perspective:
Twelve years after winning of 'The College Theology Society's 1993 annual Book Award, D. Burton-Christies' revised dissertation, published under the name: The word in the desert, is still holding to its position as 'a major work of scholarship in desert spirituality,' borrowing commonweal's review words, even if the study has limited its main source of the sayings to the Apophthegmata Patrum.

Integrity of the Sayings:
When Didaskalex mentions in his review, "The Apophthegmata Partum, called by Coptic monks and laity; "The monastic Garden," he should have mentioned the inferiority of the Greek secondary writings to the original Coptic sources. As the eminent scholar, Sidney Griffith (thirteenth president of Am. Pat. Soc. 1986-88) has expressed, "But when the scope of the study is Egyptian desert monasticism as a whole, this single work, the Apophthegmata, is too narrow a base to use exclusively. It is time to discuss the monastic phenomenon in a holistic way which does not introduce unnecessary distinctions based on the different languages of the sources, in this instance Coptic and Greek."
The author anticipated a reply to the problem, "The reciprocal literary influence among the various texts from the world of early monasticism make it difficult to find the seams between the different writings. I have already suggested the probability of the Vita Antonii's influence on the Sayings. It is very likely that other early monastic writers, such as Evagrius, also helped shape certain features." (p. 93)

The Word realized:
Fr. S. Griffith wrote, in this book review, "One does not mean to complain immoderately, nor to appear ungrateful for what is on its own term a good study of a timely and an important topic; nor does one want to review a book the author never intended to write." But his own Am. Pat. Soc. successor Charles Kannengiesser, an expert on the subject, in an address "Scripture and Spirituality in Ancient Christianity;" set his goal as "relevant for our contemporary self identification as Christians,' not to 'announce an archaeological survey.'
D. B-Christie concluded in his epilogue that, on at least three levels, "It is now possible to see with renewed clarity the profound way in which scripture shaped the spirituality of the early Christian monks." These are in order: shedding new light on our historical understanding of early monasticism, promoting monks to make sense of and living within the world of scripture, and a new meaning for the quest for holiness.

The Word shines in the Apophthegmata Patrum
The Word in The desert:
This fine study explores the interpretive process and effective application as the center of the desert fathers' quest for holiness. The setting within which the early monastic movement centered was on the guidance of the enlightened Elders, their insight into the good news that set you free, and their schemes of following the Lord by Kenosis into Theosis (The Imitation of Christ).
In three systematic parts, D. Burton-Christie instruct us with a goal: the Realization of the Word, by the Desert Fathers, through careful analysis of their sayings: The Apophthegmata Partum, called by Coptic monks and laity; "The monastic Garden" is his spiritual archeological field. Starting with their hermeneutic, and how scripture was their fountain for holiness. Chapter 3 , is a fascinating tour in their ever living thought. D.B-C reveals secrets of the continuity of Coptic Monastic Traditions: from its origin and through its growth, within the setting in Scetes. Words in response to a question reminded me of Macarius, instructing us in response to Evagrius Ponticus request: "Do not speak, unless when asked to". Wisdom words in response to a question was the basic way of teaching in Alexandria's Catechism: of Q & A., well observed by Roman Catholics today

Theomystical Analysis:
This study represents a radical change in the historical study of the fathers into the source of their spiritual powers and endurance, a main support to Alexandrine Orthodoxy, best represented through Athanasius, and Cyril, both got their monastic training in Nitria. This inward study of the core wisdom of those fathers of the Universal Church is a fruit of a genuine analysis of the reflection of the Word in their life, monasticism and the Church's life in Christ.
The book also discusses the early social organization of the monasteries founded in the desert, Scetes of Nitria and kellia. Through their catechetical discourses with novices and sages, their tradition emerged and grew, developed in the intricate patterns of meaning woven into their words and their lives. Many of them proved their true faith (St. Mark, longer ending), that opens the door to mystical life.

A Wave of Mystical Fascination:
The growing fascination, in recent decades, of the mystical world of late antiquity, renewed in the up surging revival of the desert monastic devotion as illustrated by the ecumenical fellowship of St. Macarius, and visits to St. Anthony communities, only treated their life and some of their sayings, preserved in the Apophthegmata Patrum: (Monastic Garden), giving many anecdotes about their spiritual trials and discipleship to their mentors 'Old men'. In the last two centuries, in the cradle of monasticism, some holy men, Abba Sarap-Amon, the veiled, Abba Abraam, the Almoner Bishop of Fayyum (Arsenoe), and many others, crowned by the thematurge (wonder worker): Papa Abba Kyrillos (1959-71), revived the curiosity of scholars from Leeder to Dr. Inge, the Gloomy dean, and recently from Thomas Merton to Benedicta Ward. Presently, devoted scholarship of C. Kannengiesser, J.McGuckin, O.Meinardus, T. Spidlik, T.Vivian, and J. Watson following W. Budge, D. Chitty, J. Danielou, A. Guillaumont, and U. von Balthassar.

The Quest for Holiness:
Western scholars have mostly focused on the quest for holiness by the early Christian monks known as the desert fathers, and mothers. Yet until now, little attention has been given to their most vital tool of practical spirituality, acquired by their penetrating interpretation of the Scripture, The desert fathers' mystically enlightened hermeneutics. It profoundly shaped every aspect of their lives, rooted in solitude, and cultivated in stillness, a fruit of meditation on the word. Their practical appropriation of the sacred texts, and mystical interpretation of real Christianity, and its unrelenting application in every day life became the central corpus of practice of their enlightening wisdom.

Holiness through TheoGnosis:
Many of these early fourth century desert dwellers had a limited access to the scripture, since the bible was translated to Bohairic Coptic in the late fourth century. They lacked any written spiritual instruction, and some of them could not even read, they would go to their spiritual fathers and beg for a "word of profit: guiding wisdom;" a verse of scripture that they would repeat to themselves, apply it in their daily life and live it within their hearts.
The Elders interpretation of scripture was mostly allegorical, since Origen influence was very profound, its spiritual sense may have grown out of his mystical writings, developed later into apophatic theology. A powerful biblical support was Jesus parable of the publican; Lord have mercy on me, a sinner. They called this unceasing prayer; 'The arrow prayer': Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on me. ... Read more

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This is the first treatise in ancient Christian literature on the problem of the salvation of infidels. It is a controversial work written against the Semi-Pelagians about the year 450, probably at Rome. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A great defense of Augustinianism
Prosper of Aquitaine was a layman in the 5th century who fought valiantly against the encroaching system of semi-pelagianism. Earlier in his career, Prosper defended a strict Augustinianism including the idea of double predestination and limited atonement (to some extent at least). By the time this book was written, Prosper's Augustinianism was in a milder form. Prosper clearly affirms single predestination, the idea the God saves man by pure grace alone, apart from anything he can do. At the same time, He affirms that Christ died for all men, and if anyone is lost, it is due to his own sin, not to God's predestination. This milder Augustinianism predominated for some time and was officially recognized at the Council of Orange in the next century under the guidance of Caesarius of Arles. This position was eventually accepted by the Lutheran Reformation. Martin Luther himself highly praised this book, though he thought it to be written by St. Ambrose. ... Read more

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This book tells how a group of Protestant theologians forged a theology of international engagement for America in the 1930s and 40s, and how in doing so they informed the public rationale for the United States' participation in World War II and stimulated American leadership in establishing both secular and international organizations for the promotion of world order.This remarkable group included Henry P. Van Dusen, Reinhold Niebuhr, John Bennett, Francis P. Miller, Georgia Harkness, and Samual McCrea Cavert.Warren show how, in creating a coherent, theologically-derived position and bringing it to bear on contemporary international issues, this group combined ideas with public action in a way that set the standard for American theologians' social activism in the years to come. ... Read more

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A collection of five lectures which provide a study of the demonic in New Testament literature and thought, with summaries of demonology in the Greek and Jewish literature of that era. ... Read more

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A look at the lives of women in antiquity

Using letters from 203 to 420 AD as well as Greek and Latin autobiographical and biographical accounts, this essential volume explores the daily existence of women in ancient times.

... Read more

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Customer Reviews (20)

Early Church History Crash Course
A personal deficiency in the area of church history has hindered me in the past, but, short of taking seminary courses, I didn't know what I could do about it.This book came to me with a strong recommendation from a knowledgeable friend whom I trust, and it has not disappointed.At this point I am only a third of the way through, but I have already found it valuable in "filling in a lot of blanks" regarding the development of doctrine and philosophical thought on several church issues with important contemporary implications.

An absolute and unequivocal must-read for any Christian
Seldom does a book capture such breadth in its scope while nonetheless maintaining a profundity of depth as does this initial volume in Pelikan's monumental 5 volume series on the history of the development of doctrine.The reader should know going into this (and Pelikan himself makes this abundantly clear in his intro, and numerous times throughout this book and the other 4 volumes) that this is not a history per se.That is, the socio-political, geographical, and economic find scarce mention or detail in this book unless it bears direct relevance to the development in doctrinal or philosophical ideas.Rather Pelikan's focus is on the development of Christian doctrinal issues such as the deity of Christ, the Trinity, Church, Grace, Baptism Sin, etc... (Pelikan is hesitant to use the word "evolution," because this would seem to imply fundamental change rather than continuity through variation, addition, and subtraction).

Dispassionate throughout, Pelikan provides a relatively neutral (though, of course, orthodox) commentary on developments ranging from the initial Jewish/Gentile conflicts, to Gnosticism and Donatism, up into the later Arian, Nestorian, Monophysite, Monothelite, and Pelagian controversies.What becomes clear throughout Pelikan's exposition is that "The truth, even the truth of the Gospels, is never pure and clear, and rarely simple." (p.266)In this I might say that the chapter on the Trinity is worth the price of admission by itself.Despite the complexities involved in the debate (in, e.g. the so-called "Arian," controversy, though that name is hardly apt to describe the whole of anti-Nicene theology as Pelikan and others have pointed out) Pelikan shows how and why the controversy developed, and why Niceno-Constantinopolitan Trinitarianism can be seen as a consistent, and above all necessary addendum to what many perceive as the "simple," and "non-speculative," content of the Gospel.The concept of the Trinity is so intimately tied to the identity of Christ, the commitment to Monotheism, the adamant idea of our salvation which was won through Christ's life, death, and resurrection, and our overall interpretation of the Gospel and the Bible, that without it the fundamental meaning of the story is lost.Indeed this is one of the guiding themes of Pelikan's work: Doctrine is necessary to understand the Bible because in its credo formulations it is essentially summarizing the content of the Bible itself while simultaneously answering new questions that arise (e.g. if Christ saves, is he not also God?Is he merely divine, and hence less than the Father while greater than man?And what of the Spirit? etc...)

A second theme overall guiding this work is Pelikan pays close attention to what has been called the lex orandi lex credendi, or that the law of prayer is the law of belief.In many cases it is interesting to note that the fundamental regulative device in the development of doctrine was not speculative esotericism reflecting endlessly upon minute adiaphora of the Christian faith, but rather doctrine was often theoretical adjudication based upon a phenomenological analysis of the worship and prayer life already occurring in the Church (one thinks for instance of the intricate philosophical lattice that was woven to describe the two natures of Christ, which stemmed in a large part from liturgy which called Mary "Theotokos," or the God-bearer.Theology had to ask what this could mean conceptually).

One final (and lesser) note is that I found Pelikan's method of margin reference (harking back to the Medievalcommentary system) refreshing, though not always efficient.While it is a great change of pace (and beats parenthetical citation and endnotes any day of the week) and allows for your own marginal notation commenting on Pelikan's work, nonetheless it doesnt work very well when Pelikan has to cite multiple references.In this volume it is not so bad, but, for example in the 3rd volume there are sections of voluminous citation where the margins are literally jam-packed with references and it is occasionally difficult to tell just what reference is referring to what.But this is a completely minor complaint.

Overall this is an absolute must read.Too often (myself included) we are so ignorant of not only our current beliefs, but how we got there and why it is important.This is a great initial step to correcting that deficiency.

Required Reading
It would be hard to overestimate the depth of scholarship or importance of Jaroslav Pelikan's "The Christian Tradition" series. Written from the early 1970's through the late 1980's, this 5-volume series is the definitive standard on that elusive, and sometimes controversial, subject: the development of Christian doctrine.

For many Christians today, it is subconsciously assumed that the practices, doctrines and beliefs of today's church are simply identical to those of the first century. In fact, often it is the goal of founders of new churches and movements to restore the church to that pristine state. However, this assumption shows a lack of understanding both of the historical record as well as how the Holy Spirit works throughout the ages. Christian history shows us two sometimes conflicting trends. The first is a trend towards traditionalism, in which the powers that be in the church wish to keep the status quo, mostly to keep their own power base. On the other hand, there is the tradition of deeper understanding of the profound truths found in the teachings of Jesus and his apostles. The former trend is exactly what Jesus condemned in the Pharisees; the latter is part of the working of the Holy Spirit to lead the Church to all truth (cf. John 16:12-13). Skeptics tend to blend the two trends into one, and Christians often warn against the former trend but ignore (or even reject) the later. As Pelikan explains in the introduction:

"Tradition without history has homogenized all the stages of development into one statically defined truth; history without tradition has produced a historicism that relativized the development of Christian doctrine in such a way as to make it the distinction between authentic growth and cancerous aberration seem completely arbitrary...Tradition is the living faith of the dead; traditionalism is the dead faith of the living."

Pelikan defines Christian belief as the way the Church "believes, teaches, and confesses." He is careful not to reduce history simply to the writings of the major figures of the times, or reduce Christian belief only to defined doctrines. One of the primary insights of this book is that Pelikan recognizes the important place the liturgy plays in the transmission and defense of Christian doctrine. For example, when discussing the Arian crisis of the fourth century, in which many bishops and faithful taught that Christ was a creature, not God made man, Pelikan points out that one of the primary tools the orthodox Christians used in their defense was the fact that Christians had worshiped Christ as God in the liturgy for 300 years. As all Christians recognized the central place of the liturgy in the life of the church, this argument was quite powerful against the Arians. This is just one case in which Pelikan digs deeper than most to discover the way in which Christian doctrine developed over the centuries.

I cannot recommend this book - and the whole series - highly enough. "The Christian Tradition" is required reading for any serious student of Christian history.

Standard Reference
Pelikan's 5 volume series on Christian Tradition has become a fairly standard reference work that is accessible to newer students as well as those more familiar with Christianity.

Inventive, thorough and concise scholarship
Pelikan has written a very useful, accessible and noteworthy history of the beginnings of Chirstianity covering the major issues in a creative and lucid manner.Certainly, a book worthy of the library. ... Read more

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Christian Pilgrimage in Modern Western Europe is a commanding exploration of the importance of religious shrines in modern Roman Catholicism.By analyzing more than 6,000 active shrines and contemporary patterns of pilgrimage to them, the authors establish the cultural significance of a religious tradition that today touches the lives of millions of people.

Roman Catholic pilgrimage sites in Western Europe range from obscure chapels and holy wells that draw visitors only from their immediate vicinity to the world-famous, often-thronged shrines at Rome, Lourdes, and F‡tima.These shrines generate at least 70 million religiously motivated visits each year, with total annual visitation exceeding 100 million.Substantial numbers of pilgrims at major shrines come from the Americas and other areas outside Western Europe.

Mary Lee Nolan and Sidney Nolan describe and interpret the dimensions of Western European pilgrimage in time and space, a cultural-geographic approach that reveals regional variations in types of shrines and pilgrimages in the sixteen countries of Western Europe.They examine numerous legends and historical accounts associated with cult images and shrines, showing how these reflect ideas about humanity, divinity, and environment.

The Nolans demonstrate that the dynamic fluctuations in Christian pilgrimage activities over the past 2,000 years reflect socioeconomic changes and technological transformations as well as shifting intellectual orientations.Increases and decreases in the number of shrines established coincide with major turning points in European history, for pilgrimage, no less than wars, revolutions, and the advent of urban-industrial society, is an integral part of that history.Pilgrimage traditions have been influenced by—and have influenced—science, literature, philosophy, and the arts.

Christian Pilgrimage in Modern Western Europe is based on ten years of research.The Nolans collected information on 6,150 shrines from published material, correspondence with bishops and shrine administrators, and interviews.They visited 852 Western European shrines in person.Their book will be of interest to many general readers and of special value to historians, cultural geographers, students of comparative religion, anthropologists, social psychologists, and shrine administrators. ... Read more

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This edition presents in English language, and in convenient-size soft cover volumes, a selection of the most indispensable Christian treatises written before the end of the sixteenth century. These books meet the need of lay people and libraries, students and pastors, for a single set of books containing the great literature of the Christian heritage. The texts are heightened in usefulness by a wealth of introductory material, explanatory notes, bibliographies, and indexes. The contents of each volume are exactly the same as in the original hardbound edition. ... Read more

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A study of how women figured in public reaction to the church from New Testament times to the second century CE. MacDonald shows the conviction of pagan writers that female initiative was central to Christianity's development, and the belief that women inclined toward excesses in religion. Concern in the New Testament and early Christian texts about the respectability of women is seen in a new light when one appreciates that outsiders focused on early church women and their activities as a reflection of the group as a whole. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

New Insights into the women of early Christianity
MacDonald's book is wonderful in the way she picks up on clues that had been passed over before. By examining Christian texts and texts that criticized Christianity, we are able to find out what were the concerns of society in the first two centuries in regard to Christian women. She did a wonderful job in using socio-cultural anthropology and careful exegetical examination of the texts. It is a learned book yet easy to read that does not go into any extremes but simply makes an honest assessment of women's contributions in early Christianity. MacDonald's contributions are subtle points but have a great impact on the views and mindset of anyone studying early Christianity.
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