After centuries of unresolved dispute over the question of whether the Mystagogic Catecheses belongs among the works of St. Cyril of Jerusalem, this book finally settles the controversy. These post-baptismal Easter sermons are a prized witness to the way the rites of initiation (baptism, confirmation, and Eucharist) were celebrated in fourth-century Jerusalem and for the rich sacramental theology they contain. Uncertain authorship has prevented the text from being fully appreciated as an integral part of Cyril's works. Cyril's reputation as a catechist is time-honored, and his Baptismal Catecheses has served as an invaluable source of early Church doctrine and practice. Scholars can now confidently include the mystagogic sermons in their study of Cyril's doctrinal and sacramental theology and practice. This study addresses much more than the question of authorship. A thorough examination of the Mystagogic Catecheses in conjunction with Cyril's Baptismal Catecheses provides a new view into his life and thought as both catechist and mystagogue. It begins with a survey of those aspects of Cyril's life and his Jerusalem church that are relevant to reassessing the authorship of the Mystagogic Catecheses. It then examines the text's manuscript tradition, literary tradition, and date. There follows the most extensive section, a comparative analysis of the disputed sermons and Cyril's Baptismal Catecheses in the areas of liturgical rites, theology, spirituality, and literary style. The text is then compared to the known works of the contending author, John II of Jerusalem. Finally, the sermons are subjected to a stylometric analysis, that is, a computer-based statistical analysis of literary style. This book will be welcomed by scholars of early Christianity, especially those interested in the life and works of Cyril of Jerusalem. Of special interest is its treatment of the history and development of liturgy in the Christian East through the fourth century. This is the first volume in the Patristic Monograph Series of the North American Patristic Society to be published by the Catholic University of America Press. ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Alexis James Doval is associate professor of religious studies at Saint Mary's College of California. PRAISE FOR THE BOOK: "[A] considerable contribution to a vexed but vital question about Cyril and the mystagogical catacheses. . . . Doval's study is a must for any patrologist interested in liturgical history and theology, concerned about the resurgence of the Jerusalem church, studying the development of catachesis and catechumenate, or exploring questions related to the controversies of the fourth century."--Prof. Thomas Finn, College of William and Mary "The persistent question of authorship receives a comprehensive treatment in this work. . . . The door on John's authorship of the mystagogical catechesis is not completely closed, but for Doval it remains an improbability at best. Barring new evidence, it will probably never be opened wide again in the wake of this study."--William P. McDonald, Journal of Early Christian Studies "[A]n important purchase for libraries which have patristics collections or collections in the history of doctrine and liturgy." Cecil R. White, Catholic Library World "Doval's cumulative case is compelling, and the onus must now be on those who dispute Cyril's authorship to justify continued dissent. . . . [A]n important contribution to studies of Cyril of Jerusalem and the fourth-century liturgy of the Holy City."--Bryan D. Spinks, Journal of Ecclesiastical History "[This] book offers a very carefully defined structure and method for dealing with a highly complicated question." -- Pablo F. Argarate, Toronto Journal of Theology

Cyril was bishop in Jerusalem from c350-351 AD until 386 AD. His writings are an important source for the history of early Christian doctrine. This book provides full English translations, with explanatory commentary, of his most important works. The introduction covers Cyril's life; his historical and archaeological context; his theology; and contemporary doctrine and practice. This will be essential reading for students and scholars of patristics, and those studying the history of the early Church and late antiquity.

This study of the life and works of Cyril, Bishop of Jerusalem, assesses Cyril's thought in the context of fourth-century theological developments and includes up-to-date translations of a selection of his writings.

This volume deals with the episcopate of Cyril of Jerusalem (350 to 387). Its overall theme is the relationship between the city and its bishop and, in particular, Cyril's efforts to promote Jerusalem as the Christian city "par excellence," by employing Jerusalem's religious symbols - the holy sites and the Cross. Apart from chapters on Jerusalem in the fourth century C.E. and on the life and works of Cyril, this study discusses important aspects and events of Cyril's episcopacy, such as his pastoral work as an urban bishop of the Jerusalem Christian community, Jerusalem's liturgy, the rebuilding of the Temple, giving a re-interpretation of the Syriac letter ascribed to Cyril about this event, and Jerusalem's and Palestine's religious landscape.

In this groundbreaking and provocative book, Jonathan Malesic argues that the best way for Christians to be caretakers of their tradition and to love their neighbors selflessly is to conceal their religious identity in American public life. The alternative--insisting on Christianity's public visibility in politics, the marketplace, and the workplace--risks severely compromising the distinctiveness of Christian identity. Delving deep into the Christian tradition, Malesic explains that keeping Christian identity secret means living fully in the world while maintaining Christian language, prayer, and liturgy in reserve. He shows how major thinkers--Cyril of Jerusalem, Søren Kierkegaard, and Dietrich Bonhoeffer--sought to protect Christian identity from being compromised by the public sphere. He then shows that Christians' dual responsibilities for the tradition and for the neighbor must be kept secret.

Scholarship in early Christianity has long focused on themes of theological doctrine on the one hand, and anthropology on the other. Doctrinal study has generally concentrated on the rise of Trinitarian language and Christological questions, while anthropological studies explore early perceptions of human nature, sin and redemption. This has produced standard chronologies of doctrine, dividing early Christian history into distinct, if interrelated periods of history in the development of these views. Building on current scholarship, this volume re-assesses such an approach to early patristic study through a sustained investigation of anthropology and theology as a single project in the fathers. Taking Irenaeus of Lyons, Tertullian of Carthage, Cyril of Jerusalem and Athanasius of Alexandria as chief examples of the period, it explores how concentration on the human provides the context and lens through which doctrinal questions are articulated. Assessing theology as anthropology-as the approach to doctrines of God through understandings of the human-creative insight is gleaned into refined developments of trinitiarian thought far earlier than Nicaea, and advanced reflections on the divinity of the Holy Spirit long before Constantinople. The nature of humanity as 'in the image of God' takes on a fresh potency when it is approached not only as a window on the human, but the means by which the human reveals the nature of God.

How the Light Gets In: Ethical Life I presents a systematic account of the teachings of the Christian faith to offer a vision, from a human, created, and limited perspective, of the ways all things might be understood from the divine perspective. It explores how Christian doctrine is lived, and the way in which beliefs are not simply cognitive sets of ideas but embodied cultural practices. Christians learn how to understand the contents of their faith, learn the language of the faith, through engagements that are simultaneously somatic, affective, imaginative, and intellectual. In the first of four volumes, Graham Ward examines the complex levels of these engagements through three historical developments in the systematic organization of doctrine: the Creeds, the Summa, and Protestant dogmatics. He outlines a methodology for exploring and practicing systematic theology that captures how the faith is lived in cultural, social, and embodied engagements. Ward then unpicks several fundamental theological concepts and how they are to be understood from the point of view of an engaged systematics: truth, revelation, judgement, discernment, proclamation, faith seeking understanding, and believing as it relates to and grounds the possibilities for faith. This groundbreaking work offers an interdisciplinary investigation through poetry, art, film, the Bible and theological discourse, analysing the human condition and theology as the deep dream for salvation. The final part relates theology as a lived and ongoing pedagogy concerned with individual and corporate formation to biological life, social life, and life in Christ. Here an approach to living theologically is sketched that is the primary focus for all four volumes: ethical life.

Enchantment and Creed in the Hymns of Ambrose of Milan offers the first critical overview of the hymns of Ambrose of Milan in the context of fourth-century doctrinal song and Ambrose's own catechetical preaching. Brian P. Dunkle, SJ, argues that these settings inform the interpretation of Ambrose's hymnodic project. The hymns employ sophisticated poetic techniques to foster a pro-Nicene sensitivity in the bishop's embattled congregation. After a summary presentation of early Christian hymnody, with special attention to Ambrose's Latin predecessors, Dunkle describes the mystagogical function of fourth-century songs. He examines Ambrose's sermons, especially his catechetical and mystagogical works, for preached parallels to this hymnodic effort. Close reading of Ambrose's hymnodic corpus constitutes the bulk of the study. Dunkle corroborates his findings through a treatment of early Ambrosian imitations, especially the poetry of Prudentius. These early readers amplify the hymnodic features that Dunkle identifies as "enchanting," that is, enlightening the "eyes of faith."

This is the second volume of Ferguson's collected essays, and includes some of his most memorable work, especially on "laying on of hands."

This is the second volume of Ferguson's collected essays, and includes some of his most memorable work.