In their acclaimed, much-used Church History, James Bradley and Richard Muller lay out guidelines, methods, and basic reference tools for research and writing in the fields of church history and historical theology. Over the years, this book has helped countless students define their topics, locate relevant source materials, and write quality papers. This revised, expanded, and updated second edition includes discussion of Internet-based research, digitized texts, and the electronic forms of research tools. The greatly enlarged bibliography of study aids now includes many significant new resources that have become available since the first edition's publication in 1995. Accessible and clear, this introduction will continue to benefit both students and experienced scholars in the field.

Tatian is a significant figure in the early Church, his work both representing and revealing his second-century context. This study offers a detailed exploration of his thought. It is also a valuable introduction to the entire period, particularly the key developments it witnessed in Christianity. Emily Hunt examines a wide range of topics in depth: Tatian's relationship with Justin Martyr and his Oration to the Greeks; the Apologetic attempt to defend and define Christianity against the Graeco-Roman world and Christian use of hellenistic philosophy. Tatian was accused of heresy after his death, and this work sees him at the heart of the orthodox/heterodox debate. His links with the East, and his Gospel harmony the Diatessaron, lead to an exploration of Syriac Christianity and asceticism. In the process, scholarly assumptions about heresiology and the Apologists' relationship with hellenistic philosophy are questioned, and the development of a Christian philosophical tradition is traced from Philo, through Justin Martyr, to Tatian - and then within several key Syriac writers. This is the first dedicated study of Tatian for more than forty years.

From Roman persecution to the early creeds, from the monastic movement to the Reformation, from the rise of liberalism to missionary expansion, Jeffrey Bingham chronicles the ups and downs of a people and a faith.

This work concerns the early Christians' self-definitions and self-representations in the context of pagan-Christian conflict, reflected in the literatures from the mid-second to the early third centuries (ca. 150 - 225 CE).

As "evangelicals" face future challenges, many are turning back to the ancient church for inspiration. But these ancient-future approaches remain diverse and sometimes even at odds with one another. This volume demonstrates and analyzes the complexity of such contemporary church-early church engagements. Six scholars share diverse insights from the Patristic period, including lessons on evangelism and discipleship, community formation and maintenance, use of the "rule of faith," the preaching of social ethics, responses to cultural opposition, and Christological development. The volume closes with two critical responses, from confessional Lutheran and Baptist perspectives. These collected essays will remind contemporary readers of the importance of a reflective and responsible ressourcement of Patristic wisdom.

As the first historian of Christianity, Luke's reliability is vigorously disputed among scholars. The author of the Acts is often accused of being a biased, imprecise, and anti-Jewish historian who created a distorted portrait of Paul. Daniel Marguerat tries to avoid being caught in this true/false quagmire when examining Luke's interpretation of history. Instead he combines different tools - reflection upon historiography, the rules of ancient historians and narrative criticism - to analyse the Acts and gauge the historiographical aims of their author. Marguerat examines the construction of the narrative, the framing of the plot and the characterization, and places his evaluation firmly in the framework of ancient historiography, where history reflects tradition and not documentation. This is a fresh and original approach to the classic themes of Lucan theology: Christianity between Jerusalem and Rome, the image of God, the work of the Spirit, the unity of Luke and the Acts.

This book examines the roles and functions that women assumed in the early Christian communities from AD 33 to the Council of Nicaea. It surveys, too, the views about women held by various New Testament authors including Paul and the Evangelists.

A distinguished group of authors here illuminate a broad spectrum of themes in the history of biblical interpretation. Originally published in 1990, these essays take as their common ground the thesis that the intellectual and religious life of the sixteenth century cannot be understood without attention to the preoccupation of sixteenth-century humanists and theologians with the interpretation of the Bible. Topics explored include Jewish exegesis and problems of Old Testament interpretation and the relationship between the Bible and social, political, and institutional history. Contributors. Irena Backus, Guy Bedouelle, Kalman P. Bland, Kenneth G. Hagen, Scott H. Hagen, Scott H. Hendrix, R. Gerald Hobbs, Jean-Claude Margolin, H. C. Erik Midelfort, Richard A. Muller, John B. Payne, David C. Steinmetz

Athanasius provides a comprehensive and concise introduction to the theological vision of Athanasius, relating the various aspects of his doctrine to a central emphasis on divine condescension.

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