Bibliography #1:
Surveys, Introductions & Reference Works
| BIBLIOGRAPHIES |
| - New Testament |
| - Early Christianity |
| - Medieval Christianity |
| - The Reformation |
| - Spirituality & Mysticism |
| - Sacraments |
| - 20th-Century Theology |
| #1: Surveys, Intros |
| #2: Ignatius of Antioch |
| #3: Origen |
| #4: Athanasius |
| #5: Cyril of Alexandria |
| #6: Augustine of Hippo |
| #7: Antony |
| #8: Cyril of Jerusalem |
| #9: Melania the Elder |
|
1. History of the Early Church: Surveys 2. Theology of the Early Church: Surveys 4. Journals & Essays on Early Christianity
5. The 6. Fathers of the Church: Texts & Translations 7. Fathers of the Church: Anthologies
1. HISTORY OF THE EARLY CHURCH: SURVEYS
Henry Chadwick, The Church in Ancient Society: From Galilee to Gregory the Great, Oxford History of the Christian Church (New York: Oxford University Press, 2002) paperback, $45. An up-to-date and comprehensive one-volume survey of early Christianity. Chadwick writes with great lucidity, able to make complex matters clear and understandable. The best place to start.
The Cambridge History of Christianity (New York / Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005- ) hardcover, $150-$200 per volume. This new comprehensive Cambridge History will be recognized in coming decades as the standard survey of Church history. Each of its massive volumes offer thorough introductions both to key events and to broad themes and includes contributions from leading contemporary historians. The two volumes that focus on early Christianity are:
Philip F. Esler, ed. The Early Christian World, 2 vol. (New York: Routledge, 2000) paperback, $79 for the 2 volumes. This 1300-page, two-volume textbook surveys all the key aspects of early Christianity, its social and intellectual world, its art and worship, its intellectuals and its clashes, both internal and external. Each chapter is authored by an expert, and offers an up-to-date introduction to the topic. Most interesting is the set of “profiles” that close volume 2, chapters on Origen, Tertullian, Perpetua, Constantine, Antony, Athanasius, Jerome, Ambrose, Augustine and Ephrem.
Peter Brown, The Rise of Western Christendom: Triumph and Diversity, AD 200-1000, 2nd ed. (Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers, 2003) paperback, $30. Virginia Burrus, ed., Late Ancient Christianity, A People's History of Christianity 2 (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2005) hardcover. Henry Chadwick, East and West: The Making of a Rift in the Church: From Apostolic Times Until the Council of Florence, Oxford History of the Christian Church (New York: Oxford University Press, 2003) paperback, $45. W.H.C. Frend, The Rise of Christianity (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1984) paperback, $36. A solid one-volume survey, well written. E. Glenn Hinson, The Early Church: Origins to the Dawn of the Middle Ages (Nashville: Abingdon, 1996) paperback, $27. Mark Humphries, Early Christianity (New York: Routledge, 2006) paperback, $23. NEW. John Meyendorff, Imperial Unity and Christian Divisions: the Church, 450-680 (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir Seminary Press, 1989). Samuel Hugh Moffett, A History of Christianity in Asia, Vol. 1: Beginnings to 1500, 2nd edition (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 1998).
2. THEOLOGY OF THE EARLY CHURCH: SURVEYS
Robert L. Wilken, The Spirit of Early Christian Thought: Seeking the Face of God (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2003) paperback, $19. A remarkably lucid introduction to early Christian theology—elegant simplicity on the far side of complexity. Especially good on the biblical moorings of early Christianity. Wilken peppers his survey with cogent anecdotes. Arranged thematically rather than chronologically.
Frances Young, Lewis Ayres & Andrew Louth, ed., The Cambridge History of Early Christian Literature (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004 / 2007) NEW in paperback, $35. A fine new study of the literature of early Christianity in Greek, Latin and Syriac. This includes studies of individual authors as well as their intellectual, cultural, and religious context.
Lewis Ayres, Nicaea and Its Legacy: An Approach to Fourth-Century Trinitarian Theology (New York: Oxford University Press, 2004) paperback, $45. A vital revisionist interpretation of the development of the doctrine of the divinity of Christ and of the Trinity. Not easy reading. Ayres presumes you know the standard accounts of the key figures and events, but this offers an essential re-interpretation and re-ordering of that history.
John Behr, Formation of Christian Theology, 2 volumes to date (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2001- ). An important survey from an Orthodox perspective:
Leo Donald Davis, The First Seven Ecumenical Councils (325-787): Their History and Theology (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 1983). Good in spots, badly dated in others. Angelo DiBerardino and Basil Studer, ed., History of Theology I: The Patristic Period, trans., Matthew J. O’Connell (Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 1997) hardcover. Idiosyncratic. G.R. Evans, ed., First Christian Theologians: An Introduction to Theology in the Early Church, The Great Theologians (Oxford: Blackwell, 2004) paperback, $30. Articles too brief to be of much help. The chapter on Augustine appears not here, but in the medieval volume. Stuart G. Hall, Doctrine and Practice in the Early Church , 2nd ed. (London: SPCK, 2005), paperback, $33. J.N.D. Kelly, Early Christian Doctrines, 5th edition (New York: Continuum, 2000) paperback, $40. One of the best accounts on the development of doctrine. Excellent as a reference work. R.A. Markus, The End of Ancient Christianity (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990) paperback, $25. Not a survey, but intriguing perspectives on developments. Jaroslav Pelikan, The Emergence of the Catholic Tradition (100-600), vol. 1 of The Christian Tradition (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1971). Very, very distilled. Use with care. G.L. Prestige, Fathers and Heretics: Six Studies in Dogmatic Faith (London: SPCK, 1940). Dated, but a classic. Johannes Roldanus, The Church in the Age of Constantine: The Theological Challenges (New York: Routledge, 2006) paperback, $31. NEW. Frances Young, From Nicaea to Chalcedon (London: SCM, 1983) paperback, $27.
3. REFERENCE WORKS
Everett Ferguson, Michael P. McHugh, & Frederick W. Norris, eds., Encyclopedia of Early Christianity, 2nd ed. (New York: Garland Publishing, 1998) paperback, $55. This award-winning encyclopedia is a fine place to start. The articles are generally by the leading experts on each figure or topic; valuable bibliographies.
Hubertus Drobner, The Fathers of the Church: A Comprehensive Introduction, trans. Siegfried Schatzmann; bibliographies updated and expanded for the English edition by William Harmless, SJ, & Hubertus Drobner (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 2007) hardcover, $45. NEW. A translation of the 2nd edition of Drobner's Lehrbuch der Patrologie (Herder & Herder, 2002), this handbook offers a comprehensive introduction to the Church Fathers, together with extensive bibliographies on each figure and on all the major patristic texts. This is designed to replace an old standard, Johannes Quasten’s Patrology.
Aziz S. Atiya, ed., The Coptic Encyclopedia, 8 vol. (New York: Macmillan, 1991). G.W. Bowersock, Peter Brown, & Oleg Grabar, eds, Late Antiquity: A Guide to the Postclassical World (Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press / Harvard University Press, 1999). Henry Chadwick and Gillian R. Evans, ed., Atlas of the Christian Church (New York: Facts on File, 1987). Angelo DiBerardino, ed., Encyclopedia of the Early Church, 2 vol., trans. Adrian Walford (New York: Oxford University Press, 1991). David Farmer, The Oxford Dictionary of Saints, Oxford Paperback Reference, 4th ed. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1997) paperback, $16. Allan Fitzgerald & John Cavadini, eds., Augustine Through the Ages: An Encyclopedia (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1999) hardcover, $75. Simon Hornblower and Anthony Spawforth, eds., The Oxford Classical Dictionary, 3rd edition (New York: Oxford University Press, 1996). An abridged paperback version is available under the title: Who’s Who in the Classical World (2000) paperback, $16. Charles Kannengiesser, ed., Handbook of Patristic Exegesis, The Bible in Ancient Christianity 1 (Leiden: Brill, 2004) hardcover, $295. J.N.D. Kelly, Oxford Dictionary of Popes (New York: Oxford University Press, 1986) paperback, $16. Philippe Levillain, ed., The Papacy: An Encyclopedia, 3 vols. (New York: Routledge, 2001). Elizabeth A. Livingstone, ed., The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, 3rd ed. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1997) hardcover, $125. An abridged version is available under the title: Concise Dictionary of the Christian Church, Oxford Paperback Reference, 2nd ed. (2000) paperback, $17. John A. McGuckin, The Westminster Handbook to Patristic Theology (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2004) paperback, $40. Linda Murray & Peter Murray, eds., Dictionary of Christian Art, Oxford Paperback Reference (New York: Oxford University Press, 2004) paperback, $17. Jaroslav Pelikan & Valerie Hotchkiss, ed., Creeds and Confessions of Faith in the Christian Tradition (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2003), 4 vol. & CD-ROM. Johannes Quasten, Patrology, 4 volumes (Westminster, MD: Christian Classics, 1950s). Vol. 1-3 are badly dated; vol. 4, done in the mid-1980s by DiBerardino, is still worth using. John Roberts, ed., Oxford Dictionary of the Classical World (New York: Oxford University Press, 2005) hardcover, $40.
4. JOURNALS & ESSAYS ON EARLY CHRISTIANITY
The most important journal in the English-speaking world on patristics is the Journal of Early Christian Studies (Johns Hopkins University Press). Also important is Studia Patristica, which publishes the proceedings of the International Patristics Conference held in Oxford every four years. The Journal of Theological Studies routinely publishes important articles on patristic studies and offers excellent book reviews in the field. Other English-speaking journals that publish important articles relevant to the field are: Augustinian Studies, Journal of Roman Studies, Church History, Vigiliae Christianae, Journal of Ecclesiastical History, American Benedictine Review, Harvard Theological Review, Studia Monastica, and Theological Studies.
Everett Ferguson, ed., Studies in Early Christianity (New York: Garland, 1993) hardcover. This valuable series reprints important and often hard-to-find journal articles. Titles are:
Everett Ferguson, ed., Recent Studies in Early Christianity: A Collection of Scholarly Essays, 6 vol. (New York: Garland Publishing, 1999). The series listed above comes up to 1990; this one picks up key articles in the last decade.
Lewis Ayres & Gareth Jones, eds., Christian Origins: Theology, Rhetoric, and Community (New York: Routledge, 1998) paperback, $25. John Behr, Andrew Louth, & Dimitri Conomos, eds., Abba: The Tradition of Orthodoxy in the West: Festschrift for Bishop Kallistos Ware (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2003) paperback, $19. Paul M. Blowers, ed., In Dominico eloquio: Essays on Patristic Exegesis in Honor of Robert Louis Wilken (Grand Rapid, Mich.: Wm. Eerdmans, 2002) hardcover. Gerald Bonner, Church and Faith in the Patristic Tradition: Augustine, Pelagianism and Early Christian Northumbria, Collected Studies 521 (London: Variorum Reprints, 1996). Charles A. Bobertz and David Brakke, eds., Reading in Christian Communities: Essays on Interpretation in the Early Church (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 2002) hardcover, $35. G.W. Bowersock, Peter Brown, & Oleg Grabar, eds, Interpreting Late Antiquity: Essays on the Postclassical World (Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press / Harvard University Press, 2001) paperback, $21. David Brakke, Michael L. Satlow, Steven Weitzman, eds., Religion and the Self in Antiquity (Bloomington, IN: University of Indiana Press, 2005) paperback, $25. Peter Brown, Society and the Holy in Late Antiquity (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1982) paperback, $22. Henry Chadwick, Studies on Ancient Christianity, Collected Studies 832 (Burlington, VT: Ashgate Publishing, 2006) hardcover, $120. NEW. Henry Chadwick, Heresy and Orthodoxy in the Early Church, Collected Studies 342 (London: Variorum Reprints, 1991). Henry Chadwick, History and Thought of the Early Church, Collected Studies 164 (London: Various Reprints, 1982). Stephen T. Davis, Daniel Kendall & Gerald O’Collins, eds., The Trinity: An Interdisciplinary Symposium on the Trinity (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999) paperback, $30. While some essays range beyond patristics, there is much of use to patristic scholars. See especially the essays by Joseph Lienhard and Michel Barnes. Stephen T. Davis, Daniel Kendall & Gerald O’Collins, eds., The Incarnation: An Interdisciplinary Symposium on the Incarnation of the Son of God (New York: Oxford University Press, 2002) paperback, $30. While some essays go beyond patristics, there is much here of use. See especially essays by Brian E. Daley and Sarah Coakley. W.H.C. Frend, Orthodoxy, Paganism, and Dissent in the Early Christian Centuries, Collected Studies 750 (London: Variorum Reprints, 2002). W.H.C. Frend, Archeology and History in the Study of Early Christianity, Collected Studies 282 (London: Variorum Reprints, 1988). W.H.C. Frend, Town and Country in the Early Christian Centuries (London: Variorum Reprints, 1980). W.H.C. Frend, Religion, Popular and Unpopular in the Early Christian Centuries, Collected Studies 45 (London: Variorum Reprints, 1976). James Howard-Johnston & Paul Antony Hayward, eds., The Cult of the Saints in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages: Essays on the Contribution of Peter Brown (New York: Oxford University Press, 2000) paperback, $35. William E. Klingshirn & Mark Vessey, eds., The Limits of Ancient Christianity: Essays on Late Antique Thought and Culture in Honor of R.A. Markus (Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 1999). R.A. Markus, From Augustine to Gregory the Great: History and Christianity in Late Antiquity, Collected Studies 169 (London: Variorum Reprints, 1983). R.A. Markus, Sacred and Secular: Studies on Augustine and Latin Christianity, Collected Studies 465 (London: Variorum Reprints, 1996). Dale B. Martin and Patricia Cox Miller, eds., The Cultural Turn in Late Antique Studies: Gender, Asceticism, and Historiography (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2005) paperback, $25. Frederick W. Norris, Abraham Malherbe, & James W. Thompson, ed., The Early Church in Context: Essays in Honor of Everett Ferguson, Supplements to Novum Testamentum 80 (Leiden: Brill, 1998). Birger A. Pearson, The Emergence of the Christian Religion: Essays on Early Christianity (Harrisburg, PA: Trinity Press International, 1997). Rowan Williams, ed., The Making of Orthodoxy: Essays in Honour of Henry Chadwick (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002) paperback, $40.
5. THE ROMAN EMPIRE: HISTORY & SOCIETYThe range of scholarly studies on the Roman Empire and the classical world, within which early Christianity emerged, is obviously massive. Here are some recent works especially relevant to early Christian studies:
The Cambridge Ancient History (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1970- ), 13 volumes to date, hardcover. This is the standard scholarly survey history of the ancient world. Three volumes of this intersect with the patristic period:
Marcel Le Glay, Jean-Louis Voisin, & Yann LeBohec, A History of Rome, 2nd ed. (Oxford: Blackwell, 2000) paperback, $45. A solid textbook survey of the 1300-year history of Rome, helpful in sorting out basics: emperors, the Senate, imperial bureaucracy; the army and its conquests; class structure, provinces & frontiers; trade & taxation. It includes valuable chronological charts and maps.
Roger S. Bagnall, Egypt in Late Antiquity (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1993). Anthony R. Birley, Septimius Severus: The African Emperor, Roman Imperial Biographies (New York: Routledge, 1999) paperback, $26. Anthony R. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, Roman Imperial Biographies (New York: Routledge, 2000) paperback, $35. John Boardman, Jaspar Griffin, Oswyn Murray, ed., The Roman World, Oxford History of the Classical World, 2nd ed. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2001) paperback, $25. Alan K. Bowman, Egypt After the Pharaohs, 332 BC-AD 642: From Alexander to the Arab Conquest (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1986). Alan K. Bowman and Greg Woolf, eds., Literacy and Power in the Ancient World (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997). Peter Brown, The World of Late Antiquity, AD 150-750, Library of World Civilization (New York: W.W. Norton, 1971). A classic. Peter Brown, Poverty and Leadership in the Later Roman Empire, Menahem Stern Jerusalem Lectures (Brandeis University Press, 2002) paperback, $18. Thomas S. Burns, Rome and the Barbarians (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2003) hardcover, $50. Averil Cameron, The Mediterranean World in Late Antiquity, AD 395-600, Routledge History of the Ancient World (New York: Routledge, 1993). John Curran, Pagan City and Christian Capital: Rome in the Fourth Century, Oxford Classical Monographs (New York: Oxford University Press, 2000) paperback, $28. William Dominik and John Hall, eds., A Companion to Roman Rhetoric, Blackwell Companions to the Ancient World (Oxford: Blackwell, 2007) hardcover, $150. NEW. Katherine M.D. Dunbabin, The Roman Banquet: Images of Convivality (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2003) hardcover, $75. J.R. Elsner, Imperial Rome & Christian Triumph: The Art of the Roman Empire AD 100-450 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1998). Jas Elsner, Roman Eyes: Visuality and Subjectivity in Art and Text (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2007) hardcover, $50. NEW. Hugh Elton, Warfare in Roman Europe, 350-425 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1996). J.A.S. Evans, The Age of Justinian: The Circumstances of Imperial Power, Roman Imperial Biographies (New York: Routledge, 2000) paperback, $37. Richard Finn, ed., Almsgiving in the Later Roman Empire: Christian Promotion and Practice (313-450), Oxford Classical Monographs (New York: Oxford University Press, 2006) hardcover, $99. NEW. Jennifer A. Glancy, Slavery in Early Christianity (New York: Oxford University Press, 2002). Martin Goodman, The Roman World, 44BC-AD180, Routledge History of the Ancient World (New York: Routledge, 1997). Martin Goodman, Jews in a Greco-Roman World, rev. ed. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2004) paperback, $30. Judith Evans Grubbs, ed., Woman and the Law in the Roman Empire: A Sourcebook on Marriage, Divorce, and Widowhood (New York: Routledge, 2002) paperback, $39. Kim Haines-Eitzen, Guardians of Letters: Literary, Power, and the Transmitters of Early Christian Literature (New York: Oxford University Press, 2000). Stephen Harrison, ed., A Campanion to Latin Literature, Blackwell Companions to the Ancient World (Oxford: Blackwell, 2006) paperback, $37. NEW. Simon Hornblower, Antony Spawforth & Simon Spawforth, eds. Oxford Companion to Classical Civilization (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999). Benjamin Isaac, The Invention of Racism in Classical Antiquity (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2004) hardcover, $45. Robert B. Jackson, At the Empire’s Edge: Exploring Rome’s Egyptian Frontier (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2002). A.H.M. Jones, The Later Roman Empire, 284-602, 2 vol. (reprint: Baltimore: Johns Hopkins, 1978). Classic survey of the social world of the Roman Empire; dated, but unsurpassed. Craig W. Kallendorf, ed., A Companion to the Classical Tradition, Blackwell Companions to the Ancient World (Oxford: Blackwell, 2007) hardcover, $155. NEW. Steven T. Katz, The Cambridge History of Judaism, vol. 4: The Late Roman Period, 4th ed. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006) hardcover, $180. NEW. Christopher Kelly, Ruling the Later Roman Empire (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2005) hardcover, $35. Joseph F. Kelly, The World of the Early Christians (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 1997) paperback. George A. Kennedy, A New History of Classical Rhetoric (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1994). Jason Konig, Athletics and Literature in the Roman Empire (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005) hardcover, $99. Donald Kyle, Spectacles of Death in Ancient Rome, Approaching the Ancient World (New York: Routledge, 1998). Bertrand Lancon, Rome in Late Antiquity, AD 313-604 (New York: Routledge, 2000). Noel Lenski, ed., The Cambridge Companion to the Age of Constantine (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2006) paperback, $35. NEW. Michael Maas, ed., The Cambridge Companion to the Age of Justinian (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2005) paperback, $20. Fergus Millar, The Emperor in the Roman World (reprint: Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1992). Fergus Millar, A Greek Roman Empire: Power and Belief under Theodosius II, 408-450 (Berkeley: University of California, 2007) paperback, $25. NEW. Ruth Morello and A. D. Morrison, Ancient Letters: Classical and Late Antique Epistolography (New York: Oxford University Press, 2007) hardcover, $115. NEW. George Mousourakis, A Legal History of Rome (New York: Routledge, 2007) paperback, $40. NEW. Geoffrey S. Nathan, The Family in Late Antiquity: The Rise of Christianity and the Endurance of Tradition (New York: Routledge, 2000). Charles Matson Odahl, Constantine and the Christian Empire, Roman Imperial Biographies (New York: Routledge, 2004) hardcover, $105. Neville Morley, Trade in Class Antiquity, Key Themes in Ancient History (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007) paperback, $30. NEW. Daniel Ogden, ed., A Companion to Greek Religion, Blackwell Companions to the Ancient World (Oxford: Blackwell, 2007) hardcover, $150. NEW. David S. Potter, The Roman Empire at Bay, AD 180-395, Routledge History of the Ancient World (New York: Routledge, 2004) paperback, $50. David S. Potter, ed., A Companion to the Roman Empire, Blackwell Companions to the Ancient World (Oxford: Blackwell, 2006) hardcover, $140. NEW. Beryl Rawson & Paul Weaver, eds., The Roman Family in Italy: Status, Sentiment, Space (New York: Oxford University Press, 1997). John Roberts, ed., Oxford Dictionary of the Classical World (New York: Oxford University Press, 2005), hardcover, $40. Steven K. Ross, Roman Edessa: Politics and Culture on the Eastern Fringes of the Roman Empire (New York: Routledge, 2000). Michele Renee Salzman, The Making of a Christian Aristocracy: Social and Religious Change in the Western Roman Empire (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2002) paperback, $20. David Sedley, ed., The Cambridge Companion to Greek and Roman Philosophy (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003) paperback, $22. David Shotter, Rome and Her Empire (London: Longman, 2003) paperback, $27. Pat Southern, The Roman Empire from Severus to Constantine (New York: Routledge, 2001) paperback, $32. Pat Southern, The Late Roman Army (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1996). Andrew Smith, Philosophy in Late Antiquity (New York: Routledge, 2004) paperback, $28. John E. Stambaugh, The Ancient Roman City, Ancient Society and History (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1994) paperback. Simon Swain & Mark Edwards, eds., Approaching Late Antiquity: The Transformation from Early to Late Empire (New York: Oxford University Press, 2004) NEW in paperback, $55. Robert Turcan, The Gods of Ancient Rome: Religion in Everyday Life from Archaic to Imperial Times, trans. Antonia Nevill (New York: Routledge, 2000) paperback, $23. Susan Treggiari, Roman Marriage: Iusti Coniuges from the Time of Cicero to the Time of Ulpian (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1991). Kevin Uhalde, Expectations of Justice in the Age of Augustine (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2007) hardcover, $55. NEW. Raymond Van Dam, Kingdom of Snow: Roman Rule and Greek Culture in Cappadocia (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2002) hardcover, $50. Paul Veyne, ed., The History of Private Life, Vol. 1: From Pagan Rome to Byzantium (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1987). Study of the day-to-day social world. Edward J. Watts, City and School in Late Antique Athens and Alexandria, Transformation of the Classical Heritage (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2006) hardcover, $55. NEW. Leslie Webster and Michelle Brown, eds., The Transformation of the Roman World, AD 400-900 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997) paperback, $25. C.R. Whittaker, Frontiers of the Roman Empire, Ancient Society and History (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1996). Stephen Williams & Gerard Friell, Theodosius: The Empire at Bay (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1998) paperback, $19. Ian Worthington, ed., A Companion to Greek Rhetoric, Blackwell Companions to the Ancient World (Oxford: Blackwell, 2006) hardcover, $155. NEW.
6. FATHERS OF THE CHURCH: TEXTS & TRANSLATIONS
The monumental collection of the Greek and Latin texts of the Church Fathers was done by J.P. Migne in the mid-19th century: the Patrologia Graeca (PG) and the Patrologia Latina (PL). Migne's editions are slowly being replaced by modern critical editions. Two important series offering critical editions are the Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum (CSEL) and the Corpus Christianorum Series Latina (CCSL). The most important contemporary series is the Sources chrétiennes (SC) (Paris: Editions du Cerf, 1950s- ), which has published 500+ volumes to date; it has the original text (either Greek or Latin) with a French translation on the facing page; volumes also include extensive introductions and notes. Also important is the 500+ volume series, Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium (CSCO), which publishes texts preserved in the languages of the Christian East (Coptic, Syriac, Armenian, Georgian, Arabic, and Ethiopic), with a translation into a modern European language (usually English, French, or German). There are also series that offer English translations. The major series with complete works are the following:
Fathers of the Church, 114 volumes to date (Washington: Catholic University of America Press, 1948- ). The early volumes from the 1940s and 1950s are uneven, but more recent volumes are dependable and often excellent both in the quality of the translations and in the accompanying introductions and notes.
Ancient Christian Writers, 60 volumes to date (Westminster, MD: Newman Press / New York: Paulist Press, 1946- ). Overall, solid translations. This was once a top series, but not many volumes have come out in recent years.
Ante-Nicene Fathers, 10 volumes (Reprint: Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1995). These translations were done in the mid 19th century, but remain often the only English translation of certain works.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, 28 volumes (Reprint: Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1995). The first series contains the works of Augustine and John Chrysostom; the second, translations of other major figures and documents. These translations were done in the mid 19th-century, and many remain the only ones available in English.
The Works of St. Augustine: A Translation for the 21st Century, ed. John E. Rotelle and Boniface Ramsey (Brooklyn, NY: New City Press, 1990- ). This series, which began in 1990, will take at least another decade to complete. It is sponsored by the Augustinian Heritage Institute. Already published are the complete Sermones ad Populum (11 volumes, including the newly discovered Dolbeau sermons), the complete Expositions of the Psalms (6 volumes), the complete Letters (4 volumes, including the recently discovered Divjak letters) and the complete anti-Pelagian treatises (4 volumes); plus, two volumes of the anti-Manichean writings have recently been published.
Popular Patristics Series, ed. John Behr (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir's Seminary Press, 1979- ). About 30 volumes to date, and rapidly expanding. Very reasonably priced ($12-$15), with good, up-to-date translations. Volumes generally focus on a single work, e.g. Irenaeus' On the Apostolic Preaching, Ephrem the Syrian's Hymns on Paradise, Cyril of Alexandria's On the Unity of Christ.
Classics of Western Spirituality, ed. Bernard McGinn (New York: Paulist Press, 1978- ). While this 100+ volume series is not limited to patristic authors, it does contain the works of a number of the leading Church Fathers, including Origen, Gregory of Nyssa, Augustine, John Cassian, and Maximus the Confessor.
7. FATHERS OF THE CHURCH: ANTHOLOGIES
For most people, the best entrance into Church Fathers is reading anthologies. It is a good way to find out who and what interests you. Here are some of the better anthologies or collections:
Carol Harrison, ed., Early Church Fathers Series, 18 volumes to date (New York: Routledge, 1996-2007) paperback, $25-35 per volume. This recent series concentrates on individual Church Fathers. Each volume has a lengthy introduction followed by new translations of major (and often previously untranslated) works:
J. Stevenson, ed., A New Eusebius: Documents Illustrative of the history of the Church to AD 337 and Creeds, Councils, Controversies: Documents Illustrative of the history of the Church AD 337-461, revised edition by W.H.C. Frend (London: SPCK, 1987 & 1989) paperback. An indispensable pair of anthologies. Stevenson assembles snippets from a vast range of hard-to-find materials: acts of Christian martyrs, conciliar documents, key passages from heretics and persecutors, inscriptions on coins and catacombs, snatches of gossip in scattered letters. The end result is a brilliant mosaic of early Christianity.
Bart D. Ehrman, ed. After the New Testament: A Reader in Early Christianity (New York: Oxford University Press, 1998) paperback, $42. Covers up to c. 300. Bart D. Ehrman & Andrew Jacobs, ed., Christianity in Late Antiquity, 300-450 C.E.: A Reader (New York: Oxford University Press, 2003) paperback, $36. Thomas Halton, ed., Message of the Fathers of the Church, 22 volumes (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 1980s-1997). Volumes arranged by topic: the Holy Spirit, baptism, eucharist, biblical interpretation, women, prayer, social ethics, etc. A.D. Lee, ed., Pagans and Christians in Late Antiquity: A Sourcebook (New York: Routledge, 2000). Thomas C. Oden & Christopher H. Hall, eds., The Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture, 17 volumes to date (Downers Grove, IL: Intervarsity Press, 1998- ). Richard Valantasis, ed., Religions of Late Antiquity in Practice (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2000) paperback, $27.
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