Christopher Haas, Alexandria in
Late Antiquity: Topography and Social Conflict (Baltimore: Johns
Hopkins, 1997 / 2006) paperback, $30. Much of the story of early
Christianity takes place in Alexandria, among both its educated
elite and its rowdy crowds. Many leading theologians—Clement,
Origen, Arius, Athanasius, Didymus, Cyril—called Alexandria home.
This brilliant study brings alive the city—its layout, its leading
monuments, its local politics. Haas particularly focuses on
religious dynamics and conflicts among pagans, Jews, and Christians.
Roger S. Bagnall, Egypt in Late
Antiquity (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1993)
paperback, $25. An excellent study of the social world of Egypt,
drawing mostly on evidence from recently discovered papyri.
Alan K. Bowman, Egypt After the
Pharaohs, 332 BC-AD 642: From Alexander to the Arab Conquest
(Berkeley: University of California Press, 1986). A valuable
overview.
David Brakke, "The East (2): Egypt and
Palestine," in Susan Ashbrook Harvey & David G. Hunter, The
Oxford Handbook of Early Christian Studies (New York: Oxford
University Press, 2008), 344-363. NEW.
David Frankfurter, ed., Religion in
Roman Egypt: Assimilation and Resistance (Princeton: Princeton
University Press, 1998) paperback, $20.
David Frankfurter, ed., Pilgrimage and Holy Space in Late Antique
Egypt (Leiden: Brill, 1999).
James E. Goehring and
Janet Timbie, eds., The World of Early Egyptian Christianity:
Language, Literature, and Social Context, CUA Studies in Early
Christianity (Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press,
2007) hardcover, $40.
Jill Kamil, Christianity in the
Land of the Pharaohs: The Coptic Orthodox Church (New York:
Routledge, 2002) hardcover, $55.
Birger A. Pearson & James E. Goehring,
eds., The Roots of Egyptian Christianity, Studies in
Antiquity & Christianity (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1986)
C.H. Roberts, Manuscript, Society
and Belief in Early Christian Egypt (Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 1977).
Henry Chadwick, Early Christian
Thought and the Classical Tradition: Studies in Justin, Clement, and
Origen (New York: Oxford University Press, 1966) paperback, $35.
A. Choufrine,
Gnosis, Theophany, Theosis: Studies in Clement of Alexandria’s
Appropriation of His Background (Patristic Studies 5; New York:
Peter Lang, 2002).
Henry Fiska Hägg, Clement of
Alexandria and the Beginnings of Christian Apophaticism, Oxford
Early Christian Studies (New York: Oxford University Press, 2006)
hardcover, $85.
Piotr Ashwin-Siejkowski, Clement of Alexandria: A
Project of Christian Perfection (New York: T&T Clark, 2008)
hardcover, $130. NEW.
Eric Osborn, Clement of Alexandria
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005) hardcover, $80.
Joseph W. Trigg, Origen, Early
Church Fathers (New York: Routledge, 1998) paperback, $31. Origen
was both a brilliant biblical scholar and an adventurous
theologian—and he shaped the course of Christian theology as
profoundly as Augustine and Aquinas. Like other volumes in this series,
this includes both an overview of Origen’s life and doctrine
as well as a selection of his writings.
Henri Crouzel, Origen, trans.
A.S. Worrall (1989: reprint: Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1998).
For many years, Crouzel was the greatest living authority on
Origen. The most thorough overview of
Origen’s theology.
W.A. Bienart & U. Kühneweg, eds.,
Origeniana Septima: Origenes in den Auseinandersetzungen des 4.
Jahrhunderts (Leuven: Peeters, 1999).
Elizabeth A. Clark, The Origenist
Controversy (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1992). An
essential study of the dispute over Origen that took place 150 years
after his death.
Brian E. Daley, “Origen’s ‘De
principiis’: A Guide to the ‘Principles’ of Christian Scriptural
Interpretation,” in John F. Petruccione, ed., Nova et Vetera:
Patristic Studies in Honor of Thomas Patrick Halton (Washington,
DC: Catholic University of America Press, 1998) hardcover, $55.
Robert J. Daly, ed., Origeniana
Quinta, Papers of the 5th International Origen
Congress, Boston College, August, 1989 (Leuven: Peeters, 1992).
Gilles Dorival & Alain le Boulluec,
eds., Origeniana Sexta: Origen and the Bible, Actes du
Colloquium Origenianum Sextum, Chantilly, 30 août-3 septembre, 1993
(Leuven: Peeters, 1995).
Anthony Grafton and Megan Williams,
Christianity and the Transformation of the Book: Origen, Eusebius,
and the Library of Caesarea (Cambridge, MA: Belknap / Harvard
University Press, 2006) hardcover, $30.
R.P.C. Hanson, Allegory and Event:
A Study of the Sources and Significance of Origen’s Interpretation
of Scripture, ed. Joseph W. Trigg (reprint of 1959 edition:
Nashville: Westminster John Knox, 2003) paperback, $40.
Richard Hanson & Henri Crouzel, eds.,
Origeniana Tertia, 3rd International Colloquium
for Origen Studies, University of Manchester, September, 1981 (Rome:
Edizioni dell’Ateneo, 1985).
Charles Kannengiesser & William L.
Petersen, eds., Origen of Alexandria: His World and Legacy
(Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1988).
J. Christopher King, Origen on the
Song of Songs as the Spirit of Scripture: The Bridegroom’s Perfect
Marriage-Song, Oxford Theological Monographs (New York: Oxford
University Press, 2005) hardcover, $95.
F. Ledegang,
Mysterium Ecclesiae: Images of the Church and Its Members in Origen,
BETL 156 (Leuven: Leuven University Press, 2001).
Rebecca Lyman, Christology and
Cosmology: Models of Divine Activity in Origen, Eusebius, and
Athanasius, Oxford Theological Monographs (New York: Oxford
University Press, 1993) hardcover $40.
John A. McGuckin, The Westminister
Handbook to Origen (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2004)
paperback, $35.
Fred Norris,
“Origen,” in The Early Christian World, ed. P. F. Esler (New
York: Routledge, 2000) 2:1005-1026.
Lloyd G. Patterson, Methodius of
Olympus: Divine Sovereignty, Human Freedom, and Life in Christ
(Washington: Catholic University of America Press, 1997).
L. Perrone, P. Bernardino, D. Marchini,
eds., Origeniana Octava:
Origen and the Alexandrian Tradition: Papers of the 8th
International Origen Congress, Pisa, 27-31 August 2001, 2 vol. (Leuven:
Leuven University Press; Peeters, 2003).
Thomas P.
Scheck, Origen
and the History of Justification: The Legacy of Origen’s Commentary
on Romans (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press,
2008) hardcover, $60. NEW.
Joseph W. Trigg, Origen: Bible and
Philosophy in the 3rd Century (Atlanta: John Knox,
1983). Superb survey.
Peter Widdicombe, The Fatherhood of
God from Origen to Athanasius, Oxford Theological Monographs
(New York: Oxford University Press, 1994) hardcover, $55.
Origen, Exhortation to Martyrdom,
Classics of Western Spirituality, trans. Rowan A. Greer (New York:
Paulist Press, 1979) paperback, $20. A fine selection of Origen’s
works. It includes On First Principles, Book IV (his classic
defense of allegorical interpretation and a summary of his
controversial views on Trinity). It also has his treatise On Prayer,
the earliest Christian treatise on prayer—and one of the most
influential; while essentially a commentary on the Lord’s Prayer,
this work also addresses the problem of why one should pray even
though God already knows what we need.
Origen, Contra Celsum, trans.
Henry Chadwick (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1980)
paperback, $48. Celsus was one of the most
astute of Christianity’s ancient opponents, and around 180, wrote a
devastating critique entitled On True Doctrine. In it he
displayed both his philosophical sophistication and his knack for
satire. In the 240s, Origen took Celsus on, rebutting his arguments
point-by-point. In the process, Origen produced perhaps the
greatest apology for Christianity, both its doctrines and its way of
life. Only Augustine’s City of God can match its brilliance.
Origen, Commentary on the Epistle
to the Romans, Fathers of the Church 103-104, trans. Thomas P.
Scheck (Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press,
2001-2002), hardcover, $45 per volume.
Origen, Commentary on the Gospel of
John, trans. Ronald E. Heine, Fathers of the Church 80, 89
(Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press, 1989 & 1993).
Origen, Homilies on Genesis and
Exodus, trans. Ronald E. Heine, Fathers of the Church 71
(Washington: Catholic University of America Press, 1982).
Origen, Homilies on Jeremiah,
trans. John Clark Smith, Fathers of the Church 97 (Washington:
Catholic University of America Press, 1998).
Origen, Homilies on Joshua,
trans. Barbara J. Brucel, Fathers of the Church 105 (Washington:
Catholic University of America Press, 2002).
Origen, Homilies on Luke,
trans. Joseph T. Lienhard, Fathers of the Church 94 (Washington:
Catholic University of America Press, 1996).
Origen, Homilies on the Song of
Songs, trans. R.P. Lawson, Ancient Christian Writers 26
(Westminster, MD: New Press, 1957).
Origen, On First Principles [Peri
Archon] trans. G.W. Butterworth (1966; reprint: Peter
Firth, 1990) hardcover.
Origen, Treatise on the Passover
and Dialogue with Heraclides, trans. Robert J. Daly, Ancient
Christian Writers 51 (New York: Paulist Press, 1992).
Ronald Heine, ed., The Commentaries
of Origen and Jerome on St. Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians,
Oxford Early Christian Studies (New York: Oxford University Press,
2003) hardcover, $75.
Alistair Stewart-Sykes, ed.,
Tertullian, Cyprian, Origen: On the Lord’s Prayer, Popular
Patristic Series (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press,
2004) paperback, $12.
John O'Keefe & R.R. Reno,
Sanctified Vision: An Introduction to Early Christian Interpretation
of the Bible (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins, 2005) paperback, $17.
A valuable and provocative aid to understanding the
unique―and often misunderstood―reading strategies of the Church
Fathers. While the authors discuss traditional categories such
as "allegory" and "typology," their approach challenges old
dichotomies.
Thomas C. Oden & Christopher H. Hall,
eds., The Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture, 17
volumes to date (Downers Grove, IL: Intervarsity Press, 1998- )
hardcover, $40 per volume. The Ancient Christian Commentary
revives the medieval tradition of the glossa ordinaria. It
takes the biblical text verse by verse and quotes what various
Church Fathers said about it. It is projected to be 27 volumes and
will draw on ancient commentaries in Greek, Latin, Syriac, and
Coptic. Now available:
-
OT Vol. 1a: Andrew Louth, ed.,
Genesis 1-13 (2001).
-
OT Vol. 1b: Mark Sheridan, ed.,
Genesis 12-50 (2002).
-
OT Vol. 3: Joseph Lienhard, ed.,
Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy (2001).
-
OT Vol. 4: John R. Franke, ed.,
Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1-2 Samuel (2005).
-
OT Vol. 5: Marco Conti, ed.,
1-2 Kings, 1-2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther (2008).
NEW.
-
OT Vol. 6: Manlio Simonetti &
Marco Conti, ed., Job (2006).
-
OT Vol. 8: Quentin F.
Wesselschmidt, ed., Psalms 51-150 (2007).
-
OT Vol. 9: J. Robert Wright, ed.,
Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon (2005).
-
OT Vol. 10: Steven A. McKinion,
ed. Isaiah 1-39 (2004).
-
OT Vol. 11: M.W. Elliott, ed.
Isaiah 40-66 (2007)
-
OT Vol. 13: Kenneth Stevenson,
ed., Ezekiel, Daniel (2008). NEW.
-
OT Vol. 14: Alberto Ferreiro, ed.,
The Twelve Prophets (2003).
-
NT Vol. 1a: Manlio Simonetti, ed.,
Matthew 1-13 (2002).
-
NT Vol. 1b: Manlio Simonetti, ed.,
Matthew 14-28 (2002).
-
NT Vol. 2: Thomas C. Oden &
Christopher Hall, ed. Mark (1998).
-
NT Vol. 3: Arthur A. Just, Jr.,
ed., Luke (2003).
-
NT Vol. 4a: Joel C. Elowsky, ed.,
John 1-11 (2006).
-
NT Vol. 4b: Joel C. Elowsky, ed.,
John 11-21 (2007).
-
NT Vol. 5: Francis Martin, ed.,
Acts (2006).
-
NT Vol. 6: Gerald Bray, ed.,
Romans (1998).
-
NT Vol. 7: Gerard Bray, ed. 1-2
Corinthians (1999).
-
NT Vol. 8: Mark Edwards, ed.,
Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians (1999).
-
NT Vol. 9: Peter Gorday, ed.,
Colossians, 1-2 Thessalonians, 1-2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon
(2000).
-
NT Vol. 10: Erik M. Heen & Philip
D.W. Krey,eds., Hebrews (2005).
-
NT Vol. 11: Gerald Bray, ed.,
James, 1-2 Peter, 1-3 John, Jude (2000)
Harry Y. Gamble, Books and Readers
in the Early Church: A History of Early Christian Texts (New
Haven: Yale, 1995) paperback, $25. A wonderfully original study.
Gamble explores how ancient books were made, how scribes did their
work of copying, how authors published their works, how
libraries—pagan, Jewish, and Christian—worked, how Christians came
to collect the books that made up the New Testament, and how reading
came to be a highly favored spiritual activity for Christians.
Paul M. Blowers, ed., The Bible in
Greek Christian Antiquity (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame
Press, 1997) paperback, $30.
Paul M. Blowers,
ed., In Dominico Eloquio / In Lordly Eloquence: Essays on
Patristic Exegesis in Honor of Robert Louis Wilken (Grand
Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2002) hardcover, $45.
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.
David Brakke, “Canon Formation and
Social Conflict in Fourth-Century Egypt: Athanasius of Alexandria’s
Thirty-Ninth Festal Letter,” Harvard Theological Review
87 (1994) 395-419.
Philip Burton, The Old Latin
Gospels: A Study of Their Texts and Language, Oxford Early
Christian Studies (New York: Oxford University Press, 2001)
hardcover, $70.
Hans von Campenhausen, The
Formation of the Christian Bible (Philadelphia: Fortress Press,
1972).
David R. Cartlidge & J.K. Elliott,
Art and the Christian Apocrypha (New York: Routledge, 2001)
paperback, $32.
Elizabeth A. Clark, Reading
Renunciation: Asceticism and Scripture in Early Christianity
(Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1999) paperback, $22.
David L. Dungan, Constantine’s
Bible: Politics and the Making of the New Testament
(Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2007) paperback, $17.
Bart D. Ehrman, The Orthodox
Corruption of Scripture: The Effect of Early Christological
Controversies on the Text of the New Testament (New York: Oxford
University Press, 1993) paperback, $16.
J.K. Elliott, ed., The Apocryphal
New Testament (New York: Oxford University Press, 1994) paperback, $55. A massive collection of non-canonical works.
Everett Ferguson, ed., The Bible in
the Early Church, Studies in Early Christianity 3 (New York:
Garland Publishing, 1993).
Karlfried Froelich, ed., Biblical
Interpretation in the Early Church, Sources of Early Christian
Thought (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1984).
Anthony Grafton and Megan Williams,
Christianity and the Transformation of the Book: Origen, Eusebius,
and the Library of Caesarea (Cambridge, MA: Belknap / Harvard
University Press, 2006) hardcover, $30.
Alan J. Hauser & Duane F. Watson,
eds., A History of Biblical Interpretation, Vol. 1: The
Ancient Period (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2002)
hardcover, $45.
Michael J. Hollerich, Eusebius of
Caesarea’s Commentary on Isaiah: Christian Exegesis in the Age of
Constantine, Oxford Early Christian Studies (New York: Oxford
University, 1999) hardcover.
William E. Klingshirn and Linda Safran,
eds., The Early Christian Book, CUA Studies in Early
Christianity (Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press,
2007) hardcover, $40.
Joseph T. Lienhard, The Bible, the
Church, and Authority: the Canon of the Christian Bible in History
and Theology (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 1995)
paperback, $18. A very simple, yet excellent introduction to
understanding how the early Church chose the books for the New
Testament.
Bruce Metzger, The Canon of the New
Testament: Its Origin, Development, and Significance (Oxford:
Clarendon Press, 1987) paperback, $20.
Manlio Simonetti, Biblical
Interpretation in the Early Church: An Historical Introduction to
Patristic Exegesis (Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1994) paperback,
$25.
Joseph Trigg, ed., Biblical
Interpretation, Message of the Fathers 9 (Collegeville, MN:
Liturgical Press, 1984).
Daniel H. Williams, ed., Tradition,
Scripture, and Interpretation: A Sourcebook of the Ancient Church,
Evangelical Ressourcement: Ancient Sources for the Church’s Future
(Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2006) paperback, $20.
Megan Hale Williams, The Monk and
the Book: Jerome and the Making of Christian Scholarship
(Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2006) hardcover, $45.
Yves Duval,
Chrétiens d’Afrique à l’aube de la paix constantinienne: les premier
échoes de la grande persécution (Paris: Institut d’Études
Augustiniennes, 2000).
Claude Lepelley, Les cités de
l’Afrique romaine au Bas-Empire. 2 vol. (Paris: Institut d'Études
Augustiniennes, 1979-1981).
Pierre Monceaux, Histoire Littéraire de
l’Afrique chrétienne, 7 vol. (Paris: Leroux, 1901-1923). A classic and
unusually thorough survey, dated in many respects, but still
very valuable.
Éric Rebillard, "The West (2): North
Africa," in Susan Ashbrook Harvey & David G. Hunter, The Oxford
Handbook of Early Christian Studies (New York: Oxford University
Press, 2008), 303-322. NEW.
Geoffrey D.
Dunn, Tertullian, Early Church Fathers (New York: Routledge,
2004) paperback, $30. Tertullian (c.160-225) was the first Latin theologian, a
writer at once prolific and brilliant in both thought and style.
Tertullian was a hardliner in many ways, and his extremism led him,
in the end, to move away from the great Church and towards the Montanists and their claims of new prophecy. Dunn opens this volume
with a lengthy introduction to Tertullian and to early North African
Christianity and then follows with a fresh translation of three of
Tertullian’s lesser-read texts: Against the Jews, Antidote
for the Scorpion’s Sting, and The Veiling of Virgins.
Timothy D. Barnes, Tertullian: a
Historical and Literary Study, rev. ed. (Oxford: Clarendon
Press, 1985). Overall, unduly polemical, but there is much valuable
material on Tertullian’s world and works.
Geoffrey D.
Dunn,
Tertullian’s Aduersus Iudaeos: A Rhetorical Analysis,
Patristic Monograph Series 19 (Washington: Catholic University of
America Press, 2008) hardcover, $40. NEW.
Eric Osborn, Tertullian, First
Theologian of the West (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
1997) paperback, $32.
David Rankin, Tertullian and the
Church (New York: Cambridge University, 1995) hardback, $60.
Robert D. Sider, ed., Christian and
Pagan in the Roman Empire: The Witness of Tertullian
(Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press, 2001)
paperback, $18.
Alistair Stewart-Sykes, ed.,
Tertullian, Cyprian, Origen: On the Lord’s Prayer, Popular
Patristic Series (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press,
2004) paperback, $12.
David Wright,
“Tertullian,” in The Early Christian World, ed. P. F. Esler
(New York: Routledge, 2000), 2:1027-1047.
J. Patout Burns, Cyprian the Bishop
(New York: Routledge, 2002) paperback, $26. At last, an
up-to-date book-length study of Cyprian, one of the most influential
bishops and theologians of North Africa. Patout Burns, a scholar
best known for his excellent studies of Augustine’s theology, brings
great insight and lucidity to this survey of the career and context
of Cyprian.
Brent Allen, trans. Cyprian of
Carthage, On the Church: Select Treatises, Popular Patristics
series (St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2007) paperback, $16.
Brent Allen, trans., Cyprian of
Carthage, On the Church: Select Letters, Popular Patristics
series (St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2006) paperback, $16.
G.W. Clarke, trans. The Letters of
St. Cyprian of Carthage, Ancient Christian Writers 43-44 & 46-47
(New York: Newman Press, 1984-1989). A fine translation with detailed commentary.
Geoffrey D. Dunn, “The Carthaginian
Synod of 251: Cyprian’s Model of Pastoral Ministry,” in I concili
della cristianità occidentale secoli III-V: xxx Incontro di studiosi
dell’antichità cristiania, Roma 3-5 maggio 2001 (Rom: Institutum
Patristicum Augustinianum, 2002), pp. 235-257.
Geoffrey D. Dunn, “Cyprian of Carthage
and the Episcopal Synod of Late 254,” Recherches des Études
Augustiniennes 48 (2002): 229-247.
Geoffrey D. Dunn, “Cyprian and His
Collegae: Patronage and the Episcopal Synod of 252,” Journal of
Religious History 27.1 (2003): 1-13.
Geoffrey D. Dunn, “Censuimus: Cyprian
and the Episcopal Synod of 253,” Latomus 3 (2004): 672-688.
Michael M. Sage, Cyprian,
Patristic Monograph Series 1 (Cambridge, MA: Philadelphia Patristics
Foundation, 1975).
Alistair Stewart-Sykes, ed.,
Tertullian, Cyprian, Origen: On the Lord’s Prayer, Popular
Patristic Series (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press,
2004) paperback, $12.