H.D. Drake, Constantine and the
Bishops: The Politics of Intolerance, Ancient Society and
History (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 2000) paperback, $40. It
was Constantine who ended the persecutions and opened the path for
the flowering of Christianity in the 4th century. He was
a complex character, brutal at times, often misunderstood. This
offers an important revisionist reading of Constantine’s underlying
political considerations.
Eusebius [of Caesarea], The Life of
Constantine, eds., Averil Cameron & Stuart Hall, Clarendon
Ancient History Series (New York: Oxford University Press, 1997)
paperback, $40.
Eusebius of Caesarea, The Proof of
the Gospel, ed. W.J. Ferrar (reprint: Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock)
paperback, $32. An older translation, now back in print.
Lactantius, Divine Institutes,
Translated Texts for Historians, trans. Anthony Bowen & Peter
Garnsey (Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 2003) paperback,
$22.
Timothy D. Barnes, Constantine and
Eusebius (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1981).
Peter Brown, Authority and the
Sacred: Aspects of the Christianisation of the Roman World (New
York: Cambridge University Press, 1995) paperback.
Peter Brown, Power and Persuasion
in Late Antiquity: Towards a Christian Empire, The Curti
Lectures 1988 (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1992)
paperback.
Peter Brown, “Christianisation and
Religious Conflict,” in Averil Cameron & Peter Garnsey, eds., The
Late Empire, A.D. 337-425, Vol. 13 of The Cambridge Ancient
History (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998) pp.
632-664.
Averil Cameron, Christianity and
the Rhetoric of Empire: the Development of Christian Discourse
(Berkeley: University of California Press, 1991) paperback, $18.
John R. Curran, Pagan City and
Christian Capital: Rome in the Fourth Century, Oxford Classical
Monograph (New York: Oxford University Press, 2000) hardcover, $80.
Elizabeth DePalma Digeser, The
Making of a Christian Empire: Lactantius and Rome (Ithaca, NY:
Cornell University Press, 2000) hardcover, $46.
T.G. Elliott, The Christianity of
Constantine the Great (Scranton: University of Scranton Press,
1997) paperback, $19.
Everett Ferguson, ed., Missions and
Regional Characteristics of the Early Church, Studies in Early
Christianity 12 (New York: Garland Publishing, 1993).
Garth Fowden, Empire to
Commonwealth: Consequences of Monotheism in Late Antiquity
(Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1993) paperback, $20.
Martin Goodman, Mission and
Conversion: Proselytizing in the Religious History of the Roman
Empire (New York: Oxford University Press, 1994) paperback, $20.
R. Ross Holloway, Constantine and
Rome (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2004) hardcover, $35.
Aaron P. Johnson, Ethnicity and
Argument in Eusebius’ Praeparatio Evangelica, Oxford Early
Christian Studies (New York: Oxford University Press, 2006)
hardcover, $90.
A.M.H. Jones, Constantine and the
Conversion of Europe, Medieval Academy Reprints for Teaching 4
(Toronto: University of Toronto, 1978) paperback, $14. A
classic.
D.G. Kousoulas, The Life and Times
of Constantine the Great: The First Christian Emperor, 2nd
ed. (New York: Routledge, 2003) paperback, $20.
Noel Lenski, ed., The Cambridge
Companion to the Age of Constantine (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 2006) paperback, $32.
Ramsay Macmullen, Christianizing
the Roman Empire (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1984)
paperback, $16.
Doron Mendels, The Media Revolution
of Early Christianity: An Essay on Eusebius’s Ecclesiastical History
(Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1999) paperback, $24.
Arnaldo Momigliano, ed., The
Conflict between Paganism and Christianity in the Fourth Century
(Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1963). Classic essays.
A.D. Nock, Conversion: the Old and
the New in Religion from Alexander the Great to Augustine of Hippo
(reprint: Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998)
paperback, $22. A classic study back in print.
Charles M. Odahl, Constantine and
the Christian Empire, Roman Imperial Biographies (New York:
Routledge, 2004) hardcover, $105.
Claudia Rapp, Holy Bishops in Late
Antiquity: The Nature of Christian Leadership in an Age of
Transition, Transformation of the Classical Heritage (Berkeley:
University of California Press, 2005) hardcover, $50.
Michele Renee Salzman, The Making
of a Christian Aristocracy: Social and Religious Change in the
Western Roman Empire (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press,
2002) paperback, $20.
Jeremy M. Schott, Christianity, Empire, and the
Making of Religion in Late Antiquity (University of Pennsylvania
Press, 2008) hardcover, $60. NEW.
Raymond Van Dam, The Roman
Revolution of Constantine (Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 2007) hardcover, $85.
R.P.C. Hanson, The Search for the
Christian Doctrine of God: the Arian Controversy, 318-381 AD
(Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1988; reprint, 2000) paperback,
$55. A
massive 900-page study of Nicaea, Athanasius, & the Cappadocians.
The finest and the most exhaustive treatment of the theology
of the Trinitarian controversy.
Lewis Ayres,
Nicaea and Its Legacy: An Approach to Fourth-Century Trinitarian
Theology (New York: Oxford University Press, 2004)
paperback, $45. A very important revisionist interpretation of the
development of the doctrine of the divinity of Christ and of the
Trinity. Not easy reading, and Ayres presumes you know the basics of
that development, but an essential text. This needs to
be read against Hanson's work, which Ayres both builds on and
challenges on numerous points.
Rowan Williams, Arius: Heresy and
Tradition, rev. ed. (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2002)
paperback, $25. First published in 1987, this
study remains one of the finest studies of Arius. Williams
skillfully dismantles long-standing misconceptions about Arius and
his theology. The new edition contains a postscript which
surveys scholarly shifts and studies between 1987 and 2002.
Philip R. Amidon,
trans. and ed., Philostorgius: Church History, Writings from
the Greco-Roman World (Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature,
2007) paperback, $35.
Michel René Barnes & Daniel H.
Williams, ed., Arianism After Arius: Essays on the Development of
the Fourth-Century Trinitarian Conflicts (Edinburgh: T & T
Clark, 1993) hardback, $55.
John Behr, The Nicene Faith,
Vol. 2 of Formation of Christian Theology (Crestwood, NY: St.
Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2004). The hardcover keeps this in
a single volume, while the paperback is published in two separate
volumes. An important survey by a leading Greek Orthodox historical
theologian.
-
Vol. 2, Part 1: The Nicene
Faith: True God of True God (2004), paperback, $15. This
focuses on Arius, the Council of Nicaea, and Athanasius,
-
Vol. 2, Part 2: The Nicene
Faith: One of the Holy Trinity (2004), paperback, $15. This
focuses on the Cappadocians.
Franz Dünzl, A Brief History of the
Doctrine of the Trinity in the Early Church (London: T&T Clark,
2007) paperback, $22.
Everett Ferguson, ed., Doctrines of
God and Christ in the Early Church, Studies in Early
Christianity, vol. 9 (New York: Garland Publishing, 1993).
Robert C. Gregg & Dennis Groh,
Early Arianism: a View of Salvation (Philadelphia: Fortress
Press, 1981). Path-breaking; controversial.
Robert C. Gregg, ed., Arianism:
Historical and Theological Reassessments, Patristic Monograph
Series #11 (Cambridge, MA: Philadelphia Patristic Foundation, 1985).
David M. Gwynn, The Eusebians: The
Polemic of Athanasius of Alexandria and the Construction of the
'Arian Controversy', Oxford Theological Monographs (New York:
Oxford University Press, 2006) hardcover, $99.
Hamilton Hess, The Early
Development of Canon Law and the Council of Serdica (New York:
Oxford University Press, 2002) hardcover, $72.
J.N.D. Kelly, Early Christian
Creeds, 3rd ed. (London: Longman, 1972; reprint,
1989) paperback, $47.
Thomas Kopecek, History of Neo-Arianism,
2 vol., Patristic Monograph Series (Cambridge, MA: Philadelphia
Patristic Society, 1979).
Joseph T. Lienhard, Contra
Marcellum: Marcellus of Ancyra and Fourth-Century Theology
(Washington: Catholic University Press, 1999) hardcover, $60.
Joseph T. Lienhard, “The ‘Arian’
Controversy: Some Categories Reconsidered,” Theological Studies
48 (1987) 415-436.
A.H.B. Logan, “Marcellus of Ancyra and
the Councils of AD 325: Antioch, Ancyra, and Nicaea,” Journal of
Theological Studies 43 (1992) 428-446.
J. Rebecca Lyman, “Arius and Arians,"
in Susan Harvey and David Hunter, eds., The Oxford Handbook of
Early Christian Studies (New York: Oxford University Press,
2008), 237-257. NEW. A fine brief overview of
contemporary perspectives.
Sara Parvis, Marcellus of Ancyra
and the Lost Years of the Arian Controversy 325-345, Oxford
Early Christian Studies (New York: Oxford University Press, 2006)
hardcover, $110.
David Rankin, "Arianism," in Philip F.
Esler, The Early Christian World (New York: Routledge, 2000),
2:975-1001. A good brief account of recent developments.
Hans
Roldanus, The
Church in the Age of Constantine: The Theological Challenges
(New York: Routledge, 2006) paperback, $31.
Jon M. Robertson, Christ as
Mediator: A Study of the Theologies of Eusebius of Caesarea,
Marcellus of Ancyra, and Athanasius of Alexandria, Oxford
Theological Monographs (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007)
hardcover, $120.
Manlio Simonetti, La crisi ariana
nel iv secolo, Studia Ephemerides (Rome: Augustianum, 1975).
Basil Studer, Trinity and
Incarnation: The Faith of the Early Church, ed. Andrew Louth
(Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 1993).
Richard Paul Vaggione, Eunomius of
Cyzicus and the Nicene Revolution, Oxford Early Christian
Studies (New York: Oxford University Press, 2001) hardcover, $90.
Maurice Wiles, Archetypal Heresy:
Arianism Through the Centuries (New York: Oxford University
Press, 2001) paperback, $20.
David Brakke, “Athanasius,” in Philip
F. Esler, ed. The Early Christian World (New York: Routledge,
2000) 2:1102-1127. It is in large measure due to Athanasius, bishop
of Alexandria from 328-373, that Nicaea survived. He combined
shrewd, determined political action and a penetrating theology to
rescue the faith of Nicaea. And he knew well that the stakes were
Christian faith itself: that God is one and that Christ is true
God. It is important to note that recent studies of Athanasius
disagree with one another, sometimes sharply, about overall
interpretation of Athanasius’ character and many details of his
career. This brief overview introducers readers to the terms of the
debate.
Khaled Anatolios, Athanasius: The
Coherence of His Thought (New York: Routledge, 1998) paperback, $30.
A fine systematic overview of Athanasius as a
theologian. Anatolios reads Athanasius in his own terms rather than
in terms of Nicene terminology or of later issues (such as the
christology of the 5th century).
Duane W.-H. Arnold, The Early
Episcopal Career of Athanasius of Alexandria, (Notre Dame: Notre
Dame University Press, 1991) hardcover. Overly defensive.
Lewis Ayres, “Athanasius’ Initial
Defense of the Term ‘Ομοούσιος: Rereading the De
Decretis,” Journal of Early Christian Studies 12 (2004)
337-359.
Timothy D. Barnes, Athanasius &
Constantius (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1993)
paperback, $26. An unduly skeptical view.
David Brakke, Athanasius and
Asceticism (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1998) paperback,
$18. A reprint of the earlier Athanasius and the Politics
of Asceticism (New York: Oxford University Press, 1995).
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.
James D. Ernest, The Bible in
Athanasius of Alexandria, The Bible in Ancient Christianity 2 (Leiden:
Brill, 2004) hardcover, $125.
W.H.C. Frend, “Athanasius as an
Egyptian Christian Leader in the Fourth Century,” in Religion
Popular and Unpopular in the Early Christian Centuries (London:
Variorum Reprints, 1976) 20-37.
Aloys Grillmeier, Christ in the
Christian Tradition, vol. 1: From the Apostolic Age to Chalcedon,
rev. ed., trans. John Bowden (Louisville: Westminster John Knox,
1975). A classic; on Athanasius, see pp. 308-328.
Charles Kannengiesser, ed.,
Politique et Theologie chez Athanase d’Alexandre, Théologie
historique 27 (Paris: Beauchesne, 1974).
Charles Kannengiesser, Athanase
d’Alexandre, Évêque et Écrivain: Une lecture des traités Contre les
Ariens, Theologie historique 70 (Paris: Beauchesne, 1983).
Charles Kannengiesser, Arius and
Athanasius: Two Alexandrian Theologians, Collected Studies 353
(London: Variorum Reprints, 1991).
Charles Kannengiesser, “Athanasius of
Alexandria and the Ascetic Movement of His Time,” in Asceticism,
ed. Vincent Wimbush (New York: Oxford University Press, 1995)
479-492.
Richard A. Layton, Didymus the
Blind and His Circle in Late-Antique Alexandria: Virtue and
Narrative in Biblical Scholarship (Urbana, IL: University of
Illinois, 2004) hardcover, $45. The first book-length
study in English of Didymus.
Andrew Louth, “Athanasius’
Understanding of the Humanity of Christ,” Studia Patristica
16 (1985) 309-323.
J. 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.
Annick Martin, Athanase d’Alexandre
et l’église d’Egypte au IVe siècle (328-373),
Collection de l’École française de Rome 216 (Rome: 1996). The most
exhaustive study of Athanasius’ career and context to date.
E.P. Meijering, Orthodoxy and
Platonism in Athanasius: Synthesis or Antithesis? (Leiden:
Brill, 1968 / 1974).
E.P. Meijering, “Athanasius on the
Father as the Origin of the Son,” in God Being History: Studies
in Patristic Philosophy (Amsterdam: North-Holland Pub. Co.,
1975).
X. Morales, La théologie trinitaire
d’Athanase d’Alexandrie, Études augustiniennes—antiquité
(Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 2006) paperback, €60.
Johannes Roldanus, Le Christ et l’homme dans la théologie
d’Athanase d’Alexandre, Studies in the History of Christian
Thought 4 (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1977).
Thomas G. Weinandy, Athanasius: A
Theological Introduction, Great Theologians Series(Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2007)
paperback, $20.
Peter Widdicombe, The Fatherhood of
God from Origen to Athanasius, Oxford Theological Monographs,
rev. ed. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2001) paperback, $28.
Khaled Anatolios, ed., Athanasius,
Early Church Fathers (New York: Routledge, 2005) paperback, $30.
This opens with a lengthy introduction that includes both an
overview of Athanasius’ life and world and a study of his theology;
this is followed by new translations of some of Athanasius’ major works,
including his On the Council of Nicaea (De decretis).
Athanasius, The Life of Anthony,
Classics of Western Spirituality, trans. Robert C. Gregg (New York:
Paulist Press, 1980) paperback, $20. This was one of the earliest
Christian best-sellers. It was responsible for popularizing the
desert ideal throughout the ancient world and would shape all later
lives of the saints.
Robert Hill,
trans., Didymus the Blind: Commentary on Zechariah, Fathers
of the Church 111 (Washington, DC: Catholic University of America,
2006).
E.P. Meijering, Athanasius: Contra
Gentes; Introduction, Translation, and Commentary, Philosophia
Patrum: Interpretation of Patristic Texts 7 (Leiden: Brill, 1984).
Richard A. Norris, The
Christological Controversy, Sources of Early Christian Thought
(Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1980) paperback, $18. This has
Athanasius’ 3rd Oration Against the Arians.
Robert W. Thomson, trans., Athanasius: Contra Gentes and De
Incarnatione (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1971). This includes
both the Greek text and a fine translation of these two early works
of Athanasius.
Philip Schaff, ed., A Select
Library of Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church
(reprint of 1890s edition: Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1992). Quite
dated. Vol. 4 contains the major works of Athanasius.
Carolinne White, trans., Early
Christian Lives, Penguin Classics (New York: Penguin Books,
1998) paperback, $13. Contains a new translation of the Latin
version of the Life of Antony.
The Cappadocians—Basil of aesarea (d.379),
Gregory of Nazianzus (d.389), and Gregory of Nyssa (d.395)—were
Athanasius’ successors; they defended the divinity of the Holy
Spirit and were the architects of the doctrine of the Trinity.
Excellent studies of the Cappadocian Fathers and their theology
are found in the works cited above under the heading “The Arian Controversy”;
see the works of R.P.C. Hanson and J.N.D. Kelly.
Brian E. Daley, Gregory of
Nazianzus, Early Church Fathers Series (New York: Routledge,
2006) paperback, $28. Daley opens with a lengthy
introduction to Gregory's life and works under various headings
("the Humanist", "the Philosopher", "the Theologian", and "the
Priest"). He then offers new translations of a variety of
Gregory's works, including 8 of the Orations, and a selection
of the poems and letters.
Christopher A.
Beeley, Gregory of Nazianzus on the Trinity and the Knowledge of
God, Oxford Studies in Historical Theology (New York: Oxford
University Press, 2008) hardcover, $50. NEW. Excellent
introduction to the Cappadocian approach to the Trinity.
Hans Urs von Balthasar, Presence
and Thought: An Essay on the Religious Philosophy of Gregory of
Nyssa, trans. Mark Sebanc (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1995)
paperback, $18.
Michel René Barnes, The Power of
God: Dynamis in Gregory of Nyssa’s Trinitarian Theology
(Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press, 2001)
hardcover, $65.
M. Cassin and H.
Grelier, eds, Grégoire de Nysse: la Bible dans la construction de
son discours: Actes du Colloque de Paris, 9-10 février 2007,
Collection d’Études Augustiniennes, Series Antiquité 184 (Paris:
Institut d’Études Augustiniennes, 2008) paperback, €27.50.
NEW.
Sarah Coakley, ed., Rethinking
Gregory of Nyssa (New York: Routledge, 2003) paperback, $32.
Brian E. Daley, “Divine Transcendence
and Human Transformation: Gregory of Nyssa’s Anti-Apollinarian
Christology,” Studia Patristica 32 (Leuven: Peters, 1997)
87-95.
Brian
E. Daley, “‘Heavenly Man’ and ‘Eternal Christ’: Apollinarius and
Gregory of Nyssa on the Personal Identity of the Savior,” Journal
of Early Christian Studies 10 (2002): 469-488.
Hubertus R. Drobner & Albert Viciano,
eds., Gregory of Nyssa: Homilies on the Beatitudes: An English
Version with Commentary and Supporting Studies, Supplements to
Vigiliae Christianae 52 (Leiden: Brill, 2000) hardcover, $166.
Paul Jonathan Fedwick, ed., Basil
of Caesarea: Christian, Humanist, Ascetic, 2 volumes, (Toronto:
Pontifical Institute of Medieval Studies, 1981).
Robert C. Gregg, Consolation
Philosophy: Greek and Christian Paideia in Basil and the Two
Gregories, Patristic Monograph Series 3 (Cambridge, MA:
Philadelphia Patristic Foundation, 1975).
Stuart G. Hall, ed., Gregory of
Nyssa, Homilies on Ecclesiastes. An English Version with Supporting
Studies, Seventh International Colloquium on Gregory of Nyssa
(Berlin: De Gruyter, 1993).
Ronald E. Heine, “Gregory of Nyssa’s
Apology for Allegory,” Vigiliae Christianae 38 (1984)
360-370; reprinted in The Bible in the Early Church, ed.
Everett Ferguson, Studies in Early Christianity, vol. 3 (New York:
Garland, 1993).
Stephen M.
Hildebrand, The Trinitarian Theology of Basil of Caesarea: A
Synthesis of Greek Thought and Biblical Truth (Washington, DC:
Catholic University of America Press, 2007) hardcover, $60.
Susan R. Holman, The Hungry Are
Dying: Beggars and Bishops in Roman Cappadocia, Oxford Studies
in Historical Theology (New York: Oxford University Press, 2001)
hardcover, $50.
Augustine Holmes, A Life Pleasing
to God: The Spirituality of the Rules of St. Basil, Cistercian
Studies 189 (Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 2000)
paperback, $20. An excellent introduction.
Martin Laird, Gregory of Nyssa and
the Grasp of Faith, Oxford Early Christian Studies (New York:
Oxford University Press, 2004) paperback, $45.
Joseph T. Lienhard, “Ousia and
Hypostasis: The Cappadocian Settlement and the Theology of
‘One Hypostasis,” pp. 99-121, in Stephen T. Davis et al.,
The Trinity: An Interdisciplinary Symposium on the Trinity (New
York: Oxford University Press, 1999).
Andrew Louth, The Origins of the
Christian Mystical Tradition, 2nd ed. (New York / Oxford: Oxford University Press,
2007) paperback, $45.
Morwenna Ludlow, Gregory of Nyssa,
Ancient and (Post)modern (New York: Oxford University Press,
2007) hardcover, $90.
John McGuckin, Saint Gregory of
Nazianzus: An Intellectual Biography (Crestwood, NY: St.
Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2001) paperback, $23.
Anthony Meredith, Gregory of Nyssa,
Early Church Fathers Series (New York: Routledge, 1999) paperback,
$32. Both an introduction and selections from his writings.
Anthony Meredith, The Cappadocians
(Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1996) paperback, $13.
Frederick Norris, “Gregory Nazianzen:
Constructing and Constructed by Scripture,” pp. 149-162, in The
Bible in Greek Christian Antiquity, ed. Paul Blowers (Notre
Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1997)
Rosemary R. Reuther, Gregory of Nazianzus:
Rhetor and Philosopher (reprint of 1969 Oxford edition: Lima,
OH: Academic Renewal Press, 2003) paperback, $14.
Philip Rousseau, Basil of Caesarea,
Transformation of the Classical Heritage 20 (Berkeley: University of
California Press, 1994) paperback, $20.
Lucian Turcescu, Gregory of Nyssa
and the Concept of Divine Persons, AAR Academy Series (New York:
Oxford University Press, 2005) paperback, $35.
Raymond Van Dam,
Kingdom of Snow: Roman Rule and Greek Culture in Cappadocia
(Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2002) hardcover,
$50.
Raymond Van Dam, Becoming
Christian: The Conversion of Roman Cappadocia (Philadelphia:
University of Philadelphia Press, 2003) hardcover, $45.
Raymond Van Dam, Families and
Friends in Late Roman Cappadocia (Philadelphia: University of
Pennsylvania Press, 2003) hardcover, $55.
Carolinne White, Christian
Friendship in the Fourth Century (New York: Cambridge University
Press, 1992) hardback, $40.
Rowan Williams, “Macrina’s Deathbed
Revisited: Gregory of Nyssa on Mind and Passion,” in L. Wickham and
C. Bammel, Christian Faith and Greek Philosophy in Late Antiquity,
Supplement to Vigiliae Christianae 19 (Leiden: Brill, 1993).
Donald F. Winslow, The Dynamics of
Salvation: A Study in Gregory of Nazianzus, Patristic Monograph
Series (Cambridge, MA: Philadelphia Patristic Foundation, 1979).
Johannes Zachhuber, Human Nature in
Gregory of Nyssa, Supplements to Vigiliae Christianae 46 (Leiden:
Brill, 1999) hardcover, $85.
For the original Greek text, the
old standard is that of J. Migne, Patrologia Graeca, vol.
29-32 (for Basil), vol. 35-38 (for Gregory of Nazianzus), and
vol. 44-46 (for Gregory of Nyssa) In the case of Gregory of
Nyssa, this is slowly being superceded by the series Gregorii
Nysseni Opera, begun in 1921 by Werner Jaeger, with 13
volumes to date. The standard edition of Basil’s letters is the
3-volume edition by Yves Courtonne (Paris: 1957). For the Greek
text with a facing French translation, see the following volumes
from the Sources chrétiennes (Paris: Éditions du Cerf):
-
Basil of Caesarea, On the Holy
Spirit, ed. B. Pruche, SC 17bis.
-
Basil of Caesarea, Hexameron,
ed. S. Giet, SC 26
-
Basil of Caesarea, On the
Origin of the Human Person, ed. A. Smets, SC 160
-
Basil of Caesarea, Contra
Eunomium, ed. B. Sesboué, SC 299 & 305
-
Gregory of Nazianzus, Orations,
ed. A. Tulier & J. Bernardi, SC 149, 208, 247, 250, 270, 284,
309, 318, 358, & 384
-
Gregory of Nyssa, Life of Moses,
ed. Jean Danielou, SC 1bis
-
Gregory of Nyssa, On the
Creation of the Human Person, SC 6
-
Gregory of Nyssa, On Virginity,
ed. J. Aubinaeu, SC 119.
-
Gregory of Nyssa, Life of Saint
Macrina, ed. P. Maraval, SC 178
-
Gregory of Nyssa, Letters,
ed. P. Maraval, SC 363.
Most of the important writings of
the Cappadocians have been translated. A 19th-century
translation is found in the series by Philip Schaff, ed., A
Select Library of Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the
Christian Church (reprint of 1890s edition: Peabody, MA:
Hendrickson, 1992): vol. 5 (Gregory of Nyssa); vol. 7 (Gregory
of Nazianzus); and vol. 8 (Basil of Caesarea). Versions of this
can be found on the Internet. However, I would strongly
encourage that you consult more up-to-date translations. See
especially:
St. Gregory of Nazianzus, On God
and Christ: The Five Theological Orations and Two Letters of Cledonius,
trans. Lionel Wickham, Popular Patristics Series (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2002) paperback,
$13. Gregory of Nazianzus’ Five Theological Orations may be
the finest lecture series in the history of Christianity—at once, a
literary and theological tour de force. Gregory gave these talks
soon after his arrival in Constantinople, around 380. They
articulate what the Church has come to believe about the Trinity and
about the divinity and humanity of Christ. This translation had
previously been published in an expensive edition by Brill; so
this edition is a real bargain. An earlier translation is found in
Edward Hardy, ed. Christology of the Later Fathers, Library
of Christian Classics (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1954); this
volume contains not only Gregory’s Theological Orations but
also Gregory of Nyssa’s To Ablabius: On Why One Should Not Say
There are Three Gods and his Catechetical Oration.
St. Basil the Great, On the Holy Spirit,
trans. David Anderson, Popular Patristics Series (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir’s
Seminary Press, 1980) paperback, $10. It was this work more than any
other which cleared the way for the formal declaration of the
divinity of the Holy Spirit by the Council of Constantinople in 381.
Gregory of Nyssa, Life of Moses,
Classics of Western Spirituality, trans. Everett Ferguson & Abraham
J. Malherbe (New York: Paulist Press, 1978) paperback, $20. Gregory
was not only one of the architects of trinitarian doctrine but was
also a mystic. Here he allegorizes the Exodus story, treating it as
the map of the journey of the soul to God.
Anna Silvas, ed., The Asketikon of St.
Basil the Great, Oxford Early Christian Studies (New York:
Oxford University Press, 2005) hardcover, $180. A new translation of
Basil's monastic classics, The Longer Responses and The
Shorter Responses. Unusually thorough.
St. Basil the Great, On the Human
Condition, trans. Nonna Verna Harrison, Popular Patristics
Series (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir's Seminary Press, 2005)
paperback, $15.
St. Gregory of Nyssa, On the Soul &
Resurrection, trans. Catharine P. Roth, Popular Patristics
Series
(Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1993) paperback, $11.
Georges A. Barrois, trans., The
Fathers Speak: Saint Basil the Great, Saint Gregory of Nazianzus,
Saint Gregory of Nyssa, Selected Letters (Crestwood, NY: St.
Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1986) paperback, $15.
Virginia Woods Callahan, trans.,
Gregory of Nyssa: Ascetical Works, Fathers of the Church 58
(Washington: Catholic University of America Press, 1967).
Roy J. Deferrari, trans., Basil of
Caesarea: The Letters, Loeb Classical Library, 4 vol. (New York:
G. Putnam, 1922-1934; reprint: Cambridge, MA: Harvard University
Press).
Peter Gilbert, trans., On God and
Man: The Theological Poetry of St. Gregory of Nazianzus, Popular
Patristics Series
(Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2001) paperback, $10.
Ronald Heine, ed., Gregory of
Nyssa’s Treatise on the Inscriptions of the Psalms, Oxford Early
Christian Studies (New York: Oxford University Press, 1995)
hardcover, $75.
Denis Molaise Meehan, trans.,
Gregory of Nazianzus: Three Poems, Fathers of the Church 75
(Washington: Catholic University Press, 1987).
Frederick W. Norris, ed., Faith
Gives Fullness to Reasoning: the Five Theological Orations of
Gregory of Nazianzus, trans., Lionel Wickham and Frederick
Williams, Supplements to Vigiliae Christianae 13 (Leiden: Brill,
1991) hardcover, $130. A superb translation of & extensive
commentary on Gregory’s remarkable Theological Orations.
A. Spira and C. Klock, eds., The
Easter Sermons of Gregory of Nyssa: Translation and Commentary
(Cambridge: Philadelphia Patristic Foundation, 1981).
Martha Vinson, St. Gregory of
Nazianzus: Select Orations, Fathers of the Church 107
(Washington: Catholic University of America Press, 2004) hardcover,
$37.
Monica Wagner, trans., Basil of
Caesarea: Ascetical Works, Fathers of the Church 9 (Washington:
Catholic University Press of America, 1950).
Carolinne White, trans., Gregory of
Nazianzus: Autobiographical Poems, Cambridge Medieval Classics,
vol. 6 (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1996)
paperback, $32. Greek text and English translation on facing
pages.