The main sources for our knowledge about the opposition against Chalcedon in the Eastern Roman Empire in the fifth century are the hagiographic works of the Palestinian monk John Rufus, priest at Antioch and disciple of the great anti-Chalcedonian leader Peter the Iberian at Gaza. There are, in all, three works preserved from him, each work contributing in its own way to our understanding of the underlying motives behind the anti-Chalcedonian movement: the Life of Peter the Iberian, the Commemoration of the Death of Theodosius, and the Plerophories. The present study is an attempt to read the...

"Blessed is He who has brought Adam from Sheol" Christ's descent to the dead in the Theology of Saint Ephrem the Syrian is an examination of the theological use of the doctrine of Christ's descent to the dead in the works of Saint Ephrem the Syrian (ca. 306-373 C.E.). In the ancient Christian church, it was believed, taught, and confessed that in the interval between his crucifixion and resurrection, Jesus Christ descended to the abode of the dead. Christ's descent to the underworld was nowhere earlier, more elaborately, or more influentially expressed than within cultural milieu of Syriac...

This study explores the literary, intellectual, and theological mechanisms at work in the writings of Ephrem the Syrian, with the specific aim of identifying the exact nature of Ephrem's "symbolic thought" and evaluating its overall contemporary relevance.

Formulating a typological association between the biblical figure of Cain and the Jews, Augustine of Hippo crafts a highly intricate theology that justifies and even demands the continuing presence of Jews and their religious practices in a Christian society.

The prayer of the heart is an early Christian contemplative tradition of striking profundity and beauty. In this work, the inherently embodied, communal nature of this ancient teaching is explored, and its relevance to contemporary mystical seekers is addressed.

Jacob of Serugh's vision of 'Salvation in Christ', in its exegetical, theological, catechetical, liturgical and pastoral aspects, is reviewed in this monograph. Jacob's mode of symbolic-mystical-silence approach to the mystery of Christ is explained. This treatise gathers up Jacob's typological and symbolic thought-patterns, in his own language, categories, terminologies, and imageries.

This volume contains an English translation and introduction to Hippolytus of Rome's Commentary on Daniel and his Chronicon. Both works are the first writings of their kind. The commentary is the earliest extant Christian commentary on a book of the Bible and the Chronicon is the first extant Christian historical work.

Buchan’s work is an examination of the theological use of the doctrine of Christ's descent to the dead in the works of Saint Ephrem the Syrian (ca. 306-373 C.E.). Ephrem's conception of Christ's descent to Sheol provides us with an important and distinctive vision of the significance of this salvific event. Ephrem's use of Semitic and non-Western poetic forms and structures as a mode of theological discourse, coupled with his preference for imagery and symbolism rather than definition, resulted in a variety of vivid depictions of Christ's descent to Sheol. The doctrine is shown to be an...

The suffering woman, Blandina, emerges as an archetypal figure of the martyrs of Lyon. This slave-woman ultimately arises to engage in battle with the powers of the Roman Empire. Through the application of Bowen Family Systems Theory and the writings of Michel Foucault the book explains the function of anxiety, and the dynamics at work in the system that result in the failure of Roman authority to use power to quell the rise of Christianity. The reactions of those who might appear to be the most powerful are essential in gifting power to this lowly slave.

This book, on the pneumatology of Origen's Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans, illustrates the centrality of the Holy Spirit for his theological project. As both God's exitus into the world and humanity's reditus to God, the Spirit forms the crucial link between Origen's doctrine of God and his spiritual anthropology. Origen's images for the Holy Spirit, understood in the context of second century concepts of 'spirit,' convey the intersection of theology and anthropology in his thought. This book explores Origen's understanding of the multiplicity of spirits found in the Scriptures, with...