This book casts light on the figure of John of Scythopolis, the sixth-century theologian who composed a series of annotations to the works attributed to Dionysius the Areopagite (whose conversion by St Paul is mentioned in Acts 17: 34). It surveys John's sources, methods, and doctrinal concerns in the context of the important theological debates that wracked the eastern churches in the aftermath of the Council of Chalcedon.

The early Eucharist has usually been seen as sacramental eating of token bread and wine in careful or even slavish imitation of Jesus and his earliest disciples. In fact, the evidence suggests great diversity in conduct, including the use of foods, in the first few hundred years. This study describes and discusses these practices fully for the first time, and provides important new insights into the liturgical and social history of early Christianity.

When first published in 1958, The Canons of the Council of Sardica, AD 343 at once became the standard account of the canons passed by the Western bishops at Sardica in 343 and the thinking on church matters that lay behind them. In this new edition Hamilton Hess has updated his account in the light of recent literature, included new materials and the full texts of the canons, and translated all quotations into English to reach a wider audience. Three new opening chapters make a fresh contribution to the study of early church history in giving a comprehensive analysis of the rise of the...

An original account of Augustine's theory of will, based on a close reading of his pivotal and fundamental text, the dialogue On Free Choice. Simon Harrison takes Augustine's philosophical arguments and literary form seriously and so reveals a way of thinking about the will that is grounded in the individual reader's response. He shows the centrality of Augustine's philosophical method, his 'way in to the will', as opposed to the construction of a monolithic 'theory of will'. Harrison relates the argument of On Free Choice to other key texts of Augustine's, in particular the City of God and...

This book is the first overall study of the texts and language of the Old Latin Gospels, the versions of the four Gospels that predate the Vulgate of Jerome. Author Philip Burton seeks to cast new light on their origins, translation techniques, and value as a source for vulgar Latin.

Asceticism and Anthropology in Irenaeus and Clement examines the ways in which Irenaeus and Clement understood what it means to be human. By exploring these writings from within their own theological perspectives, John Behr also offers a theological critique of the prevailing approach to the asceticism of Late Antiquity. Writing before monasticism became the dominant paradigm of Christian asceticism, Irenaeus and Clement afford fascinating glimpses of alternative approaches. For Irenaeus, asceticism is the expression of man living the life of God in all dimensions of the body, that...

The teachings of St Symeon (949-1022) created much controversy in Byzantium and led to his short-lived exile to Asia Minor in 1009. This book examines St Symeon from within the Byzantine mystical tradition, looking at him as both a highly personal and a very traditional ecclesiastical writer. For the first time in modern scholarship, this study explores St Symeon's attitude to Scripture and to church worship; his relations with his spiritual father, Symeon the Studite; and the Studite tradition in general.

Thecla, a disciple of the apostle Paul, was perhaps the most celebrated female saint and 'martyr' among Christians in late antiquity. In examining the practices of Thecla's devotees in Asia Minor and Egypt, Stephen Davis shows that Thecla's cult was closely linked with communities of women as a means of empowerment.

The ancient Dormition and Assumption traditions are a collection of over 60 different narratives, preserved in 9 ancient languages, that commemorate the end of the Virgin Mary's life. This study aims to make this collection more accessible by analyzing the liturgical, archaeological, and narrative sources of the earliest traditions of Mary's death. Several of the most important narratives appear here in English for the first time.

Here available in English for the first time, Augustine's Commentary on Galatians is his only complete, formal commentary on any book of the Bible. Since Galatians was commented upon by all the ancient Latin commentators, it provides a basis for comparing them and for identifying Augustine's special concerns and emphases. Plumer's translation features facing Latin text, and he provides a comprehensive introduction and copious notes.