This provocative new study reevaluates the history of the early Church. Focusing on the struggle between Ambrose of Milan, upholder of orthodoxy and the famous Nicene' creed still used in the western Church today, and the heretical Arians who denied the divinity of Christ, Dr Williams challenges the traditional picture of the triumph of orthodoxy. His book is full of illuminating new insights on the social, political and theological entanglements of early Christianity.

A learned and uniquely constructive book that gently urges "suspicious" Christians to reclaim the patristic roots of their faith. Written to help Protestant Christians recognize the early church fathers as an essential part of their faith, this book is addressed primarily to the evangelical, independent, and free church communities, who remain largely suspicious of church history and the relationship between Scripture and tradition. D. H. Williams clearly explains why every branch of today's church owes its heritage to the doctrinal foundation laid by postapostolic Christianity. Based on...