This book presents fresh, lively translations of fourteen such homilies, the majority for the first time in English. The homilies were delivered in some of the main cities of the Greek East of the later Roman Empire, by well-known figures such as Basil of Caesarea, Gregory of Nyssa and John Chrysostom, as well as the equally gifted preachers Asterius of Amasea and Hesychius of Jerusalem.
'Let us die that we may live' offers an approachable, surprising, and not always reverent insight into the life of the Early Church. It reveals the full importance of the martyr homily in terms of...

This work presents translations of 14 Greek homilies, the majority for the first time in English. The homilies were delivered in some of the main cities of the Greek East of the later Roman Empire, by well-known figures such as Basil of Caesarea, Gregory of Nyssa and John Chrysostom, as well as the equally gifted preachers Asterius of Amasea and Hesychius of Jerusalem. always reverent insight into the life of the Early Church. It reveals the full importance of the martyr homily in terms of style, treatment of its subject, and social and liturgical issues, in a way that will be useful across...

"The contributions for this volume emerged out of an expert seminar on the theme of the Church Fathers and Catholic social thought held in Leuven in 2007." -- p.vii.

The present volume's focus lies on the formation of a multifaccetted discourse on Christian martyrdom in Late Antiquity. While martyrdom accounts remain a central means of defining Christian identity, new literary genres emerge, e.g., the Lives of Saints (Athanasius on Antony), sermons (the Cappadocians), hynms (Prudentius) and more. Authors like Eusebius of Caesarea and Augustine employ martyrological language and motifs in their apologetical and polemic writings, while the Gesta Martyrum Romanorum represent a new type of veneration of the martyrs of a single site. Beyond the borders of the...

Gregory of Nyssa's Contra Eunomium, one of the major books on trinitarian theology of the 4th century, documents the exchange between Eunomius and the Cappadocian Father in the last episode of the so-called "Arian Crisis." The present volume is devoted to the third and last book of Contra Eunomium. It offers a fresh English translation with a running commentary in the form of ten studies by first-rank specialists. Seventeen shorter papers enlighten various aspects of Contra Eunomium and other writings of the same author. The contributions will be of interest for scholars...

The studies collected in Preaching after Easter examine the festal history and homiletics of Mid-Pentecost, Ascension, and Pentecost in the late antique Mediterranean world. Articles on individual sermons or the work of individual preachers such as John Chrysostom, Augustine of Hippo, Peter Chrysologus, Leo the Great, and Severus of Antioch exhibit the richness of late antique festal preaching. Questions of authenticity, heresiology, and theological, exegetical, or liturgical history are addressed with methodological rigor. Complementary contributions that deal with ancient...