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Archive for the ‘Patristics’ Category

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The Apologists and Paul

In Bloomsbury, Jonathon Lookadoo, Patristic exegesis, Patristics, Paul on January 14, 2025 at 2:48 pm

2025.01.03 | Todd D. Still and David E. Wilhite. The Apologists and Paul. Pauline and Patristic Scholars in Debate. London: T&T Clark, 2024. Pp. xiv + 346. ISBN: 9780567715456.

Review by Jonathon Lookadoo, Presbyterian University and Theological Seminary, Seoul, Republic of Korea

Many thanks to T&T Clark for providing a review copy.

The Apologists and Paul provides a wide-ranging analysis of how Paul’s letters were employed by that loosely defined group of early Christian writers known as the apologists. This volume is the fourth in the series, Pauline and Patristic Scholars in Debate, all of which have been co-edited by Todd Still and David Wilhite. Earlier compilations took up the use of Paul by Tertullian (2013), the Apostolic Fathers (2017), and Irenaeus (2020). While the volumes have not appeared in the same chronological order as the early Christian authors and texts that they study, the respective contributions to the series are characterized by far-reaching coverage of the respective figures in the titles (the Apostolic Fathers, Irenaeus, and Tertullian) as well as depth in the probative explorations of how Paul was utilized by his later interpreters. The most recent book is no exception. Although the composition of some essays was delayed due to restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic, the resulting collection is marked by breadth in its discussion of the apologists as well as depth in its attention to the details of how Paul was employed. Along the way, several essays shed light on many pre-requisites that must be understood to appreciate each respective apologist.

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The Memory of Ignatius of Antioch

In Frazer MacDiarmid, Ignatius, Jonathon Lookadoo, Memory, Mohr Siebeck, Patristics on January 18, 2024 at 11:44 am

2024.01.01 | Frazer MacDiarmid. The Memory of Ignatius of Antioch: The Martyr as a Locus of Christian Identity, Remembering and Remembered. Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament 2.581. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2022. Pp. xii + 269. ISBN: 9783161614996.

Review by Jonathon Lookadoo, Presbyterian University and Theological Seminary, Seoul, Republic of Korea

Frazer MacDiarmid employs memory as a hermeneutical lens through which to view Ignatius’s letters from three angles: how Ignatius remembers others, how Ignatius makes provisions for his immediate memory, and how Ignatius was remembered by readers in late antiquity. The monograph began life as an Oxford D.Phil. thesis that was completed in 2021 under the supervision of Mark Edwards. The Memory of Ignatius of Antioch is carefully argued and maintains a consistent focus without getting distracted by the many possible topics on which it could have engaged. Most substantively, MacDiarmid unlocks fresh perspectives on old or overlooked issues in the letters by employing memory as a key to the Ignatian corpus.

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Christ: The Cambridge Edition of Early Christian Writings Vols. 3 and 4

In Cambridge University Press, Christology, Patristics, Shawn J. Wilhite on September 6, 2023 at 9:16 pm

2023.09.07 | Mark DelCogliano, ed. Christ: Through the Nestorian Controversy. Vol. 3 of The Cambridge Edition of Early Christian Writings. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2022. Pp. xlvii + 778. ISBN: 978-1-107-06213-9. [Hardback].

Mark DelCogliano, ed. Christ: Chalcedon and Beyond. Vol. 4 of The Cambridge Edition of Early Christian Writings. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2022. Pp. xlii + 666. ISBN: 978-1-316-51114-5. [Hardback].

Review by Shawn J. Wilhite, California Baptist University

I do not envy any editor or author writing a holistic account of Trinitarian or Christological theology in the early centuries of Christian thought. It seems impossible to keep in tension each figure, nuance, development of thought, and all the lines of argumentation. The editors say, “An anthology on the vast topic of ‘Christ’ is a fool’s errand” (p. xx). I can only imagine the conversations among the editors, several lists of possible texts to consider, the amount of paper in the “wastebasket” with notes, or even the list of texts that did not “make the cut.” An anthology of Christology became too large for a single volume, so the editors commissioned two volumes: “Though physically separate, the two volumes (i.e., vols. 3 and 4) belong together and are intended to be used together. In fact, together they encapsulate the editor’s vision for the study of Christology in the formative centuries of Christianity” (p. xx). So, before anything further is stated, Andrew Radde-Gallwitz, Mark DelCogliano, Ellen Muehlberger, and Bradley K. Storin ought to be commended for undertaking such a daunting task and for the lasting quality of such an anthology, and especially DelCogliano as the lead editor for volumes 3 and 4.

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Philosophy at the Festival

In Brill, Byron MacDougall, Festivals, Gregory of Nazianzus, Patristics, Robert G. T. Edwards on February 9, 2023 at 11:31 am

2023.02.03 | Byron MacDougall, Philosophy at the Festival: The Festal Orations of Gregory of Nazianzus and the Classical Tradition. Mnemosyne Supplements 461; Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2022.

Review by Robert G. T. Edwards; University of Göttingen.

Gregory of Nazianzus’ seven Festal Orations, preached at Christmas, Epiphany, Easter, and Pentecost during his short-lived episcopacy in Constantinople from 379 to 381, have received minimal scholarly attention, especially compared to Gregory’s more famous Theological Orations. However, as Byron MacDougall shows, the disparity between the fame of the Theological and the Festal Orations is a decidedly modern and western phenomenon: Gregory’s festal sermons were hugely influential in the Byzantine world already in the fifth century. This book is not a general study of these orations, but focuses on a single aspect of them, namely how Gregory “performed philosophy at the festival.” This phrase, repeated in various iterations throughout the book, refers to Gregory’s participation in a longstanding Greek tradition in which philosophical—especially Platonic—speculation (theōria) was closely associated with festival-going. From classical antiquity until late antiquity, there was every expectation among the learned (pepaideumenoi) that the festival should include spectacles both corporeal (games, shows, races) and intellectual (philosophical discussions and orations). And Gregory’s orations, delivered at newly instituted Christian festivals, unquestionably played to these expectations. Through six chapters, MacDougall highlights in lucid prose Gregory’s participation in this long tradition of philosophizing at festivals.

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Tätige Nächstenliebe in Werk und Wirken Gregors des Grossen

In Arnold Smeets, Gregory the Great, Mohr Siebeck, Patristics, Susanne Barth on June 9, 2022 at 9:47 pm

2022.06.07 | Susanne Barth. Tätige Nächstenliebe in Werk und Wirken Gregors des Grossen. Studien und Texte zu Antike und Christentum 122. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2021. ISBN 978-3-16-156303-4. pp. xiii, 449.

Review by Arnold Smeets, Tilburg School of Catholic Theology, Utrecht.

The English title of this book, as mentioned on the publisher’s website: Acts of Charity in the Works and Endeavours of Gregory the Great, is clear enough, but, I think, misses an important point. Susanne Barth’s book is not just on the acts of charity but more on active charity. Gregory the Great was focused on doing charity, making the difference, both in words and in deeds. His diaconal-caritative theology of active neighbourly love (‘eine diakonisch-karitative Theologie der tätigen Nächstenliebe’, 392), is not so much an effect of a vision after studying and contemplating Scripture, but more the foundation, inspiration and blueprint of how he saw his mission as a Christian Roman and (later) bishop of Rome.

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Patristic Literature in Arabic Translations

In Adrian Pirtea, Alexandria TREIGER, Arabic Manuscripts, Barbara Roggema, Brill, Patristics, Translation on April 13, 2021 at 12:37 pm
Cover Patristic Literature in Arabic Translations

2021.4.9 | Barbara Roggema, Alexander Treiger, eds. Patristic Literature in Arabic Translations. Arabic Christianity 2. Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2020. ISBN: 9789004414945.

Review by Adrian C. Pirtea, University of Vienna.

Despite many significant advances over the past decades, Arabic Christian literature remains one of the least explored literary corpora of Eastern and Oriental Christianity. In part, this is certainly due to the sheer amount of authors, texts and manuscripts available: an inventory of the Christian Arabic translations alone make up the daunting first volume of Georg Graf’s five-volume Geschichte der christlichen arabischen Literatur (Città del Vaticano, 1944-1953). Together with a growing awareness of the relevance of Arabic Bible translations, scholars are increasingly turning their attention to the equally important body of Greek (but also Syriac, Coptic, Latin, etc.) Patristic translations into Arabic.

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Tradition and Innovation

In Baptism, Brill, Mystagogy, Narsai of Nisibis, Nathan WITKAMP, Patristics, Sofia Puchkova, Theodore of Mopsuestia on January 4, 2021 at 1:49 pm
Cover Tradition and Innovation: Baptismal Rite and Mystagogy in Theodore of Mopsuestia and Narsai of Nisibis

2021.1.1 | Nathan Witkamp. Tradition and Innovation: Baptismal Rite and Mystagogy in Theodore of Mopsuestia and Narsai of Nisibis. Supplements to Vigiliae Chrisitanae 149. Leiden, Boston: Brill, 2018. ISBN 9789004377851.

Review by Sofia Puchkova, KU Leuven.

The book of Nathan Witkamp, a research fellow of the Netherlands Centre for Patristic Research, presents the first comprehensive comparative analysis of the baptismal rite and mystagogy in the Catechetical Homilies of Theodore of Mopsuestia and in the 21 and 22 memre of Narsai of Nisibis. Challenging the generally accepted view that Narsai had been primarily and significantly influenced by Theodore to the extent that up till now he was regarded as a mere copyist of his teacher, Witkamp demonstrates Narsai’s creativity in the use of Theodore’s material and of the sources of the East Syrian liturgical tradition.

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Women and Knowledge in Early Christianity

In Brill, Early Christianity, Gnosticism, Ivan Miroshnikov, Outi Lehtipuu, Patristics, Sarah Whitear, Ulla Tervahauta, Women on April 27, 2020 at 2:46 pm

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2020.04.08 | Ulla Tervahauta, Ivan Miroshnikov, Outi Lehtipuu and Ismo Dunderberg (eds.), Women and Knowledge in Early Christianity. Supplements to Vigiliae Christianae 144; Boston and Leiden: Brill 2017. Available in open Access.

Review by Sarah Whitear, KU Leuven.

Women and Knowledge in Early Christianity is an edited collection in honour of the retirement of Antti Marjanen, Professor of Gnosticism and Early Christian Literature at the University of Helsinki. The book is made up of fourteen essays split into four different sections. As explicated in the introduction, ‘women and knowledge’ can be understood in a variety of ways, and thus the book features studies on various areas from the role of the feminine in gnostic literature to the knowledge of real flesh and blood women. Read the rest of this entry »

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Die Briefe des Ignatios von Antiochia

In Apostolic Fathers, De Gruyter, Ignatius, Jonathon Lookadoo, Patristics, Peter von MOLLENDORFF, Thomas Johann BAUER on October 29, 2019 at 11:24 am

2019.10.14 | Thomas Johann Bauer and Peter von Möllendorff, eds. Die Briefe des Ignatios von Antiochia: Motive, Strategien, Kontexte. Millennium-Studien 72. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2018. pp. viii + 288. ISBN: 9783110604467.

Review by Jonathon Lookadoo, Presbyterian University and Theological Seminary, Seoul, Republic of Korea.

This volume edited by Bauer and von Möllendorff finds its origins in papers that were delivered to the twenty-fifth meeting of the Internationale Arbeitsgemeinschaft “Zweites Jahrhundert” at the Benediktbeuern Abbey in September 2017. Nine essays are collected that explore Ignatius’s letters from a variety of angles while simultaneously offering a cross-section of the current multiplicity of scholarly opinions on the date, authenticity, authorship, and purpose of the letters. Read the rest of this entry »


Parabiblica Latina

In Apocrypha, Apostolic Fathers, Benjamin GLEEDE, Brill, Jonathon Lookadoo, Latin Christianity, Patristics, Translation on June 27, 2018 at 10:30 am

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2018.06.09 | Benjamin Gleede. Parabiblica Latina: Studien zu den griechisch-lateinischen Übersetzungen parabiblischer Literatur unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der apostolischen Väter. VCSup 137. Leiden: Brill, 2016. pp. viii + 392. ISBN: 9789004315945.

Review by Jonathon Lookadoo, Presbyterian University and Theological Seminary, Seoul, Republic of Korea.

As textual explorations and scholarly discussions of canonicity continue to develop in historical studies of the New Testament and early Christianity, Benjamin Gleede offers a thorough study of the Latin textual tradition of parabiblical texts. These are texts that are rarely included in canons of scripture but which seem to have held an authoritative place in at least some early Christian circles. The book is a published version of Gleede’s Habilitationsschrift, and the research was undertaken at the University of Zürich as part of the research project, Studien zur Übersetzungstechnik Rufins mit ausführlichem Glossar.

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