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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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You Are My Son

In Bloomsbury, Christology, Familial Metaphors, Hebrews, Shawn J. Wilhite on May 5, 2016 at 2:00 pm

9780567665010

2016.05.07 | Amy L. B. Peeler. You Are My Son: The Family of God in the Epistle to the Hebrews. LNTS 486. London: T&T Clark, 2014. Pp. xiv + 224. ISBN: 978-0-56765-418-2.

Review by Shawn J. Wilhite, California Baptist University.

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

The fact that familial motifs have remained relatively underdeveloped presents a bit of an anomaly. Given the data of filial language within the first major section of Hebrews — “you are my son” (Heb 1:5), “I shall be to him a father” (Heb 1:5), “God…has spoken to us by his son” (Heb 1:2), “but of the son he says” (Heb 1:8), “…bringing many sons to glory” (Heb 2:10), “not ashamed to call them brothers” (Heb 2:11) — Amy Peeler’s volume appears during a time when similar monographs have yet to enter Hebrews scholarship. In You Are My Son, Peeler attempts to fill such wanting lacuna of filial language in her revised dissertation (Princeton Theological Seminary, 2011). Peeler offers Hebrews scholars a helpful and needed work for fatherhood, sonship, and familial language within Hebrews. Read the rest of this entry »