The purpose of this book is to bring within a single volume a representative selection of extracts from the writings of the Early Christian fathers, covering the main areas of Christian thought. The extracts, for the most part newly translated by the editors, are arranged by topic under the following headings: God, Trinity, Christ, Holy Spirit, Sin and Grace, Tradition and Scripture, Church, Sacraments, Christian Living, Church and Society, and Final Goal. Care has been taken to reflect the full range of writing on these themes - exposition and commentary, homily, epistle and polemic - and the extracts are of sufficient length to show the distinctive flavour of each individual writer. Annotation has been kept to a minimum, but each main section has a short introduction which places the extracts in their particular context within the development of Christian thought.
A paperback edition of this well-known study. Since its first publication in 1967 this book has aroused a lively debate among theologians and practicising clergy. The author had since returned to the discussion (The Remaking of Christian Doctrine, SCM Press 1974) and has stressed the contemporary need to define and develop Christian doctrine. In the earlier work Professor Wiles asks how the early Church fathers' doctrinal affirmations - expressed for example in the Nicene Creed and Chalcedonian Definition - remain valid today when the framework of the fathers' learning and discourse has disappeared. Doctrine was necessary, he argues, to answer objections to Christianity in a largely non-Christian world, to tackle the problem of heresy and to satisfy the desire of Christians to express their faith more deeply. He also considers the sources of doctrinal reasoning - Scripture, the practice of worship and the nature of salvation. These sources are still vital to any development of
Arians in the third century AD maintained that Jesus was less divine than God. Regarded as the archetypal Christian heresy, Arianism was condemned in the Nicene Creed and apparently squashed by the ea
This book surveys the Greek fathers' interpretations of the Gospel of John from the earliest surviving commentary (Heracleon, c. 170) up to the early fifth century. It examines key themes and passages from the gospel and the varying methods of exegesis applied to them by different commentators, giving special attention to the contrast between the schools of Alexandria (notably Origen and Cyril) and of Antioch (Theodore of Mopsuestia and John Chrysostom). Maurice Wiles identifies the distinctive insights of each commentator and teases out the rich diversity of interpretations that flourished in this early period. This discussion is set within the wider context of early Christian thought, including the controversies between the Gnostic, modalist and monarchian heresies and 'orthodox' Nicene doctrine.
The interpretation of the Pauline Epistles has always been a central issue in the whole understanding of the Christian faith. Wiles analyses the writings of the Greek and Latin commentators of the third, fourth and early fifth centuries. The patristic exegesis of St Paul is concerned with a wide range of doctrinal issues. these include, in particular, the great issues of grace and faith which were of such importance at the time of the Reformation. Wiles questions whether the Fathers were as insensitive to the Pauline teaching about grace as is often claimed. This book is a companion to The Spiritual Gospel, Wiles's examination of the early commentaries on St John.
