- [UNTITLED]
- Acknowledgements
- List of Maps
- List of Illustrations
- Abbreviations
- List of Contributors
- Introduction
- From Patristics to Early Christian Studies
- Literature, Patristics, Early Christian Writing
- Which Early Christianity?
- Material Evidence (1): Archaeology
- Material Evidence (2): Visual Culture
- Epigraphy
- Palaeography and Codicology
- Jews and Christians
- Pagans and Christians
- ‘Gnosticism’
- Manichaeism
- Arius and Arians
- Pelagius and Pelagians
- The West (1): Italy, Gaul, and Spain
- The West (2): North Africa
- The East (1): Greece and Asia Minor
- The East (2): Egypt and Palestine
- The East (3): Syria and Mesopotamia
- Clergy and Laity
- The Biblical Canon
- Creeds, Councils, and Canons
- Church and Empire
- Women and Gender
- Monasticism
- Early Christian Apocryphal Literature
- Apologetics
- Homiletics
- Early Christian Historians and Historiography
- Martyr Passions and Hagiography
- Poetry and Hymnography (1): Christian Latin Poetry
- Poetry and Hymnography (2): The Greek World
- Poetry and Hymnography (3): Syriac
- Christian Philosophy
- Christian Initiation
- Eucharistic Liturgy
- Prayer
- Asceticism
- Penance
- Martyrdom and the Cult of the Saints
- Pilgrimage
- Interpretation of Scripture
- Doctrine of God
- Christ and Christologies
- Doctrine of Creation
- Early Christian Ethics
- <i>Instrumenta Studiorum</i>: Tools of the Trade
- General Subject Index
- Index of Persons Ancient (<i>Ancient and Modern</i>)
- Index of Biblical Citations
Abstract and Keywords
This article describes the shape of modern scholarship; polemic and development; the fourth-century controversies; Gnosticism; Judaism and Christianity; the influence of post-classical philosophical traditions; the shape of Trinitarian orthodoxy; negative theology and mysticism; feminist scholarship; and divine suffering. Adolf von Harnack and Walter Bauer profoundly shaped the scholarly study of the early Christian doctrine of God, even though their views no longer carry the day. The trends in recent scholarship outlined here represent in broad strokes the current state of the question; but just as the pro-Nicene figures believed that one never stops growing in knowledge of God, so too will scholarship on their contributions in this area continue to evolve. Current scholarship on the early Christian doctrine of God occurs in a context in which many older narratives about the development of doctrine have come under significant question.
Keywords: doctrine of God, pro-Nicene figures, Adolf von Harnack, Gnosticism, Judaism, Christianity, Trinitarian orthodoxy, negative theology
Lewis Ayres is Professor of Catholic and Historical Theology at the University of Durham, UK. His most recent book is Augustine and the Trinity (2010/2014).
Andrew Radde‐Gallwitz is Assistant Professor of Theology at Loyola University, Chicago, Illinois.
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- [UNTITLED]
- Acknowledgements
- List of Maps
- List of Illustrations
- Abbreviations
- List of Contributors
- Introduction
- From Patristics to Early Christian Studies
- Literature, Patristics, Early Christian Writing
- Which Early Christianity?
- Material Evidence (1): Archaeology
- Material Evidence (2): Visual Culture
- Epigraphy
- Palaeography and Codicology
- Jews and Christians
- Pagans and Christians
- ‘Gnosticism’
- Manichaeism
- Arius and Arians
- Pelagius and Pelagians
- The West (1): Italy, Gaul, and Spain
- The West (2): North Africa
- The East (1): Greece and Asia Minor
- The East (2): Egypt and Palestine
- The East (3): Syria and Mesopotamia
- Clergy and Laity
- The Biblical Canon
- Creeds, Councils, and Canons
- Church and Empire
- Women and Gender
- Monasticism
- Early Christian Apocryphal Literature
- Apologetics
- Homiletics
- Early Christian Historians and Historiography
- Martyr Passions and Hagiography
- Poetry and Hymnography (1): Christian Latin Poetry
- Poetry and Hymnography (2): The Greek World
- Poetry and Hymnography (3): Syriac
- Christian Philosophy
- Christian Initiation
- Eucharistic Liturgy
- Prayer
- Asceticism
- Penance
- Martyrdom and the Cult of the Saints
- Pilgrimage
- Interpretation of Scripture
- Doctrine of God
- Christ and Christologies
- Doctrine of Creation
- Early Christian Ethics
- <i>Instrumenta Studiorum</i>: Tools of the Trade
- General Subject Index
- Index of Persons Ancient (<i>Ancient and Modern</i>)
- Index of Biblical Citations