- [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
As with other classic themes in early Christian thought, the doctrine of creation was a complex construction. It drew broadly and deeply from the language and imagery of the Bible. Its ultimate contours and coherence were shaped primarily in relation to other major aspects of the Catholic Christian faith: the Trinity, the nature and vocation of the human ‘microcosm’, the Fall, the economy of salvation, the mission of Jesus Christ to usher in the new creation, the final consummation of the world, and so on. It was a doctrine about origins and also a doctrine about grace and nature, about history, about providence and evil, about tragedy and beauty, about corporeality and incarnation, about time and eternity, and about eschatological judgement and perfection.
Keywords: Bible, cosmology, creation, Christian faith, Trinity, the Fall, salvation, Jesus Christ, incarnation, eschatological judgement
Paul M. Blowers is Dean E. Walker Professor of Church History at Emmanuel Christian Seminary, Johnson City, Tennessee.
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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