Until now the period following the Council of Nicea has remained a dark age of early Christian history. This is partly due to the fact that Eusebius' last and important works, Contra Marcellum and De Ecclesiastica Theologia, have not sufficiently been studied. Comparatively little interest has also been given to the Pseudo-Athanasian text Contra Arianos IV. Careful study and comparison of these works against the background of the post-Nicene debate between Asterius, Marcellus, Eusebius and Photinus, has revealed that (as A. Stegmann already proposed in 1917) Contra Arianos IV was written in about 340 and formed a Nicene critique of Marcellus, his pupil and opponents. Therefore, Stegmann's suggestion of the authorship of Apolinarius of Laodicea needs further investigation. This study on Contra Arianos IV sheds new light on the years between Nicea and the synods of Rome and Antioch (340/341).

Focusing on Gregory's Trinitarian thought, his fascinating minor treatises are analysed in detail. Supporting studies deal with theological and philosophical concepts as well as with the context, e.g. his writings against Apolinarius.

How central is narrative to human experience? to Christology? What is the significance of Mark's turn to narrative in the development of the Christian Scriptures and of the return to narrative in liberation theology as exemplified in the Mexican American experience? How does the move toward more conceptual language in the Creed and in Aquinas' Summa theologiae relate to the foundational priority of narrative? In exploring such questions this book maintains the primacy and centrality of narrative in communicating the significance of Jesus. Mark and Guadalupe, both communicating through the power of narrative, frame the Creed, which is a symbolic evocation of John's narrative, and the Summa, which even in its systematization assumes the foundational narratives. Thus, the Fathers of the Church and Thomas Aquinas, no less than the Gospel authors and Juan Diego's heirs, are seen to be on a "narrative-quest."

Through a careful examination of his extant sermons, some of which survive in Latin and others in classical Armenian, this book invites readers to hear a bishop's voice from the mid- fourth century, an important period in late antique Christianity

Tradition and the rule of faith are particularly apt themes for this collection of studies. The essays are written in honor of Joseph T. Lienhard, S.J., renowned American patristic scholar whose research and writings have focused on this particular theme.

Scripture Re-envisioned discusses the christological exegesis of biblical theophanies and argues its crucial importance for the appropriation of the Hebrew Bible as the Christian Old Testament. The Emmaus episode in Luke 24 and its history of interpretation serve as the methodological and hermeneutical prolegomenon to the early Christian exegesis of theophanies. Subsequent chapters discuss the reception history of Genesis 18; Exodus 3 and 33; Psalm 98/99 and 131/132; Isaiah 6; Habakkuk 3:2 (LXX); Daniel 3 and 7. Bucur shows that the earliest, most widespread and enduring reading of these biblical texts, namely their interpretation as "christophanies"— manifestations of the Logos-to-be-incarnate—constitutes a robust and versatile exegetical tradition, which lent itself to doctrinal reflection, apologetics, polemics, liturgical anamnesis and doxology

In The Constancy and Development of the Christology of Theodoret of Cyrrhus Vasilije Vranic offers an assessment of the involvement of Theodoret of Cyrrhus in the Nestorian and Miaphysite controversies of the fifth century. Theodoret’s Christological language and concepts are examined in their historical contexts. The study is based on the comparison between the early period of Theodoret’s Christological output (Expositio rectae fidei and Refutation of the Twelve Anathemas) and his mature period (Eranistes). Theodoret’s Christology is ultimately vindicated and his position as a credible theologian who anticipated the definition of the Council of Chalcedon (AD 451) is assured, while proposing that challenges to the consistency of his Christology ought to be reconsidered.