St. Cyril of Alexandria, St. Athanasius' great successor, tells us: "Our Father Athanasius, of hallowed memory, who adorned the throne of the Church of Alexandria for the whole of forty-six years and arrayed an unconquerable and apostolic knowledge in battle against the sophistries of the unholy heretics and greatly gladdened the world with his writings as by a most fragrant perfume, and all bear witness to the accuracy and piety of his teaching . was a man worthy of trust and deserving a confi dence, since he did not say anything not in agreement with Holy Scripture." The present volume consists of a collection of essays which represent original research into the writings of St. Athanasius, Patriarch of Alexandria (295 - 373). Th ese essays respond to challenges arising out of the contemporary scholarly studies of St. Athanasius' theology and writings. Th e new perspectives in Athanasian studies, which these essays off er, are closer to the original theological legacy of this great Alexandrian Father of the Church who has come down in the history of the Church as the "canon of orthodoxy." Modern "critical research and discussions" have too oft en tended to obscure the Athanasian legacy and bar contemporary theology from the amazing blessings that this great ecumenical teacher and Father of the Church has bequeathed to all Christian generations.

In this volume, Khaled Anatolios presents a comprehensive study of Saint Athanasius, one of the most influential figures in the development of Christian doctrine. He analyzes the coherence of Athanasius' theology by relating the various aspects of his doctrine - God, creation, theological anthropology, Christology and redemption, and the life of grace - to a pervasive emphasis on the radical distinction, and simultaneous relation, between God and world. Athanasius: The Coherence of his Thought provides a systematic account of the overall inner logic of the Athanasian vision. It shows how the various aspects of his doctrine are mutually related and in so doing elucidates the complexities both of Athanasian thought and Christian doctrine in general.

In this long-awaited edition of the late Robert Lowry Calhoun's lectures on the history of Christian doctrine, a powerful case is made for the scriptural basis of the ancient ecumenical creeds. The way Calhoun reads the patristic authors helps us see that the Trinitarian "three-yet-one" and Christological "two-yet-one" creedal formulations provide patterns for sorting out the highly diverse biblical ways of speaking of God and of the Messiah (Jesus) so that they are not contradictory. The implied lesson (all the more effective for many of Calhoun's students, just because he let them draw this conclusion by themselves) is that the creeds are not to be understood as deductions from scripture (which they are not in any straightforward way) but as templates for interpreting scripture. It is Trinitarian and Christological patterns of reading--which are implicitly operative for vast multitudes even in churches that profess to be creedless--that make it possible to treat the entire bible, Old and New Testaments together, as a unified and coherently authoritative whole.

Vols. for 1871-76, 1913-14 include an extra number, The Christmas bookseller, separately paged and not included in the consecutive numbering of the regular series.