This collection documents examples of distinctively Catholic theological beliefs or doctrines in the Eastern Church fathers; that is, ones in harmony with historic Catholic teaching but differing in some way from one or more strains of Protestant theology or Eastern Orthodox views. Quotations will be drawn from the Three Holy Hierarchs of Eastern Christian Tradition: St. Basil the Great (c. 330-379), St. John Chrysostom (c. 345-407), and St. Gregory Nazianzen (c. 330-c. 390). St. Athanasius (c. 297-373) is usually added to this list, and these are the Four Great Eastern Doctors of the Church. Additionally, the following four fathers are included: St. Cyril of Alexandria (c. 376-444), St. Ephraim (c. 306-373), St. Cyril of Jerusalem (c. 315-387), and St. John Damascene (c. 676-749). All eight men are Doctors of the Catholic Church. Quotations are drawn from public domain works and are found online at the Christian Classics Ethereal Library website.

Protestants and Catholics both claim that the early Church heritage of theology and broad consensus of the Church fathers favors their own view. Protestants, from the beginning, claimed to be "reformers" of the Catholic Church; that is, they felt themselves to be hearkening back to the more pure doctrines of the early Church and the Church fathers, rather than overturning historic Catholic doctrine. I shall contend in this book, by means of massive documentation, that the "historical case" for Catholicism becomes stronger as the accumulation of patristic evidence piles up. Catholics need not fear patristic data any more than they need fear the Bible. The discussion of what the Church fathers believed must be undertaken by means of historical fact, and it can be determined (fairly conclusively in most cases, I submit) what a Church father believed about various Christian doctrines. This volume surveys the beliefs of the Church fathers, particularly with regard to Catholic "distinctives."

"Catholicism...is a living community of faith, a community with its own distinctive rituals and structure, its own patterns of individual and collective religious life, " writes distinguished theologian Daniel Donovan. What is unique about the Catholic experience of Christianity? What features set it apart from other Christian religions? Donovan explores these questions and more here, offering readers the fruit of his experience from a lifetime of theology and teaching.In eight chapters, Donovan draws attention to certain emphases and characteristics of Catholicism which have influenced and continue to influence the way in which Catholics experience and think about their faith. These include: sense of community; the historical dimension of Catholicism; the objective nature of faith; liturgy and sacraments; ordained ministry; and tension between universal and particular. A final chapter reflects on all the themes and relates them to the concrete experience of individual Catholic believers.

Author David Armstrong shows that the Catholic Church is the "Bible Church par excellence," and that many common Protestant doctrines are in fact not Biblical.

"God formed the human body from the dust of the earth in his image and likeness (Gen 1.26; 2.7), and calls us to become "partakers of the divine nature" (2 Pet 1.4). But in our fallen state, we find ourselves in a different condition, crying out, "Who will deliver me from this body of death?" (Rom 7.24) For this reason, Christ--in whom "the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily" (Col 2.9)--came to save both our souls and our bodies. "He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree" (1Pet 2.24). Because of this "creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption ... And not only the creation, but we ourselves ... groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies" (Rom 8.21, 22). Larchet traces the contours of this complex subject using Scripture and the Church Fathers. He situates the meaning and purpose of our bodies in the cosmic drama of salvation, without losing sight of the everyday activities that use and honor--or dishonor--the human body. We are created as an integral whole: body, soul, and spirit. From the ancient Gnostics to contemporary alternative views of the human person, this integrity of the human person has always been challenged. The holistic vision presented in these pages is a timely reminder of the eternal truths found in Scripture and tradition."--! From from back cover.

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Shadow of the Third Century: A Revaluation of Christianity, first published in 1949, begins with the assertions that a true history of Christianity has never before been written and that the roots of the Christian religion lie in earlier religions and philosophies of the ancient world. The author, Alvin Boyd Kuhn, asserts that Christianity as we know it took the form it did due to a degeneration of knowledge rather than to an energization produced by a new release of light and truth into the world. In the ancient world, knowledge was commonly passed down by esoteric traditions, its inner meaning known only to the initiated. The Gospels, according to Kuhn, should therefore be understood as symbolic narratives rather than as history. Sacred scriptures are always written in a language of myth and symbol, and the Christian religion threw away and lost their true meaning when it mistranslated this language into alleged history instead of reading it as spiritual allegory. This literalism necessarily led to a religion antagonistic toward philosophy. Moreover, it produced a religion that failed to recognize its continuity with, and debt to, earlier esoteric schools. As evidence of this, Kuhn finds that many of the gospel stories and sayings have parallels in earlier works, in particular those of Egypt and Greece. The transformation of Jesus’ followers into Pauline Christians drew on these sources. Moreover, the misunderstanding of true Christianity led to the excesses of misguided asceticism. Overall, the book seeks to serve as a “clarion call to the modern world to return to the primitive Christianity which the founder of Christian theology, Augustine, proclaimed had been the true religion of all humanity.” With its many citations from earlier works, Shadow of the Third Century also serves as a bibliographic introduction to alternative histories of Christianity.