Earlychurch.org.uk

Colin J, Hemer on the The Manchester Rotas / Sator Square

2009-10-19T00:01:00.001Z

The following article is now online in PDF:

Colin J. Hemer, "The Manchester Rotas / Sator Square," Faith and Thought 105.1&2 (1978): 36-40.

My thanks to the Trustees of Tyndale House for their kind permission to reproduce this article.

John Drane on Gnosticism and the New Testament

2009-10-07T00:01:00.001Z

The following articles are now available on-line in PDF:

John W. Drane, "Gnosticism and the New Testament 1," TSF Bulletin 68 (Spring 1974): 6-13.

John W. Drane, "Gnosticism and the New Testament 2," TSF Bulletin 69 (Summer 1974): 1-7.

My thanks to Professor Drane for his kind permission to reproduce these articles.

September Website News

2009-09-10T12:30:00.001Z

With new academic year due to begin in the next few weeks I thought it would be good to update my visitors on recent and forthcoming developments across the “Theology on the Web” websites.

File Formats for Articles

Over the last few months I’ve been experimenting with different formats for the articles I upload. Since I began in 2001 I’ve scanned, OCR’d and then proof-read all the articles that I’ve placed online. This produces very clear text and very small file sizes, but it does have the disadvantage of being very time consuming as well as introducing typos.

The situation is at present that I have a full-time job in a Christian charity, a wife and three little boys, so website work must be confined to my lunch hour or late evenings. Although I received over a million visitors each year only 4 of these support the work regularly on a monthly basis. The two advertisers who paid for space on the websites have decided not to renew this year. All this means is that while I still hope to do this work full-time on the sites at some point there is no prospect of this in the near future on the basis of current funding levels. If you would like to support the development of the sites I suggest a number of ways of doing so here.

This has led me to change the format of the articles I upload to scanned PDF’s with OCR’d text. These retain the original layout, can be searched, cut and pasted and appear in search engines. They can be produced very quickly (I could scan and place online an entire book in a few hours) but the file size is around 15-20 times larger a word-processed version. A few people have complained about this change, but I would rather have the material available now rather in several years time (if ever) even if the format does not please everyone.

New (old!) Journals Online

I have recently completed the entire 11 volumes of the Bulletin of the Evangelical Theological Society and will be integrating the articles into my site in the next few weeks. Vox Evangelica (which I began working on in 2006) should be complete by the end of next week. I have recently completed a table of contents for the Theological Students Fellowship (TSF) Bulletin (UK) and a number of these articles are now online. Anvil journal recently allowed me to publish around 27 of its articles and these are appearing as permissions from the authors are received. I am now working on a table of contents for Themelios (1962-1974) when it was published by IFES. I hope to be able to place many of these articles online as well in due course in partnership with Tyndale House and the Gospel Coalition.

Missiology Website

Due to my present workload the launch of this site has been put back until sometime next year.

That’s all for now. Remember to subscribe to the site feeds to received the latest news. Thanks for visiting!

The Very Rev Professor Geoffrey W. Bromiley (1915-2009)

2009-08-14T07:17:00.002Z

I was saddened to hear today of the death of Geoffrey Bromiley on 7th August. Amongst his numerous works he will probably be best remembered for his translations of significant German language works, such as Kittel's Theological Dictionary of the New Testament and Karl Barth's Church Dogmatics. He also edited the revised International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. Among the 10 books he himself wrote I have particularly valued his Historical Theology: An Introduction.

I wrote to Professor Bromiley a couple of years ago and obtained his permission to place online all his articles from Evangelical Quarterly which should start to appear on my websites in the next few months.

You can find a bibliography of some of his works here. Fuller Theological Seminary has an obitiary here, T & T Clark (who published many of his books) here. Ben Myers has a blog entry here, as does Michael L. Westmoreland-White here and David Guretzki here,

Roger Beckwith and Wilfrid Stott on the Doctrine of the Christian Sunday

2009-07-28T06:52:00.004Z

The following book is now available in both PDF and iPaper formats:

Roger T. Beckwith & W. Stott, This Is the Day: The Biblical Doctrine of the Christian Sunday in Its Jewish and Early Church Setting. London: Marshall, Morgan and Scott, 1978.

My thanks to Dr Beckwith for his kind permission to reproduce this book online.

Introductions to Tertullian, Irenaeus and Justin Martyr by Johnson Thomaskutty

2009-04-20T00:01:00.004Z

The following short introductions were originally puiblished on Facebook. In order to make them available to a wider audience Dr Thomaskutty has kindly granted permission for them to be republished on earlychurch.org.uk

St. Irenaeus of Lyons, the First Systematic Theologian of the Second Century (Johnson Thomaskutty, Faculty of New Testament, Union Biblical Seminary, Pune, India)

Tertullian, the Father of Latin Western Theology and an Advocate of "Freedom of Religion" (Johnson Thomaskutty, Faculty of New Testament, Union Biblical Seminary, Pune, India)

Justin Martyr, the First Outstanding Apologist of the Second Century ( Johnson Thomaskutty, Faculty of New Testament, Union Biblical Seminary, Pune, India)

Theology on the Web Hub launched

2009-03-08T00:01:00.001Z

I have today launched a "hub site" called "Theology on the Web" which contains some of the material that has previously been duplicated on several sites. Having a central hub will help me to be able to keep the shared material updated and help visitors to understand better the vision that underlies the development of the other four - soon to be five - sites.

Frances Young on Christian Attitudes to Finance in the First Four Centuries

2008-06-25T20:18:00.002Z

The following article is now online in PDF:

Frances Young, "Christian Attitudes to Finance in the First Four Centuries," Epworth Review 4.3 (Sept. 1977): 78-86.

This is very interesting article on a neglected subject - well worth a read.

Professor Henry Chadwick, "one of the last great Anglican Scholars", dies aged 87

2008-06-19T19:44:00.010Z

Anyone who has studied church history will be familiar with the works of Henry Chadwick, particularly his book The Early Church, which is still a standard textbook on many courses, remarkably so, as it was first published in 1967. It was therefore with a great sense of loss that I read of his death today in The Telegraph. The Guardian's obituary can be viewed here.

Professor Chadwick's 1968 Ethel M. Wood Lecture is available on-line, thanks to the author's kind permission a couple of years ago:

The Rev. Prof. Henry Chadwick, The Enigma of St. Paul. The Ethel M. Wood lecture delivered before the University of London on 27 February 1968. London: The Athlone Press, 1969. Pbk. ISBN: 0485143135. pp.22.

It used to be said that you had to study patristics for at least 50 years to be considered an expert. If that is true then men like this will prove hard to replace.

Theology on the Web group launched on Facebook

2008-04-29T07:33:00.002Z

I have created a new group on Facebook called Theology on the Web. I am hoping that it will serve both to raise the profile of my websites and provide a forum for visitors to provide feedback on current and future projects. Feel free to sign up.

F.F. Bruce on the Lessons of Church History

2008-04-15T19:58:00.005Z

The following article is now on-line in PDF:

F.F. Bruce, "Church History and Its Lessons," J.B. Watson, ed., The Church: A Symposium. London: Pickering & Inglis, Ltd., 1949. pp.178-95.

George Santayana famous said that "Those who fail to learn the lessons that history teaches, are doomed to repeat them". It is therefore helpful to some of the lessons that Church History can teach today's Church regarding the form and ministry of the Church, the Church's relationship to the State and the Church's mission.

Arthur Klem on Tertullian: Victim of Caricature

2008-02-04T20:31:00.000Z

The following article is now on-line in PDF:

Arthur W. Klem, "Tertullian: Victim of Caricature," Bulletin of the Evangelical Theological Society 5.4 (Fall 1962): 103-108.

Tertullian has always been a target for misrepresentation. Arthur Klem's article seeks to set the record straight.

Chris Gousmett on Patristic Eschatology

2008-01-31T20:10:00.000Z

The following Ph.D. thesis is now available on-line:

Chris Gousmett, "Shall the Body Strive and Not be Crowned? Unitary and instrumentalist anthropological models as keys to interpreting the structure of Patristic eschatology," PhD. Thesis, University of Dunedin, NZ, 1993.

My thanks to Dr Gousmett for reformatting his thesis and allowing me to place it on-line.

Abstract:

It is possible to discern a structure underlying the myriad details of Patristic eschatology through the use of two anthropological models, a unitary model, which sees the person as a unity of body and soul, and an instrumentalist model, which locates the person in the soul, which uses the body as its instrument. This latter view makes possible a judgement and entry into the appropriate eschatological state immediately after death, while the unitary view requires the resurrection to occur first. Some who held a unitary view (notably but not exclusively the Syrians) thought that the soul slept until the resurrection, while others held that the soul experienced pleasure or pain in anticipation of their future rewards or punishments to be received after the judgement.

The unitary anthropology is correlated with a positive assessment of bodily life, including marriage and sexuality, and (particularly during the first few centuries) expectation of life on a renewed earth in the eschaton following a millennium of peace.

The decline in millennialism, rise of asceticism, and glorification of virginity and denigration of marriage, as well as an eclipse of the centrality and significance of the resurrection of the body, are correlated with an instrumentalist view. Bodily life was often seen negatively, as the occasion, if not the source, of sin, and even innocent bodily gratification was shunned as a hindrance to the communion of the soul with God.

There is no direct correlation with the frequent contrast between the “resurrection of the body” and the “immortality of the soul” and the structures of Patristic eschatology. Many who held to a unitary anthropological model thought the soul immortal (although earlier Patristic writers rejected this concept), but also stressed that eschatological life also required the immortalisation of the body through its resurrection.

Those who held to an instrumentalist anthropological model mostly thought the soul was innately immortal, and provided sophisticated philosophical arguments for this view. However, it was the idea that the person was located in the soul, with the body as its instrument, that is the determining characteristic for the structure of their eschatology.

These ideas provide the background to the interpretation of Psalm 1:5, which in conjunction with John 3:18 was taken to mean that neither the saints nor the obdurate wicked would face the judgement on the last day. Others took Psalm 1:5 to mean that the wicked would not be judges, as they were wont to do during life. While there is no direct correlation between these interpretations of Psalm 1:5 and the two anthropological models discussed, it is not possible to understand the reasons for these interpretations without considering the influence of these models on Patristic eschatology.

Patristic anthropology and eschatology was shaped by the synthesis between pagan thought and Christian thought. The negative assessment of bodily life can be traced to pagan influences, and the consequences are considerable even today. Only by repudiating the method of synthesis can an authentically Christian anthropology and eschatology be developed.

Graham Keith on Patristic Views on Hell (2 parts)

2008-01-15T20:42:00.000Z

The following articles are now on-line in PDF:

Graham Keith, " Patristic Views on Hell - Part 1," The Evangelical Quarterly 71.3 (1999): 217-232.

Abstract:

In this period the doctrine of the last things was yet to be worked out in detail. Apart from the resurrection of the dead and the final judgment, no orthodox consensus was established. With such a climate Origen tried to extend the church’s teaching. He tied the traditional idea of a final judgment to God’s long-term strategy for the restoration of souls (or intelligences) after they had declined from the contemplation of God. In the process he produced a speculative and controversial picture which revolved round the willing subjection of all things to God. All God’s judgments were essentially corrective. This meant that Origen at least considered the possible salvation of the devil and his angels. But his treatment did leave several inconsistencies. This was probably of more use to the church than a systematised dogmatic statement, because it focussed the mind of the church on certain key issues on which it had to work out a biblical consensus.

Graham Keith, "Patristic Views on Hell - Part 2," The Evangelical Quarterly 71.4 (1999): 291-310.

Abstract:

In his approach to the doctrine of Hell Augustine was influenced in part by a desire to address pagan doubts about the scientific possibility (d a body being in a state of everlasting torment. But an even greater concern was prompted by various pleas within the church to tone down the Scriptural evidence for an eternal Hell. Augustine believed that if any of these pleas were accepted, dire pastoral consequences would be involved.

Alongside his response to the various critiques of Hell, Augustine laid much stress on the seriousness of Adam’s original sin. He also rejected the Platonist view, effectively endorsed by Origen, that all divine punishments are essentially corrective. Augustine felt no need to give a detailed rationale for God’s justice, which he saw as a datum of revelation and a matter of faith for the believer. It was, however, a weakness in Augustine (and the patristic period generally) that he was content to work with a model of divine anger which stripped it of any passionate element. This foreclosed the possibility of tying God’s wrath more closely to the outworking of God’s justice.

Graham Keith on the Use of Allegory by Origen and Augustine

2008-01-13T20:21:00.000Z

The following article is now on-line in PDF:

Graham Keith, "Can Anything Good Come out of Allegory? The Cases of Origen and Augustine," The Evangelical Quarterly 70.1 (1998): 23-49.

The subject of allegorication interpretation is essential to anyone studying the hermeneutics of the early church fathers. Graham Keith's article provides a helpful introduction to two of allegory's most famous proponents.

Abstract:

Though allegory is regarded with suspicion in churches today, it was enthusiastically embraced by many in the early church, including Origen and Augustine, the subjects of this paper. Origen believed not only that an allegorical interpretation was demanded by inconsistencies and absurdities in the literal text of Scripture, but that Scripture itself enjoined this hermeneutic. It was God’s way of stimulating believers to a maturer faith and discipleship. The rule of faith gave a framework in which error could be avoided.

Augustine shared Origen’s respect for the church’s traditional teaching. He differed, however, in the essentially aesthetic qualities he found in allegory. This was a technique he believed would give added pleasure to any worthwhile work of literature. He was also happy to accommodate a variety of suitable meanings in some passages of Scripture since he felt that human words were limited and sometimes obscure.

With their use of allegory, Origen and Augustine raise the question how do particular passages of Scripture set in a specific time and environment relate to the things that are unseen and eternal? They did, not, however, provide a suitable rationale to justify the various connections they made through allegory between diverse parts of the Bible.

Chris Gousmett on Augustine's Teaching on Creation and Miracles

2008-01-12T12:55:00.000Z

The following article is now available in PDF:

Chris Gousmett, "Creation Order and Miracle According to Augustine," The Evangelical Quarterly 60.3 (July 1988): 217-240.

This article was particularly helpful to me when I was doing research on the early church's understanding of Genesis 1-11, so I am pleased to make it available here.

Gerald Bray on the Theology of Tertullian

2008-01-10T22:17:00.000Z

The following book is now available online in PDF:

Gerald L. Bray, Holiness and the Will of God. Perspectives on the Theology of Tertullian. Marshall, Morgan & Scott, 1979. Hbk. ISBN: 0551055936. pp.179.

Contents

Preface
1: Past and Present
2: The Man and his Times
3: The Nature of Holiness
4: The Pattern of Authority
5: The Holy Life
6: Epilogue
Notes [now included as footnotes in each chapter]
List of Tertullian's Work's
Bibliography
Index

My thanks to Professor Bray for his kind permission,

Nigel Scotland on Signs and Wonders in the Early Church

2008-01-06T19:01:00.000Z

The following article is now on-line in PDF:

Nigel Scotland, "Signs and Wonders in the Early Catholic Church 90-451 and their Implications for the Twenty-First Century," European Journal of Theology 10.2 (2001): 155-168.

It is refreshing to find a good academic defence for the continuance of spiritual gifts after the Apostolic Age and this one is probably the best I have read. Given my own experience with Ellel Ministries I found myself agreeing heartily with Dr Scotland's comments about its founder.

Those wanting to read further on this subject should look out for the following title when it appears:

J. Stafford Wright on The Canon of Scripture

2008-01-05T20:33:00.000Z

The following article is now online in PDF:

J. Stafford Wright, "The Canon of Scripture," The Evangelical Quarterly 19 (1947): 93-109.

Stafford Wright describes for the formation of the Protestant 66-book biblical canon.

F.F. Bruce on Victorinus of Pettau's Commentary on Revelation

2008-01-05T20:30:00.000Z

The following article is on-line in PDF:

F.F. Bruce, "The Earliest Latin Commentary on the Apocalypse," The Evangelical Quarterly 10.4 (Oct. 1938): 352-366.

This is one of FFB's earliest articles and his first for The Evangelical Quarterly. It provides a helpful discussion of Victorinus' Commentary.

H.P.V. Nunn on Hermas' Shepherd, Clement of Rome & Ignatius

2008-01-05T20:24:00.000Z

The following article is now on-line in PDF:

H.P.V. Nunn, "The Background of the Epistle of Clement of Rome," The Evangelical Quarterly 18.1 (Jan. 1946): 39-45.

H.P.V. Nunn, "The 'Shepherd' of Hermas," The Evangelical Quarterly 18.2 (April 1946): 109-122.

H.P.V. Nunn, "The Epistles of Ignatius," The Evangelical Quarterly 18.4 (Oct. 1946): 262-272.

Good articles providing introductions to the Apostolic Fathers and their writings are hard to find, so I was very pleased to find these.

Trevor A. Hart on the Two Soteriological Traditions of Alexandria

2008-01-05T20:19:00.000Z

The following article is now on-line in PDF:

Trevor A. Hart, "The Two Soteriological Traditions of Alexandria," The Evangelical Quarterly 61.3 (1989): 239-259.

This article deals with Clement of Alexandria and Athanasius. It concludes:

What distinguished Athanasius from the Alexandrian catechetical and apologetic tradition which formed his inheritance was a profound recognition of the bankruptcy of hellenic thought as a framework within which to proclaim and expound the becoming of God in the incarnation. This was a message which could only meet with resistance from hellenism, and which as such had to be proclaimed over against it. To seek to accommodate the Greek philosophical framework would have been to concede in advance the ground upon which one stood as a Christian theologian. If we can learn anything from comparing these two traditions in Alexandrian theology, therefore, it is the ever-present danger inherent in any attempt to commend Christianity to its cultured despisers. What we must never forget is that it is precisely insofar as the gospel is a scandal to human wisdom that it confronts men and women in all its relevance. To the extent that we seek to lessen that scandal, therefore, we hinder rather than aid its cause. There can be no question as to the responsibility of Christian theology to address unbelief in every age. The real question remains, however, as to the most appropriate form of that address. It may well prove to be the case that far more is to be lost in seeking to deal with unbelief on its own terms than is ever to be gained.

G.L. Prestige's 1940 Bampton Lecture on Origen

2007-11-27T19:42:00.000Z

The following article is now online in PDF:

G.L. Prestige, "Lecture 3: Origen: or, The Claims of Religious Intelligence," Fathers and Heretics. Bampton Lectures 1940. London: SPCK, 1940. Pbk. pp.43-66.

G.L. Prestige's lecture is (in my opinion) one of the best short summaries of the life, works and significance of Origen. It should be required reading for anyone taking a course in early church history.

Craig D. Allert on the State of the NT Canon in the 2nd Century

2007-09-19T19:09:00.000Z

The following article is now on-line in PDF:

Craig D. Allert, "The State of the New Testament Canon in the Second Century: Putting Tatian's Diatessaron in Perspective," Bulletin for Biblical Research 9 (1999): 1-18.

Abstract:

In contemporary discussions of the NT canon, focus has been on its polemical aspects, that is, when it was closed. By so doing the idea of a canonical process suffers. In attempting to understand Tatian’s Diatessaron in this process it is argued here that the very existence of the harmony testifies against a closed fourfold Gospel canon in the mid-second century. A proper distinction between canon and scripture is foundational in this understanding. Discussions about the closed NT canon belong to a day far removed from Tatian’s. By placing Tatian’s Diatessaron in the perspective of process we are less tempted to view his use of the four Gospels as proving their canonicity, a view which is anachronistic and inaccurate.

F.F. Bruce on Marius Victorinus and his works

2007-08-16T19:03:00.001Z

The following article is now available in PDF:

F.F. Bruce, "Marius Victorinus and his Works," The Evangelical Quarterly 18 (1946): 132-153.

The study of Marius Victorinus seems to have been neglected, but Bruce's article serves as a very helpful introduction. I have added a new bibliography page on him here.

Book Aid [del.icio.us]

2006-11-14T14:42:14-08:00

Not to be confused with Book Aid International - a more recent secular imitator. Book Aid collected Christian Books to be sent out to Africa where they are in short supply.

Web Style Guide, 2nd Edition [del.icio.us]

2006-11-14T14:39:53-08:00

Should be recommended reading for all webmasters!

Welcome to the Wipf and Stock Publishers [del.icio.us]

2006-11-14T14:35:02-08:00

Reprint a large number ofotherwise unobtainable titles

Biblical Studies Rare Books [del.icio.us]

2006-11-14T14:29:25-08:00

Another sources of freely downloadable books

The Tertullian Project [del.icio.us]

2006-11-14T14:23:14-08:00

All you ever wanted to know about Tertullian - and much more

Early Church Fathers - Additional Works in English Translation unavailable elsewhere online [del.icio.us]

2006-11-14T14:21:01-08:00

A superb site hosted by Roger Pearce. Roger share's my interest in making important dicuments available to everyone at no cost.

The New Testament Gateway [del.icio.us]

2006-11-14T14:12:53-08:00

A tremendous resource for an serious student of theology

Tyndale House, Doorway to Biblical Studies [del.icio.us]

2006-11-14T14:11:30-08:00

One of the finest library of evangelical titles in Europe.

bible.org [del.icio.us]

2006-11-14T14:08:49-08:00

Provide an excellent in-depth Bible training course

TheologicalStudies.org.uk: An Introduction to the Site [del.icio.us]

2006-08-21T01:02:54-07:00

http://www.medievalchurch.org.uk/ [del.icio.us]

2006-08-21T01:02:31-07:00

EarlyChurch.org.uk: An Internet Resource for the Study of the Early Centuries of Christianity [del.icio.us]

2006-08-21T01:02:10-07:00

BiblicalStudies.org.uk: Making Biblical Scholarship Accessible [del.icio.us]

2006-08-21T01:01:52-07:00

Extensive bibliographies and many full-text theological articles and books.