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Gorgias Studies in Early Christianity and Patristics
Gorgias Studies in Early Christianity and Patristics is designed to advance our understanding of various aspects of early Christianity. The scope of the series is broad, with volumes addressing the historical, cultural, literary, theological and philosophical contexts of the early Church. The series, reflecting the most current scholarship, is essential to advanced students and scholars of early Christianity. Gorgias welcomes proposals from senior scholars as well as younger scholars whose dissertations have made an important contribution to the field of early Christianity.
Series Editorial Board
Dr. Carly Daniel-Hughes (ThD, Harvard University), Concordia University (Chair)
Dr. Jeanne-Nicole Mellon Saint-Lauren (PhD, Brown University), Marquette University
Dr. Adam Serfass (PhD, Stanford University), Kenyon College
Prof. Ilaria Ramelli (PhD, State University of Milan), Sacred Heart Major Seminary
Prof. Helen Rhee (PhD, Fuller Theological Seminary), Westmont College
Simple and Bold
Ephrem’s Art of Symbolic Thought
ISBN: 978-1-4632-0388-7
Ephrem the Syrian is known as one of the greatest Christian poets and as a unique author whose mode of thought is usually described as “symbolic.” In this work, Kees den Biesen explores the literary, intellectual, and theological mechanisms at work in Ephrem’s writings with the specific aim of identifying the exact nature of his “symbolic thought” and evaluating its contemporary relevance. Den Biesen elaborates a comprehensive approach that integrates a variety of methods into a genuinely theological methodology. He then proposes his own comprehensive understanding of the nature and merits of Ephrem’s symbolic thought.
$141.00
Teacher of Holiness
The Holy Spirit in Origen's Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans
ISBN: 978-1-4632-0268-2
This book, on the pneumatology of Origen's Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans, illustrates the centrality of the Holy Spirit for his theological project. As both God's exitus into the world and humanity's reditus to God, the Spirit forms the crucial link between Origen's doctrine of God and his spiritual anthropology. Origen's images for the Holy Spirit, understood in the context of second century concepts of 'spirit,' convey the intersection of theology and anthropology in his thought. This book explores Origen's understanding of the multiplicity of spirits found in the Scriptures, with particular emphasis on the Holy Spirit as pivotal to God's outreach into the world.
$89.00
Bishop Lists
Formation of Apostolic Succession of Bishops in Ecclesiastical Crises
ISBN: 978-1-4632-0266-8
Early lists of bishops, identified by Walter Bauer as "literary propaganda," mark critical points in the development of the doctrine of the apostolic succession of bishops. This study delves into the political struggles surrounding the lists and the doctrine they served to define. Ecclesiastical politics in each case reflects the threat to the bishop's authority and clarifies the meaning of apostolic succession in the Church's development. This social history approach, examining the function of the literature within its historical circumstances, reveals how theology developed from politics. The development is as gripping politically as it is illuminating theologically.
$98.00
"Blessed is He who has brought Adam from Sheol" (paperback)
Christ's Descent to the Dead in the Theology of Saint Ephrem the Syrian
Managing Editor Joseph Knanishu
ISBN: 978-1-4632-0267-5
Buchan’s work is an examination of the theological use of the doctrine of Christ's descent to the dead in the works of Saint Ephrem the Syrian (ca. 306-373 C.E.). Ephrem's conception of Christ's descent to Sheol provides us with an important and distinctive vision of the significance of this salvific event. Ephrem's use of Semitic and non-Western poetic forms and structures as a mode of theological discourse, coupled with his preference for imagery and symbolism rather than definition, resulted in a variety of vivid depictions of Christ's descent to Sheol. The doctrine is shown to be an integral and multifaceted component of Ephrem's theology.
$128.00
Salvation in Christ According to Jacob of Serugh
An Exegetico-theological Study on the Homilies of Jacob of Serugh on the Feasts of Our Lord
ISBN: 978-1-60724-880-4
Jacob of Serugh’s vision of ‘Salvation in Christ’, in its exegetical, theological, catechetical, liturgical and pastoral aspects, is reviewed in this monograph. Jacob’s mode of symbolic-mystical-silence approach to the mystery of Christ is explained. This treatise gathers up Jacob’s typological and symbolic thought-patterns, in his own language, categories, terminologies, and imageries.
$220.00
Teachings on the Prayer of the Heart in the Greek and Syrian Fathers
The Significance of Body and Community
By Jill Gather
ISBN: 978-1-60724-729-6
The prayer of the heart is an early Christian contemplative tradition of striking profundity and beauty. Christian authors of the Greek- as well as the Syriac-speaking world placed the heart at the center of a mystical theology that viewed the body as a God-given instrument of divine ascent and the relational setting of Christian existence as an important means of experiencing God’s abiding inner presence. This work sheds light on the Syrian church’s approach to the mystery of the divine encounter.
$157.00
Standing At Lyon
An Examination of the Martyrdom of Blandina of Lyon
ISBN: 978-1-59333-895-4
The suffering woman, Blandina, emerges as an archetypal figure of the martyrs of Lyon. This slave-woman ultimately arises to engage in battle with the powers of the Roman Empire. Through the application of Bowen Family Systems Theory and the writings of Michel Foucault the book explains the function of anxiety, and the dynamics at work in the system that result in the failure of Roman authority to use power to quell the rise of Christianity. The reactions of those who might appear to be the most powerful are essential in gifting power to this lowly slave.
$148.00
The Mark of Cain and the Jews
Augustine’s Theology of Jews and Judaism
ISBN: 978-1-59333-896-1
This book examines the development of Augustine of Hippo’s theology of the Jewish people and Judaism. Formulating a typological association between the biblical figure of Cain and the Jews, he crafts a highly intricate theology that justifies and even demands the continuing presence of Jews and their religious practices in a Christian society. Such a theology emerges out of his highly original interpretation of Genesis 4:1–15 and yet mirrors and theologically justifies the reality of Jews and Judaism in the late Roman Empire.
$136.00
Aphrahat the Persian Sage and the Temple of God
A Study of Early Syriac Theological Anthropology
ISBN: 978-1-59333-679-0
Aphrahat the Persian Sage, (fl. 337-345 C.E.), was a Syriac Christian author who wrote twenty-three treatises entitled The Demonstrations. This book examines “temple” as a key image for Aphrahat’s theological anthropology. The temple is central for both Jews and Christians; it is the place of sacrifice, meeting, and communication with the Divine. For Aphrahat, the devout Christian person may be a micro-temple which then allows one to encounter the divine both within oneself and through a vision ascent to the heavenly temple.
$146.00
St. Cyril of Alexandria, A New Testament Exegete
His Commentary on the Gospel of John
ISBN: 978-1-59333-581-6
This study portrays Cyril of Alexandria as exegete and theologian through an examination of his Commentary on the Gospel John. It begins with an attempt to place Cyril and his commentary within their context. This work argues that Cyril wrote his Commentary on the Gospel of John early in his writing career, almost a decade before becoming bishop. Cyril’s commentary on the Johannine Gospel reveals his exegetical method and his strong Trinitarian theology. The commentary also focuses on the nature and work of the Holy Spirit: the indwelling of the Spirit is the beginning of the newness of life.
$174.00
Ephrem’s Art of Symbolic Thought
ISBN: 1-59333-397-8
Ephrem the Syrian is known as one of the greatest Christian poets and as a unique author whose mode of thought is usually described as “symbolic.” In this work, Kees den Biesen explores the literary, intellectual, and theological mechanisms at work in Ephrem’s writings with the specific aim of identifying the exact nature of his “symbolic thought” and evaluating its contemporary relevance. Den Biesen elaborates a comprehensive approach that integrates a variety of methods into a genuinely theological methodology. He then proposes his own comprehensive understanding of the nature and merits of Ephrem’s symbolic thought.
$197.00
Formation of Apostolic Succession of Bishops in Ecclesiastical Crises
ISBN: 1-59333-194-0
Early lists of bishops, identified by Walter Bauer as "literary propaganda," mark critical points in the development of the doctrine of the apostolic succession of bishops. This study delves into the political struggles surrounding the lists and the doctrine they served to define. Ecclesiastical politics in each case reflects the threat to the bishop's authority and clarifies the meaning of apostolic succession in the Church's development. This social history approach, examining the function of the literature within its historical circumstances, reveals how theology developed from politics. The development is as gripping politically as it is illuminating theologically.
$154.00
The Holy Spirit in Origen's Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans
ISBN: 1-59333-149-5
This book, on the pneumatology of Origen's Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans, illustrates the centrality of the Holy Spirit for his theological project. As both God's exitus into the world and humanity's reditus to God, the Spirit forms the crucial link between Origen's doctrine of God and his spiritual anthropology. Origen's images for the Holy Spirit, understood in the context of second century concepts of 'spirit,' convey the intersection of theology and anthropology in his thought. This book explores Origen's understanding of the multiplicity of spirits found in the Scriptures, with particular emphasis on the Holy Spirit as pivotal to God's outreach into the world.
$145.00
John Rufus and the World Vision of Anti-Chalcedonean Culture
Second Revised Edition
ISBN: 1-59333-131-2
This book deals with the works of the anti-Chalcedonian hagiographer, John Rufus, and traces the basic motives behind the opposition against the council of Chalcedon in the fifth century through an attempt to reconstruct a specific anti-Chalcedonian culture. As part of the eastern monastic culture, it considered itself a counter-culture guarding purity of ascetic conduct and orthodoxy from being defiled by the perverseness of the majority. Reading John Rufus' hagiography, we find ourselves in the midst of a cosmological warfare between good and evil, where the great heroes of the anti-Chalcedonian movement enter into history as God's warriors against the rebellion of demons and heretics.
$142.00
"Blessed is He who has brought Adam from Sheol"
Christ's Descent to the Dead in the Theology of Saint Ephrem the Syrian
ISBN: 1-59333-228-9
Buchan’s work is an examination of the theological use of the doctrine of Christ's descent to the dead in the works of Saint Ephrem the Syrian (ca. 306-373 C.E.). Ephrem's conception of Christ's descent to Sheol provides us with an important and distinctive vision of the significance of this salvific event. Ephrem's use of Semitic and non-Western poetic forms and structures as a mode of theological discourse, coupled with his preference for imagery and symbolism rather than definition, resulted in a variety of vivid depictions of Christ's descent to Sheol. The doctrine is shown to be an integral and multifaceted component of Ephrem's theology.
$184.00
Healing in the Theology of Saint Ephrem
ISBN: 1-59333-156-8
Ephrem, the most celebrated writer of the Syriac Church, presents a wide range of theological themes and images that are characteristic of fourth-century Syrian Christianity. A significant theme that no one has yet studied in Ephrem is the concept of sickness and healing. This book presents the significance of healing theology and the ways in which the healing of man - spiritually, mentally, and corporally - is highly valued by Ephrem. The main part of the book deals with the causes of spiritual sickness and the process of healing, and the way in which Ephrem places them in the divine history of salvation.
$207.00