When was the church founded? Jesus spoke of the kingdom of God and not of a religious organization subsequently called church. We don't find in the Gospels expressions which make reference to the foundation of a new religious community, a new and distinct community of followers of Jesus. But after the resurrection of Jesus, his followers, as a result of his express command, gather together not only those from the people of Israel but men and women of all nations. The final clauses of the Nicene Creed spell out, briefly and to the point, the church's self-understanding in these early centuries. Angelo Di Berardino assembles a wide range of texts and teachers of the church during these years to enrich our understanding and deepen our faith in the great mysteries expressed here. The Creed quickly hits the four marks of the church--that it is "one holy catholic and apostolic." What do we mean by professing each of these? Di Berardino helps us to give an answer with the help of the fathers of the church. The volume closes, as does the Creed, with a consideration of baptism (the traditional entrance for people into the church) and two central features of the church in the future--the expectation that all of God's people will enjoy the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A must for students of Theology and Church History,
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This review is from: We Believe in One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church (Ancient Christian Doctrine) (Hardcover)
The wealth of knowledge contained in this series, the devotional material, the introduction to early Christian writers, explanation of the creeds, insures that these books are a must for students of early Christian doctrine, and those who are tired of reading explanations of explanations and who desire to get to the heart of the matter.
Taking the 'classic creed' (p269) of 381 and splitting it into into individual phrases, this series shows how numerous writers from the early periods of Christian History developed in a line to those ideas, or later explained and expounded up those ideas. The writers are not selected to represent solely the Western viewpoint or commonly recognized authors, indeed, even Pelagius makes an appearance, but the writers contains in this volume represent a broad spectrum pulling in the East and the West, Augustine, Cassian and Ignatius of Antioch. The timeline of these writers extend from the close of the canon to the year 750. However, the series is more than just a collection of sometimes short, sometimes extended, statements by early writers. The editors of the series have included a brief commentary-like historical setting for each phrase as well as an overview of the writers which is more along the lines of a summation. These sections prepare the reader to be dropped into the ongoing conversation between the writers, in which doctrines progress, develop and are fleshed out. The editors, which for this volume is Angelo Di Berardino (Series Editor, Thomas C. Oden), do not shy away from controversy. They include, as I noted before, Pelagius, as well as Origen whose view on the recapitulation still serves to raise the ire of many Christians. This volume examines the last stanza of the Creed of 381, We believe in the one holy catholic and apostolic church. We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins. We look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come. Amen. Of the volumes which I have reviewed, it is the most theologically comprehensive, aiming to bring about a better understanding of this creed, regardless of later doctrinal schisms which developed instead over doctrines not pertaining to the Creed. Footnotes are found throughout, including Scriptural references, which should alert the reader the further material. This text is more than a starting point, and shouldn't be concluded as a finishing point, but it is a valuable reference for study of the ancient writers, the Creed, and the development of doctrines in the early Church. At the end of this volume is a short Conclusion, in which the series editor states the goal and the use of these volumes. Further, there is a section on biographical sketches of the authors and descriptions on anonymous works used in the series, as well as a timeline of writers used. The volumes are handsome in of themselves, the outside quality bespeaking well the quality of what is found on the inside.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Helpful, encyclopedic theological commentary previously unavailable.,
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This review is from: We Believe in One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church (Ancient Christian Doctrine) (Hardcover)
Where would a person go to get the comments of the ancients regarding the Nicene Creed and the doctrine contained therein? How about turning to the five volume series on Ancient Christian Doctrine from Intervarsity Press?
These five volumes bring the words of the fathers from the first through the eighth centuries into an encyclopedic sort of setting so that modern day readers can have a handy reference and commentary on the Nicene Creed. This is something that will be of great help to scholars, student, and theologians everywhere. Volume five, which is the subject of this review, covers "We believe in one Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church" and continues to the conclusion of the creed which is "And the life of the world to come." Each phrase has a very good introduction that gives an overview of how the patristics viewed that particular phrase. We then find a large body of comments from these ancient writers: comments that show us what they believed concerning the creed and its doctrine. This particular volume shows us much about the view that the ancients had of the church, baptism, the resurrection of the dead, and the world to come. One can certainly learn much while reading this book! This series gives us both a historical and theological view that would be practically inaccessible to the average person due to the time that would be involved in digging and researching to determine what the ancients believed. What is especially helpful is the fact that one would have to pore through many volumes of literature to get what is in these books. Even an electronic search would not be as helpful as pulling one of these volumes off of the shelf and using it as a reference. Thomas Oden and the folks at IVP have certainly done us a great service. This volume provided freely by IVP for review with no expectation of a positive review.
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