The Christianity of Ignatius of Antioch [Hardcover]

Cyril Charles Richardson (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 120 pages
• Publisher: AMS Press; Not Indicated edition (August 1967)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0404052975
• ISBN-13: 978-0404052973
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,277,601 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Concise, exclusive look at Ignatius' thought, July 30, 2001

By 

Brian Gamel - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Christianity of Ignatius of Antioch (Hardcover)

A subject-by-subject approach to the major themes of Ignatius' thought, this book by Richardson is an adequate survey of the second-century martyr. Since so little is known about Ignatius outside his own writings, there is little that can be stated definitively about his life and unfortunately this book is limited by such real-world constraints. Conversely, Richardson does not attempt specious speculation where the reader would desire something more concrete than the evidence gives and this adds to the overall merit of the book.

Disappointed that so little can be found on Ignatius, I enjoyed this book nonetheless as an overview of early 2nd century Christianity through the eyes of this bishop from Antioch. It simply convers Ignatius' theology and thought on various subjects by analyzing his use of words and phrases. The last two chapters attempt to identify traces of dependence and influence from Paul and John respectively and it is appended concerning the heresies against which Ignatius battles.

The lay reader (like myself) may be a bit befuddled by the constant use of untranslated foreign phrases in German, Latin and Greek (only my elementary knowledge of college Greek saved me from complete frustration) and references to other scholars with whom Richardson assumes the reader is familiar (Lightfoot who?) In all, however, the book accomplishes its purpose of expounding on Ignatius' thought and what little can be known of his life.