Customer Reviews

Encyclopedia of Early Christianity, Second Edition (Garland Reference Library of the Humanities)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This extensive reference guide is a must buy for anyone who is interested in any serious study of the early church. The entries are up to date with recent scholarship, and are written in a very clear and concise manner. The editors have covered nearly every point of interest in early Christianity. Unfortunately, the price puts this work out of reach for most students.

While it doesn't have everything you want to know, as has been noted by some reviewers, it is still the best one-stop reading for a good introduction to the topic of early Christianity in all of its great variety. 167 contributors (including W.H.C. Frend, Bruce Metzger, Boniface Ramsey, Theodore Stylianopoulis and Robert Wilken, Jaroslav Pelikan) and 1,244 entries with extensive bibliographies for more research.

Enjoy!

This is an excellent resource for students, pastors, scholars and people in the pews. The scholarship is of the highest level but the book is also very readable. The paperback version is reasonably priced.

Trying to find out which Church council condemned Nestorianism? Need some background on Maximian of Ravenna or a quick history of the martyrdom of Perpetua and Felicitas? This volume is an excellent reference. Having used it as a resource for apologetical endeavors, I have found it supremely useful when confronted with historical personages or Christian teachings that were unfamiliar. Bibliographies at the end of each entry allow easy access to further research. I found two drawbacks: The first is regarding the large number of contributors - this ensures that the quality of the entries is somewhat uneven throughout. The second is the occasional 'political correctness' which creeps in to some entries - but I suppose that's unavoidable in a book published by a secular press. All in all, though, a very good reference.

This collection of articles is an excellent quick reference for all. While the contributors obviously could not report every detail due to space restrictions, they give concise bibliographies that become a springboard to greater insight into the topic. The paperback version is not pricy considering the ease and scholarship it puts at the fingertips of students and scholars alike.

This encyclopedia is an excellent resource for anyone engaged in serious study of early Christian history. Norris and Ferguson are two of the best American scholars of the early church.

The Encyclopedia of Early Christianity (EEC) is an indispensable addition to the library of anyone wishing to understand why members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints ("Mormons") insist on calling themselves Christians while rejecting some of the most fundamental doctrines of latter-day Christianity. Mormons claim that many of orthodox Christianity's teachings were not found in the primitive church, but are formulations of belief developed by later philosophers and theologians. The EEC supports this claim.

For example, Mormons do not teach the doctrine of the Trinity, and neither did the earliest Christians. According to the EEC, it was not until "the patristic centuries," i.e., the third, fourth and fifth centuries, "that the church's Trinitarian faith assumed the shape it has largely retained throughout its history." EEC at p. 1142.

Unlike mainstream Christian churches, Mormons do accept the doctrine of divinization, i.e., that "human beings (by grace) become `gods,'" as did the earliest Christians. "[T]he doctrine of divinization is one of the central themes of patristic anthropology," and "one should also note John 10:34, where Jesus is presented as quoting Psalms 82:6: `I said, `You are gods.'" EEC at p. 338.

Mormons reject the doctrine of original sin and with it a need for infant baptism, as did the earliest Christians. "The earliest explicit reference to infant baptism occurs ca. 200 in Tertullian, On Baptism 18, a passage that opposes what appears to be a relatively new practice. . . . Later, original sin was to be the principal theological basis for infant baptism, but the historical development followed the reverse sequence. The early Christian documents, in contrast, contain frequent reference to the sinlessness of children." EEC at p. 162.

Buy this book.

I would have given 4 stars (based on some of the same reasons others express), but in recent shock over the poor of scholarship in one article by the editor himself, I can only give it 3. Otherwise, it is a well written, well assembled and helpful volume. Sometimes it does suffer from redundancy between articles, due to different authors on overlapping subject matter. Fergusons errors in the one article do cause me to question the expertise of the authors, as well we all should. Even Pelican overgeneralizes in some places which may lead readers to mistaken conclusions about (for instance) the originator of a particular doctrinal perspective.

What is the Ferguson error? It is his pease on "Real Presence." Now, though I am yet a Protestant, I've done more than a little research on the issue. Ferguson's overview appears a tempered and mild Protestant apologetic for diversity of views among the early fathers. He simply assumes and asserts that it originates from hyperliteralism in Gentile interpretation (which is possible, but not provable - and it ignores the possibility that early bishops such as Ignatius were so taught by the Apostles). This hardly reflects the universality of belief in the real presence found among the early fathers, and in early councils.

Ferguson tempers this universality with references to use of "figure," but admits the authors in question were literalists. -- In other words, the elements are figures for the reality of Christ's presence. -- Of Alexandrians, Clement is a literalist (Paid 1:6; 43:3), but with a good appreciation for the how these acts also reflect spiritual consuming of the word, and as faith. Origen could be viewed as holding symbolism, depending whether one takes his verbiage about consuming the word in communion to be receiving what is spoken listening, or whether he is speaking of receiving the Word (i.e. the person of Christ). But most astoundingly, he asserts Augustine as a symbolicist, only sometimes using the terms of realism. But while Augustine to a symbolic view of John 6:53, this does not implicate his overall perspective, which was decidedly literal over and over again.

To say, "A real presence and/or realistic understanding of the benefits...were not the same as a change in the elements" would seem to imply that the multitude of realistic statements really implied symbolism, which is clearly not the case. Going from bread and wine to "the Eucharist IS the FLESH of our Savior Jesus Christ" (Ignatius), implicitly demands a concept of change (not an addition of, or a symbol of). However, it is true that our first existing written explaining the it as change is found in Cyril.

Ironically, one of the authors Ferguson sites in his bibliography (Darwell Stone) flatly oposes Ferguson's position (see "A History of the Doctrine of the Holy Eucharist"). Analysis of the use of the words "figure" and "symbol" have a different meaning than we take them to today; a meaning that does not contradict they literalism that the fathers elsewhere expressed. --- Advice? Just skip secondary sources, and read the fathers yourself.

Finally, as with any book, we should also be aware that the archaeological information may grow a bit dated.

That said, buy this book. It is (or appears) mostly very good.

This is a very helpful encyclopedia, but I am often surprised by the topics that seem to be missing. Perhaps a better title would be, "Selected Topics For Early Christianity." Not a bad resource for the price (paperback version).