The fourth century was different than the previous centuries due to two big heresies. The first one was the heresy of Arius, who denied the divinity of the Son. This heresy led to the Council of Nicaea in 325 in which the church fathers affirmed the divinity of the Son of one substance with the Father. The second heresy was that of the Tropici, who denied the divinity of the Holy Spirit and said that the Holy Spirit was a creature or an angel. At that time, Athanasius was one of the most important leaders in the life of the church. He wrote against the Tropici, as he addressed them in his letters to Serapion. These letters are the major work of Athanasius concerning the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of Truth explains the way that Athanasius dealt with the heresy and elucidates the pneumatology of Athanasius’s use of the Gospel of John and 1 John. It also discusses Athanasius’s understanding of tradition, Scripture, and hermeneutical principles in his defense of the Godhead, particularly the divinity of the Holy Spirit. For Athanasius, the Holy Spirit is eternal, divine, uncreated, and one with the Father and the Son.

The Spirit of God examines the use of 1 and 2 Corinthians by two fourth-century Greek Christian authors, Athanasius and Basil of Caesarea, especially as it relates to the doctrine of the Holy Spirit. The controversy over the nature and status of the Spirit during the latter half of the fourth century is detailed in order to place in context the examination of the way in which the theological concerns of Athanasius and Basil shaped their pneumatological interpretation of the Corinthian correspondence. This examination will be of value to patristic scholars interested in the way that Scripture was employed in the fourth century to hammer out doctrine.

Epiphanius of Cyprus was lead bishop of the island from 367 until his death in 403, and he was a contemporary of several of the great church fathers of the patristic era, including Athanasius, Basil, and Jerome. He is well known among modern scholars for his monumental heresiology, the Panarion, as well as for his involvement in several ecclesiastical and theological controversies. Before he began to write his magnum opus, however, he had already completed the Ancoratus, an important theological treatise, written in the form of a letter to Christians in southern Anatolia. The Ancoratus addressed numerous theological issues, particularly in response to the continuous disputes about the divinity of the Son, the developing arguments over the divinity of the Holy Spirit, and the early quarrels over the Incarnation of Christ. In addition, he included his thoughts on proper biblical exegesis, the problematic theology of Origen, and the relationship of the Christian faith with Hellenistic culture. Epiphanius's convictions on these issues represented important contributions to the ongoing theological and cultural controversies of the late fourth century, but he has often been overshadowed in modern scholarship by the work of his more illustrious contemporaries. Because there has been no complete English translation of the Ancoratus to date, this volume adds significantly to the resources available for patristic studies.

An exhaustive guide to every significant Christian theologian who lived from the first century to 1308, the year in which John Duns Scotus died. The dictionary encompasses the Catholic, Orthodox, Nestorian and Monophysite traditions, including information not previously available in English. Thoroughly indexed, the dictionary incorporates common variants of names and concepts which will help and direct the reader. The main criterion for inclusion has been contribution to the development of Christian theology. Sub-criteria by which that is measured include, above all, originality and influence on later figures. With over 290 entries, the dictionary provides a handy summary of theologiansi lives and writings together with recent scholarship,as well as an up-to-date, definitive bibliography listing primary texts, translations and secondary literature in the major western European languages. Useful for all levels of academia; no other text matches the depth of the dictionaryis bibliographies. The unprecedented thoroughness of Hill's compilation provides an essential resource for studies at all levels on such a large and varied range of Church thinkers.

Once nearly as ubiquitous as dictionaries and cookbooks are today, letter-writing manuals and their predecessors served to instruct individuals not only on the art of letter composition but also, in effect, on personal conduct. Poster and Mitchell contend that the study of letter-writing theory, which bridges rhetorical theory and grammatical studies, represents an emerging discipline in need of definition. In this volume, they gather the contributions of eleven experts to sketch the contours of epistolary theory and collect the historic and bibliographic materials - from Isocrates to email - that form the basis for its study.

St. Cyril of Alexandria, St. Athanasius' great successor, tells us: "Our Father Athanasius, of hallowed memory, who adorned the throne of the Church of Alexandria for the whole of forty-six years and arrayed an unconquerable and apostolic knowledge in battle against the sophistries of the unholy heretics and greatly gladdened the world with his writings as by a most fragrant perfume, and all bear witness to the accuracy and piety of his teaching . was a man worthy of trust and deserving a confi dence, since he did not say anything not in agreement with Holy Scripture." The present volume consists of a collection of essays which represent original research into the writings of St. Athanasius, Patriarch of Alexandria (295 - 373). Th ese essays respond to challenges arising out of the contemporary scholarly studies of St. Athanasius' theology and writings. Th e new perspectives in Athanasian studies, which these essays off er, are closer to the original theological legacy of this great Alexandrian Father of the Church who has come down in the history of the Church as the "canon of orthodoxy." Modern "critical research and discussions" have too oft en tended to obscure the Athanasian legacy and bar contemporary theology from the amazing blessings that this great ecumenical teacher and Father of the Church has bequeathed to all Christian generations.