The articles are intended to open the field of patristic scholarship and suggest new approaches and areas of research, and include full relevant bibliographical inforamtion for scholars of patristics, history of theology, intellectual history, medieval and Renaissance studies, as well as seventeenth- and eighteenth-century history.

This 1000-page English-language reference work has been produced with the collaboration of 23 scholars from Europe and North America and is intended as a guide to some of the most important developments in the history of the reception of the Church Fathers in the West, from the Carolingians to the Maurists. Particular emphasis is placed on the history of patristic scholarship which, unlike classical scholarship, has tended to be neglected by historians. However, the reception of patristic doctrines and ideas is also included and patristic scholarship is placed in its doctrinal and cultural context. Articles do not confine themselves to summarising what has been done on a particular topic, but also suggest new approaches and areas of research to be opened up. In order to make this volume useful to graduate students and scholars from non-theological disciplines, full relevant bibliographical information is provided. The volume addresses the following general questions: (1) what is meant by the "Fathers"; (2) the problems of patristic as opposed to Scriptural authority; (3) the types (and amount) of patristic material available and the problems of attribution and misattribution; (4) the uses made of the Fathers in constituting a theological doctrine and in response to a doctrinal difference; (5) the abuses made of the Fathers, i.e. overly tendentious or polemical uses; (6) the value of the Greek and Latin Fathers; (7) the use made of the Fathers in defining heresy and orthodoxy. The volume is intended to open up a field of studies and is the first-ever work of its kind. - Publisher.

In this volume, Jason Radcliff examines T. F. Torrance's reading of the church fathers. Radcliff explores how Torrance reconstructs the patristic tradition, producing a Reformed, evangelical, and ecumenical version of the Consensus Patrum (Consensus of the Fathers). This book investigates how Torrance uniquely understands the Fathers and the Reformers to be mutually informing and how, as such, his approach involves significant changes to both standard readings of the Fathers and Torrance's own Reformed evangelical tradition. Torrance's approach is distinctive in its Christocentric rootedness in the primary theme of the Nicene homoousion (of one essence [with the Father]) and its champion Athanasius of Alexandria. The book explores Torrance's inherently broad ecclesiology and constructive achievements, both of which contribute to his ongoing ecumenical relevance.