Ancient Christian Doctrine

InterVarsity Press has begun a new book series on the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed. This series traces key theological concepts in the creed throughout patristic sources extending from Clement of Rome to John of Damascus. The series is a spin-off of the popular Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture series and follows a similar format to it. I received the first two volumes from InterVarsity and will be posting some thoughts on them individually in the near future, but for now I will make a few brief comments on the series.

The series is edited by Thomas C. Oden, who is also the general editor of the Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture. There are five volumes in this series and each one deals with a different topic related to the creed:

1. Gerald L. Bray, We Believe in One God
2. John Anthony McGuckin, We Believe in One Lord Jesus Christ
3. Mark J. Edwards, We Believe in the Crucified and Risen Lord
4. Joel C. Elowsky, We Believe in the Holy Spirit
5. Angelo Di Berardino, We Believe in One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church

The format is very helpful. At the beginning of each section, the passage of the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed is given in three parallel columns in Greek, Latin, and English. Then the editor contributes a few paragraphs on the historical context of the section, and includes an overview of the following patristic commentary. The bulk of the book is the patristic commentary itself which entails English translations of numerous patristic quotations, each a paragraph or two in length. The quotations are selected based on their relevance to the cited passage of the creed. Unlike the commentaries on the Bible, the patristic authors were not necessarily commenting on the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed in their original context, but what they said was deemed relevant by the respective editors.

This series should be useful to anyone hoping to learn more about the history of interpretation of orthodox Christianity. Not only does it comment on the text, but it also functions—in a way—as a detailed theological concordance of these authors. IVP has put together a page for this series, which includes additional information for those curious about these books. Here’s the series blurb from that page:

This exciting five-volume series follows up on the acclaimed Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture to provide patristic commentary on the Nicene Creed. The series renders primary Greek, Latin, Coptic and Syriac source material from the church fathers in lucid English translation (some here for the first time) and gives readers unparalleled insight into the history and substance of what the early church believed. Including biographical sketches, a timeline of ancient Christian sources, indexes, bibliographies and keys to original language sources as well as the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed in Greek, Latin and English (ICET version), this series illuminates key theological essentials in the light of classic and consensual Christian faith and makes an excellent resource for preaching and teaching.