Patristic Thought for Christian Life (CT3610Y)

Content

What does it mean to confess God as triune? What difference does this make to understanding the world as God’s creature, to salvation as the healing of all things, and to talking about human purpose within God’s who makes creatures flourish together? How does faithful thinking function when there has been a variety of Christian perspectives on each of these issues? The unit encourages the development of skills in thinking and believing, including understanding contextualising texts and theological reasoning, and it will facilitate those through the understanding of key doctrinal issues and questions in the critical study of many of the traditions’ most significant early theologians. Topics may include: the doctrine of God and apophaticism, christology and soteriology, the good life, and redemption.

Learning outcomes

Unit sequence

1x CT or AP unit

Pedagogy

synchronous and asynchronous lectures, and textually focused tutorials

Indicative Bibliography

• Popular Patristics Series (NY: SVS Press).
  
• Ayres, Lewis. Nicaea and its Legacy: An Approach to Fourth-Century Trinitarian Theology. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2004.
  
• Behr, John. The Formation of Christian Theology, Volumes 1 & 2: The Way to Nicaea. Crestwood, NY: St Vladimir's Seminary Press, 2001 & 2004.
  
• Clendenin, Daniel B. Eastern Orthodox Theology: A Western Perspective, 2nd edn. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2003.
  
• Colish, Marcia L. The Fathers and Beyond: Church Fathers between Ancient and Medieval Thought. London and New York: Taylor & Francis, 2023
• Gilbert, Jess. The Mystical Tradition of the Eastern Church: Studies in Patristics, Liturgy, and Practice. Gorgias Press, 2020.
• Evans, G. R. (ed.). The First Theologians: An Introduction to Theology in the Early Church. Malden and Oxford: Blackwell, 2004.
• Kelly, J.N.D. Early Christian Doctrines, 5th edn. London: A&C Black, 1977.
  
• Lossky, Vladimir. In the Image and Likeness of God. Translated by John H. Erickson and Thomas E. Bird. Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1974.
  
• Ludlow Morwenna, and Douglass Scot (eds.). Reading the Church Fathers. London and New York: T&T Clark, 2011.
  
• Williams, Rowan. On Augustine. London: Bloomsbury Continuum, 2016.

Assessment