num_pages: 234
description: This series traces the reflection provoked by Christ's question Who do you say that I am? from the earliest days of Christianity to the Seventh Ecumenical Council. No student of theology can avoid the problems tackled in this period. They range from the most fundamental issues concerning how Christ is known and the standard by which responses to him can be evaluated to the subsequent reflections regarding his relationship to God and to us. Through original and penetrating analyses of selected figures and controversies Behr presents not only the history of theological reflection but a sustained analysis of the essential elements of the resulting theology.This first volume treats the initial three centuries of the Christian era. Part I examines the establishment of normative Christianity on the basis of the tradition and canon of the Gospel and briefly sketches the portrait of the Scriptural Christ inscribed in the New Testament. Part II analyzes selected figures from the second period Ignatius of Antioch Justin Martyr and Irenaeus of Lyons considering how they understood Christ to be the Word of God. Part III turns to the third century treating Hippolytus and the debates in Rome Origen and his legacy in Alexandria and the Council of Antioch in a continued examination of Christ as the Word of God. it is these debates that form the background for the controversies and Councils of the following centuries to be examined in subsequent volumes.
language: English
title: The Way to Nicaea
publisher: St Vladimirs Seminary Pr