Name: Three Wise Men from the East: The Cappadocian Fathers and the Struggle for Orthodoxy
Price: 14.36 GBP
Availability: InStock
Author: Patrick Whitworth
ISBN: 9781908381170

Includes a foreword by Rowan Williams, former Archbishop of Canterbury.The Cappadocian fathers of the fourth century--Basil of Caesarea, Gregory of Nyssa and Gregory Nazianzen--produced thoughts on the Trinity, the creation, the incarnation, the holistic reading of scripture and the discipline of the soul which are playing a more seminal role in Christian theology today that at any time in the last four hundred years. Too often, however, their teachings are appropriated in a piecemeal manner, with no acknowledgement of their mutual interdependence.In this comprehensive introduction to their writings, Patrick Whitworth enables the modern reader to share their understanding of the purpose and scope of theology. At the same time, he brings before us three strong personalities, who, like the rest of us, were children of time and place, taking up the pen to address a particular audience on particular occasions. Stripping out the ruling ideas from the polemical or rhetorical dress in which they have come down to us, he shows that the insights of genius lose nothing by being translated from the exquisite opacity of the original Greek into plain but accurate English prose. -- Professor Mark Edwards, Christ Church Oxford."Wonderfully comprehensive and clear. We are able to see the Cappadocians not as counters in the board game of controversy but as complex human figures wrestling with the challenges of internal and external crises for the Church. This will be a really welcome tool for all students of early Christianity, and excellent and accessible reading for anyone who wants to understand better the formative period of Christian teaching. It is a message that the Church of our own time should take very seriously." -- Rowan Williams (from the foreword), Master of Magdalene College, CambridgePatrick Whitworth read Modern History at Christ Church Oxford, and a Theology MA in Reformation Studies under T. H. L. Parker at Durham. He has spent over 30 years in Anglican Ministry, currently Rector of All Saints Weston Bath, Langridge and North Stoke. He is married to Olivia with four grown up children.

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The Cappadocian Fathers—Basil of Caesarea, Gregory of Nyssa, and Gregory Nazianzen—are actually quite an intrinsic bit of our church history, given that they had so much to do foundationally with the idea's of Trinity, Incarnation and other concepts that are at the heart and basis of our theology and that form our idea of what is orthodox in our faith. I'm not using the word orthodox here in the term of the Orthodox church—and nor is this book—but in the sense of the right teaching of the church. Although of course these gentlemen were and are indeed very much part of the Eastern church and in reading this book you come to understand that church a little better too. Here this book shines through, opening up the reasons and understandings for why we have the idea's we do, how these came about and were formulated, and how these interesting men were foundational to our theology of faith. It's a well written, well exercised, intelligent and above all interesting book that deals with some of the churches early fathers, teaching, discussions and arguments in a thoroughly enjoyable way.

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