An outstanding study

books:

	• Nicaea and Its Legacy: An Approach to Fourth-Century Trinitarian Theology Lewis Ayres Oxford University Press, USA, 2006 - 496 pages average customer review:based on 2 reviews view larger image
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An outstanding study

This is a remarkable book. The sheer learning and expertise radiates from the pages. Granted this is a technical discussion of the legacy of Nicaea, but it is also accessible. One finishes the book with a real grasp and understanding of the achievement of the Church Fathers.

From the cover

From the back of the book:
The first part of this book offers a new narrative of the fourth-century Trinitarian controversies. It takes forward modern revisionary scholarship, showing the slow emergence of the theologies that came to constitute pro-Nicene orthodoxy. Ancient heresiological categories, such as "Arian" and "Neo-Arian," are avoided while the unity of "Nicene" theologies is not assumed. In the second part, the author offers a new account of the unity in diversity of late fourth-century pro-Nicene theologies. In particular he argues that the Nicene-Constantinopolitan creed and the statements of unity and plurality in the Trinity to be found in all pro-Nicene theologians and in Theodosius' anti-heretical legislation were intended to be understood in the context of a broad set of theological practices and assumptions. He offers an account of the basic strategies that ground pro-Nicene theology, focusing on common epistemological concerns, a common notion of purification and sanctification, and a common aesthetics of faith. He also provides detailed introductions to the Trinitarian theology of Basil of Caesarea, Gregory of Nyssa, and Augustine of Hippo. Throughout the first two parts of the book a constant concern is to show that the common acceptance of a basic division between eastern and western Trinitarian theologies is unsustainable. Finally, the author considers the failure of modern Trinitarian theology to engage pro-Nicene theology in a substantial manner. Fundamental characteristics of the culture of modern systematic theology, especially the role of narrative and the influence of Hegel, prevent appreciation of the theological culture essential to pro-Nicene theology.

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Lewis Ayres offers a new account of the most important century in the development of Christian belief after Christ. He shows how the doctrine of the Trinity was developed, and in particular argues that a conception of God's mysteriousness and spiritual progress towards understanding is central to that doctrine. He also proposes that modern theologies of the Trinity fail to appreciate the depth and power of Nicene trinitarianism.