The Creeds
Early Christian Creeds by Call Number: Ebook CentralPublication Date: 1982Also in print: BT990 .K4 1960- Creeds, Councils, and Controversies: Documents Illustrative of the History of the Church A.D. 337-461 byCall Number: BR 160.A2 S7 1966A
Credo: historical and theological guide to Creeds and confessions of faith in the Christian tradition by
Eminent theologian Jaroslav Pelikan has been translating, editing, and studying the Christian creeds and confessions of faith for sixty years. This book is the historical and theological distillation of that work. In Credo, Pelikan addresses essential questions about the Christian tradition: the origins of creeds; their function; their political role; how they relate to Christian institutions, worship, and service; and how they help to explain the major divisions of the Christian church and of Christian history. Credo stands as an independent reference work devoted to the subject of what creeds and confessions are and what their role in history has been. It is also the first of the four volumes of Creeds and Confessions of Faith in the Christian Tradition, edited by Pelikan and Valerie Hotchkiss (see below).
Call Number: BT990 .C63 2003 Reference
Roman Emperors
- Augustus, 27 BC–14
- Tiberius, 14–37
- Caligula, 37–41
- Claudius, 41–54
- Nero, 54–68
- Vespasian, 69–79
- Titus, 79–81
- Domitian, 81–96
- Trajan, 98–117
- correspondence between Trajan and Pliny the Younger
- Hadrian, 117–138
- Antonius Pius, 138–161
- Marcus Aurelius, 161–177
- with Lucius Verus, 161–169
- with Commodus, 177–180
- Commodus, 180–192
- Septimius Severus, 193–211
- Pertinax, 193
- Didius Julianus, 193
- with Cara calla
- with Cara calla and Geta, 209–211
- with Geta, 211
- Geta, 209–211
- Cara calla, 211–217
- Macrinus with Diadumenian, 217–218
- Elagabalus, 218–222
- Severus Alexander, 222–235
- Maximinus the Thracian, 235–238
- Gordian I & II, 238
- Gordian III, 238–244
- Philip the Arab, 244–249
- Decius, 249–251
- Valerian with son Gallienus, 253–260
- Aemilianus, 253
- Gallienus 253–268
- Aurelian, 270–275
- Diocletian, 284–305
- Constantine I, 306–337
- Constantine issues Edict of Milan, later signed by Licinius as well
- Constantine writes about the Donatist Schism, c. 320
- Constantine calls the Council of Nicaea, 325
- Constantius II, 337–361
- followed Arianism
- Julian the Apostate, 360–363
- Valens, 364–378
- persecuted non-Arians
- Gratian, 367–383
- Theodosius, 379–395
The Councils
- Council of Carthage, 220–225
- key issue: validity of baptisms performed by heretics
- declared baptisms performed by heretics to be invalid
- opens new windowCouncil of Nicaea (1st : 325), 1st ecumenical council
- condemned Arianism
- proclaimed the Son to be homoousion ("of one substance") with the Father
- proclaimed the original Nicene Creed written by Athanasius, not to be confused with the later Nicaeo-Constantinopolitan Creed
- pope, Sylvester I; and emperor, Constantine the Great
- opens new windowCouncil of Constantinople (1st: 381), 2nd ecumenical council
- key issue: homousian (of the same essence or substance) or homoiusian (of similar or like essence or substance)
- condemned Apollinarianism, Eunomianism, Sabellianism, and Macedonianism
- adopted the Nicaeo-Constantinopolitan Creed, often commonly referred to as the Nicene Creed as distinguished from the Apostle's Creed
- pope, Damascus I; and emperor, Theoldosius the Great
- opens new windowCouncil of Ephesus, 431, 3rd ecumenical council
- key participants: Cyril of Alexandria, Memnon of Ephesus, Juvenal of Jerusalem, Candidianus
- key issue: Nestorius' rejection of Theotokos
- pope, Celestine I; emperor, Theodosius II
- opens new windowCouncil of Chalcedon, 451 (4th ecumenical council)
- approved the creeds of both 325 and 381
- approved Cyril's two letters against Nestorius and Leo I's tome
- affirmed the unity in one person of Christ's divinity and humanity
- affirmed Christ's two natures against Monophysitism, which affirmed only one
- condemned Eutychianism
- pope, Leo I, the Great; emperor, Marcian
- Council of Orange, 529
- Council of Constantinople (2nd: 553), 5th ecumenical council
- condemned the "Three Chapters"
- pope, Vigilius; emperor, JustinianI
- Council of Constantinople (3rd: 680), 6th ecumenical council
- condemned Monothelitism
- pope, Agatho; emperor, Constantine IV
- opens new windowCouncil of Nicaea (2nd: 787), 7th ecumenical council
- condemned iconoclasm
- pope, Hadrian I; emperor, Constantine VI
Selected Books on the Church Councils
The First Seven Ecumenical Councils (325-787): their history and theology by
This unique work - no other work yet available in English treats this subject - illustrates the contribution of these Councils in the development and formulation of Christian beliefs. It then shows how their legacies lingered throughout the centuries to inspire - or haunt - every generation.
Call Number: Ebook CentralPublication Date: 1990
Truly Divine and Truly Human : the story of Christ and the seven ecumenical councils by Call Number: BT198 .N435 2008
The Ecumenical Councils of the Catholic Church by
There have been twenty-one universal gatherings 'ecumenical councils' of the Catholic Church. The first opened in 325, the last closed in 1965, and the names of many ring out in the history of the church: Nicea, Chalcedon, Trent, Vatican II. Though centuries separate the councils, each occurred when the church faced serious crises, sometimes with doctrinal matters, sometimes with moral or even political matters, and sometimes with discerning the church's relation to the world. The councils determined much of what the Catholic Church is and believes. Additionally, many councils impacted believers in other Christian traditions and even in other faiths. In this accessible, readable, and yet substantial account of the councils Joseph Kelly provides both the historical context for each council as well as an account of its proceedings. Readers will discover how the councils shaped the debate for the following decades and even centuries, and will appreciate the occasional portraits of important conciliar figures from Emperor Constantine to Pope John XXIII.
Call Number: BX823 .K45 2009
Catalog Searches for Martyrs and Persecutions
Persecutions & Martyrs
Nero, 64
- martyrs: Peter and Paul
Domitian, c. 90–96
- martyr: Clement
- exile: John
Trajan, 98–117
- martyrs: Ignatius (c. 110), Symeon, Rufus
Hadrian, 117–138
Antoninus Pius, 138–161
- martyr: Polycarp
Marcus Aurelius, 161–180
- martyrs: Justin Martyr, Scillitan martyrs
- Acts of the Scillitan Martyrs
Septimus Severus, 202–211
- martyrs: Leonidas, Irenaeus, Perpetua
Maximinus the Thracian, 235–236
- martyrs: Ursula, Hippolytus
Decius, 249–251
- required everyone (except Jews) to sacrifice to the gods
- reason Cyprian went into hiding for a time
- as a result of the apostasies that occurred, led to rise of Novatianism
- martyr: Alexander of Jerusalem
Valerian, 257–260
- martyrs: Origen, Cyprian, SixtusII, and Novatian
Diocletian/Galerius, 303–311
- led to Donatism
Selected Books on Christian Martyrs & Persecutions
Ancient Christian Martyrdom: diverse practices, theologies, and traditions by
The importance of martyrdom for the spread of Christianity in the first centuries of the Common Era is a question of enduring interest. In this innovative new study, Candida Moss offers a radically new history of martyrdom in the first and second centuries that challenges traditional understandings of the spread of Christianity and rethinks the nature of Christian martyrdom itself. Martyrdom, Moss shows, was not a single idea, theology, or practice: there were diverse perspectives and understandings of what it meant to die for Christ. Beginning with an overview of ancient Greek, Roman, and Jewish ideas about death, Moss demonstrates that there were many cultural contexts within which early Christian views of martyrdom were very much at home. She then shows how distinctive and diverging theologies of martyrdom emerged in different ancient congregations. In the process she reexamines the authenticity of early Christian stories about martyrs and calls into question the domin ant scholarly narrative about the spread of martyrdom in the ancient world.
Call Number: Ebook CentralPublication Date: 2012
From 'Passio Perpetuae' to 'Acta Perpetuae': recontextualizing a martyr story in the literature of the early church by
While concentrated on the famous Passio Perpetuae et Felicitatis, this book focuses on an area that has so far been somewhat margin alized or even overlooked by modern interpreters: the recontextualizing of the Passio Perpetuae in the subsequent reception of this text in the literature of the early Church. Since its composition in the early decades of the 3rd century, the Passio Perpetuae was enjoying an extraordinary authority and popularity. However, it contained a number of revolutionary and innovative features that were in conflict with existing social and theological conventions. This book analyses all relevant texts from the 3rd to 5th centuries in which Perpetua and her comrades are mentioned, and demonstrates the ways in which these texts strive to normalize the innovative aspects of the Passio Perpetuae. These efforts, visible as they are already on careful examination of the passages of the editor of the passio, continue from Tertullian to Augustine and his followers. The normalization of the narrative reaches its peak in the so-called Acta Perpetuae which represent a radical rewriting of the original and an attempt to replace it by a purified text, more compliant with the changed socio-theological hierarchies.
Call Number: Ebook CentralPublication Date: 2015
History of the Martyrs in Palestine by
This volume contains William Cureton's English translation of Eusebius of Caesarea's History of the Martyrs in Palestine.
Call Number: ProQuest eBookPublication Date: 2019
Martyrdom and Noble Death: selected texts from Graeco-Roman, Jewish, and Christian antiquity by
This volume explores the fascinating phenomenon of noble death through pagan, Jewish and Christian sources. Today's society is uncomfortable with death, and willingly submitting to a violent and ostentatious death in public is seen as particularly shocking and unusual. Yet classical sources give a different view, with public self-sacrifice often being applauded. The Romans admired a heroic end in the battlefield or the arena, suicide in the tradition of Socrates was something laudable, and Christians and Jews alike faithfully commemorated their heroes who died during religious persecutions. The cross-cultural approach and wide chronological range of this study make it valuable for students and scholars of ancient history, religion and literature.
Call Number: Ebook CentralPublication Date: 2002
