The spirit of early Christian thought : seeking the face of God
Annotation: Written by a preeminent religious historian, this book provides an introduction to early Christian thought. Focusing on major figures such as St. Augustine and Gregory of Nyssa, as well as a host of less well known thinkers, Robert Wilken chronicles the emergence of a specifically Christian intellectual tradition. In chapters on topics including early Christian worship, Christian poetry and the spiritual life, the Trinity, Christ, the Bible, and icons, Wilken shows that the energy and vitality of early Christianity arose from within the life of the Church. While early Christian thinkers drew on the philosophical and rhetorical traditions of the ancient world, it was the versatile vocabulary of the Bible that loosened their tongues and minds and allowed them to construct the world anew, intellectually and spiritually. These thinkers were not seeking to invent a world of ideas, Wilken shows, but rather to win the hearts of men and women and to change their lives. Early Christian thinkers set in place a foundation thathas endured. Their writings are an irreplaceable inheritance, and Wilken shows that they can still be heard as living voices within contemporary culture
History
xxii, 368 pages : illustrations ; 22 cm
9780300105988, 9780300097085, 0300105983, 0300097085
50234982
Introduction
Founded on the cross of Christ
An awesome and unbloody sacrifice
The face of God for now
Seek his face always
Not my will but thine
The end given in the beginning
The reasonableness of faith
Happy the people whose God is Lord
The glorious deeds of Christ
Making this thing other
Likeness to God
The knowledge of sensuous intelligence