Patristics Carnival XVII

Welcome to the November 2008 Patristics Carnival.

The Patristics Carnival is a monthly collection of patristics-related posts initiated and organized by Phil Snider.

Book Reviews

• Michael A. G. Haykin posts a book review of Brian McLaren's Finding Our Way Again: The Return of the Ancient Practices.
  
• At Leshem Shamayim we have a review of Gillian Cloke's This Female Man of God: Women and Spiritual Power in the Patristic Age, AD 35-450.
  
• Jennifer Fitz reviews Pope Benedict XVI's The Fathers.
  
• Scott also has high praise for Pope Benedict XVI's The Fathers.
  
• Seumus MacDonald reviews Classical Trinitarian Theology by Tarmo Toom.
  
• Bryan Gault offers an in-depth review of Jason Byassee's Praise Seeking Understanding.
  
• Carl McColman reviews Norman Russell's The Doctrine of Deification in the Greek Patristic Tradition.
  
• Paul Glavic writes Inspecting the Church's Jewish Roots: several quotes in praise of Marvin Wilson's Our Father Abraham and Jacques Doukhan's Israel and the Church.
  
• Phil Snider reviews Mike Aquilina's Signs and Mysteries: Revealing Ancient Christian Symbols.
  
• gives more of a preview than a review of Brevard Childs' The Canonical Shaping of the Pauline Corpus

Introductions to the Fathers

• William Weedon answers a question he's often asked: where do I begin reading the church fathers? He also offers a "pastristics quote of the day" series for the enjoyment of his readers.
  
• Patrice Fagnant-MacArthur writes on a non-intimidating introduction to the rich yet vast area of patristics in Spending Time with the Church Fathers.
  
• The Spirit-Filled Puritan, a student taking an introductory patristics class, may remind us of our own first forays into the field of patristics.
  
• MCG offers some introductory comments in A note on how to read patristics.
  
• CFC Bible studies continues their audio series on the church fathers with Early Church Fathers Part 2.

Catenas

• Jason Stellman, a Calvinist preacher, considers Clement and Augustine on Apostolic Succession.
  
• Tad DeLay quotes those church fathers who spoke out against violence, war and soldiering in more early quotes on (non)violence (part 4).
  
• The blogger Polycarp considers the church fathers on the unique trustworthiness of Scripture.
  
• Taylor Marshall joins the growing list of bloggers with citations of patristic views of abortion in response to Nancy Pelosi's comments.
  
• Damon offers a catena on the early church's affirmation of Jesus' deity.

Commentaries, Research, and Assessments of the Fathers

• Rick Brannan of ricoblog has a piece on tracking down similarities between the NT and the apostolic fathers.
  
• From Dust to Doxology contrasts the early church's "maximalist" approach to exegesis and Christology with the modern American church's "minimalist" approach to exegesis and Christology.
  
• Mark Miravalle considers the church fathers views on Mary.
  
• Der Evangelische Theologe offers a three-part look on Augustine in Contemporary Trinitarian Theology: part 1, part 2, part 3.
  
• VC at Synodos considers whether Ignatius of Antioch's writings can be considered as early evidence of the teaching of Real Presence.
  
• Fr. Michale Durka taks a look at St Ephrem of Syria's approach to Scripture, discussing, typology, mystagogy, and the Hebraic roots of St. Ephraim's approach.
  
• Creed or Chaos considers whether Augustine is a precursor to covenant theology and perhaps even the federal headship of Adam of Reformed/Calvinist soteriology.
  
• David Waltz discusses whether the ante-Nicene church was subordinationist and also reviews Subordination in St. Irenaeus.
  
• New Start Church considers Irenaeus as an early witness for the necessity of water baptism.
  
• Jason Engwer considers how to assess the perennially controversial Origen.
  
• The Reverend Canon Chandler Holder Jones looks at the Anglican view of the seven ecumenical councils of the early church.
  
• Benjamin Sternke considers the benefits of Scriptural interpretation with an eye to the ancient church.

Lives of the Fathers: Ignatius of Antioch

This month saw a number of tributes to and commemorations of Ignatius of Antioch in honor of his feast day:

• Ville Platte's Catholic Youth Group has a tribute to Ignatius' work and importance and also not one but two artistic depictions of him being eaten by a lion, one more graphic than the other.
  
• Idle Speculations writes on the life of St Ignatius of Antioch.
  
• Allen J. Troupe offers an overview of the life and writings of Ignatius.

Lives of the Fathers: Other than Ignatius

• Jake Knotts offers a brief hagiography of St. Demetrios.
  
• Lisa Wheeler offers a brief tribute to St. Serapion of Antioch.

Judaica

• John Hobbins writes on the discovery of four new pages of a Hebrew Ben Sira manuscript.
  
• Kevin Edgecomb writes on Neusner's theology of the oral Torah.

Possibly Polemical Patristics

This section has the caveat lector entries, where the posts are in some ways incendiary, polemical, or otherwise calculated to provoke, but may still contain material of interest for carnival readers.

• Frank Lesko writes on the evangelical ressourcement movement in Protestants Love the Pastristics, Saints and Monks.
  
• Beggars All, possibly in preparation for Reformation Day, shows Luther's respect for the church fathers and his disrespect for the way he viewed his opponents' use of them in Opponents Using the Early Church Fathers.
  
• Stephen Garrett of BaptistGadfly considers some patristic authors on Peter as "the rock".

Apocryphal Corner

• Ethan R. Longhenry writes Reflections on the Gospel of Judas, considering matters of authorship, provenance, and relationship to New Testament texts.
  
• Apocryphicity considers the childhood of Jesus from the Acts of Andrew and Matthias.
  
• April DeConick offers some preliminary thoughts on the possibility that the Gospel of Judas may be in the genre of parody aiming to mock the apostolic position. (For my regular readers, you should understand that DeConick is probably not entirely unsympathetic to that aim.)

Conclusion

And that's all for the November 2008 patristics carnival. Keep an eye on Phil's blog for details about the next edition of the Carnival.