Fourth Century Christianity Home

This list includes books we have consulted in making our site, as well as general works we recommend.

• Ayres, Lewis . Nicaea and its Legacy: An Approach to Fourth-Century Trinitarian Theology. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004. This recent approach to the Trinitarian Controversies successfully escapes from modern preconceptions in order to find the true unities as well as diversities found in the various theological camps of the Fourth Century. He refutes the idea of a basic division of eastern and western theologies and shows how modern assumptions have hindered our understanding of this important time period.
• Barnes, T. D. Athanasius and Constantius: Theology and Politics in the Constantinian Empire. Cambridge University Press, 1993.
• Barnes, T. D. Constantine and Eusebius. Cambridge University Press, 1981.
• Coleman-Norton, P.R. Roman State and Christian Church. London: SPCK, 1966. This volume has many documents which shed light on church-state relationships in the Roman Empire. We have made use of the first volume, which has English translations of several letters of Constantine which we have not found in any other English collections. The translations also include detailed historical notes.
• Curran, J.R., Pagan City and Christian Capital: Rome in the Fourth Century Oxford, 2000.
• Frend, W.H.C., and James Stevenson, Eds. Creeds, Councils, and Controversies, Revised Edition. London: SPCK, 1989. A collection of primarcy sources (translated into English) from the early church, a companion volume to A New Eusebius which covers from A.D. 337 to 461.
• Frend, W.H.C., and James Stevenson, Eds. A New Eusebius: Documents Illustrating the History of the Church to AD 337. Revised Edition. Cambridge University Press, 1987. A collection of primarcy sources (translated into English) from the early church.
• Hanson, R.P.C . The Search for the Christian Doctrine of God. London: T&T Clark, 1988. This influential work is 931 pages covering the history of the Arian controversy from A.D. 318 to 381.
• Kelly, J.N.D., Jerome: His Life, Writings, and Controversies. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1998.
• Kelly, J.N.D., Golden Mouth: The Story of John Chrysostom: Ascetic, Preacher, Bishop. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 1995.
• Parvis, Sarah . Marcellus of Ancyra And the Lost Years of the Arian Controversy 325-345. New York: Oxford University Press, 2006. Parvis argues that the 20 years from A.D. 325 to 345 saw much more hostility between the various theological parties than many would claim, and that Marcellus was the man who held the Pro-Nicene party together. This period is largely overlooked because after the leaders of the parties died, the parties fragmented and the situation changed.
• Smulders, Pieter Frans, Hilary of Poitiers’ Preface to His Opus Historicum: Translation and Commentary. Leiden: Brill, 1995.
• Williams, John, Ambrose of Milan and the End of the Nicene-Arian Conflicts. Oxford, 1995.
• Williams, Rowan. Arius: Heresy and Tradition. Revised Edition. Grand Rapids: Eerdman’s, 2002. Williams, as would be expected, has particularly thorough sections on the writings of Arius, discussing the chronological, theological, and textual issues.

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