Book Series Corpus Christianorum in Translation, vol. 22

Novatian

On the Trinity, Letters to Cyprian of Carthage, Ethical Treatises

Jim L. Papandrea

  • Pages: 216 p.
  • Size:156 x 234 mm
  • Language(s):English
  • Publication Year:2015

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  • ISBN: 978-2-503-54491-5
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  • ISBN: 978-2-503-56463-0
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BIO

James L. Papandrea received his Masters of Divinity degree from Fuller Theological Seminary, and his Ph.D. in early Christian studies from Northwestern University. He is currently Associate Professor of Church History at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary, where he teaches the history and theology of the early and medieval Church.

He has been working on Novatian since his 1998 doctoral dissertation, "Between Two Thieves": The Christology of Novatian as "Dynamic Subordination," which was later published as The Trinitarian Theology of Novatian of Rome: A Study in Third-Century Orthodoxy (2008). He is also the author of a monograph on Novatian, Novatian of Rome and the Culmination of Pre-Nicene Orthodoxy (2011), as well as Reading the Early Church Fathers: From the Didache to Nicaea (2012) and Trinity 101: Father, Son and Holy Spirit (2012).

Summary

Novatian was a priest of Rome in the third century who wrote a commentary on the Rule of Faith, commonly titled, On the Trinity. Although the document is not well known outside of the field of early Christian studies, it made an important contribution to the doctrine of the Trinity in the early Church, and as several scholars have maintained, it helped set the stage for the definition of the faith known as the Nicene Creed. Novatian would eventually find himself at the center of a controversy which led to a schism of the Church, and so his works were relegated to obscurity for centuries. However, in its time, Novatian’s On the Trinity was the epitome of Roman theology, and as some have argued, it was even ahead of its time.

This new translation contains the complete works of Novatian translated into English, with an introduction and full bibliography of Novatian studies.It takes into account the latest scholarship on Novatian, and brings the documents up to a new level of clarity and readability.

The source text of this volume appeared in the Corpus Christianorum Series Latina as Novatianus – Opera quae supersunt (CCSL 4), edited by G. F. Diercks. References to the corresponding pages of the Corpus Christianorum edition are provided in the margins of this translation.