Ancoratus (Fathers of the Church Patristic Series) by Epiphanius of Salamis


Ancoratus (Fathers of the Church Patristic Series)
Title : Ancoratus (Fathers of the Church Patristic Series)
Author :
Rating :
ISBN : 0813225914
ISBN-10 : 9780813225913
Language : English
Format Type : Hardcover
Number of Pages : 288
Publication : First published April 14, 2014

Epiphanius of Cyprus was lead bishop of the island from 367 until his death in 403, and he was a contemporary of several of the great church fathers of the patristic era, including Athanasius, Basil, and Jerome. He is well known among modern scholars for his monumental heresiology, the Panarion, as well as for his involvement in several ecclesiastical and theological controversies. Before he began to write his magnum opus, however, he had already completed the Ancoratus, an important theological treatise, written in the form of a letter to Christians in southern Anatolia. The Ancoratus addressed numerous theological issues, particularly in response to the continuous disputes about the divinity of the Son, the developing arguments over the divinity of the Holy Spirit, and the early quarrels over the Incarnation of Christ. In addition, he included his thoughts on proper biblical exegesis, the problematic the- ology of Origen, and the relationship of the Christian faith with Hellenistic culture. Epiphanius's convictions on these issues represented important contributions to the ongoing theological and cultural controversies of the late fourth century, but he has often been overshadowed in modern scholarship by the work of his more illustrious contemporaries. Because there has been no complete English translation of the Ancoratus to date, this volume adds significantly to the resources available for patristic studies.

Ancoratus (Fathers of the Church Patristic Series) Reviews

  • Paul Genua

    Picked up this book for a couple reasons. Partly because I’ve read some Augustine and wanted to experience the writings of some other church leaders/theologians from a similar period of time, and partly because I know the guy who did the translation of this text from Greek to English.

    The introduction, written by Young Richard Kim—a former professor at Calvin College, who spent a semester abroad in Budapest while Erin and I lived there—is an incredible read, detailing all the background you need to know in order to understand who Epiphanius is, why he’s writing this text, and what drama was going on in the early church of his day that warranted writings like this.

    The rest of the book is the text from Epiphanius himself, and it proves that he was an incredibly knowledgeable student of the Bible. Some of the sections are tough to trudge through, being inundated with names and other details of the time that are best understood while also paying close attention to all the footnotes. But other sections are incredible treatises of the faith. Epiphanius was firm in his trust of scriptures, and firm is his understanding of the trinity. He goes to great length to use all of scripture to defend and prove his views so that other believers of his day can stand firm in their faith and respond well to the heretics who were perverting the identity of Jesus and leading people astray from the truth.