About the Ancient Christian Doctrine Series

This exciting five-volume series edited by Thomas C. Oden follows up on the acclaimed Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture to provide patristic commentary on the Nicene Creed. The series renders primary Greek, Latin, Coptic and Syriac source material from the church fathers in lucid English translation (some here for the first time) and gives you unparalleled insight into the history and substance of what the early church believed.

The reason the consensual interpreters of canonical Scripture were called fathers is that they were widely regarded by ordinary lay Christians as trustworthy fathers in the faith who presented not their own inventive speculations but the truth of the apostolic testimony as consensually viewed throughout the world.

In its journey through history, Christianity has honored those ecumenical teachers who by common consent were reliably led by the Spirit in their transmission of apostolic teaching.

This series illuminates key theological essentials in the light of classic and consensual Christian faith and makes an excellent resource for preaching and teaching, including biographical sketches, a timeline of ancient Christian sources, indexes, bibliographies and keys to original language sources as well as the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed in Greek, Latin and English (ICET version).

How does the Ancient Christian Doctrine series differ from the Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture?

The Ancient Christian Doctrine series presents the first patristic compendium we have seen in our time of classic doctrinal comments organized around the key phrases of the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed (commonly known as the Nicene Creed), which grew out of the A.D. 325 Nicene Creed proper. Vital patristic comments on the leading issues of the ancient Creed have been selected from the consensually received figures of the early Christian period (A.D. 95-750). They span from Clement of Rome to Bede the Venerable—from the end of the New Testament to the mid-eighth century. These doctrinal treasures all depend on scriptural interpretations which our editors have carefully mined and vividly organized as a commentary on the most authoritative doctrinal confession of the early church.