CH201 Historical Theology: The Patristic Period
Overview
In Historical Theology: The Patristic Period (CH201) Dr. George Kalantzis provides an in-depth study of the theological developments of the early church during the patristic era. Beginning with the world of early Christianity, you will grasp the major historical events, the philosophical ideas, and the pagan religions that shaped the world into which the New Testament church was born. The course covers topics such as persecution and martyrdom, apologetics, Gnosticism, ecclesiology, Christology, and the Trinity in the context of the Roman Empire. Lastly, you will learn what religious, historical, and political influences gave rise to the ecumenical councils that produced the foundational summaries of the Christian faith.
Top Highlights
“Orthodoxy, he says at the end, is the hard discipline of learning what can be said and no more.” (source)
“Cicero said, ‘Not to study what happened before one was born is to remain always a child.’” (source)
“And in the Christian community, that transforms and is transformed because of Christ. His position of submitting Himself voluntarily to death, submitting Himself voluntarily to the cross, is what now transforms the world and literally takes the world and flips it upside down. It is not the strong person that is the virtuous person anymore. In the Christian idiom, the virtuous person is going to be the strong person, and that is a shift that was very slow in coming and very painful for Christians.” (source)
“The oneness of God is on the level of substance, quality, and power, whereas the distinctions are the level of degree, form, and aspect.” (source)
“Paul’s very boasting is not in his mighty status as a warrior hero who defeats others but in his lowly status. The word he uses is tapeinos; lowly, humble, suffering in imitation of Christ. This gave a new meaning to the very word ‘humility.’ The nt transforms the word ‘humility’ from what we would consider humiliation into virtue. This does not happen outside of the nt; this happens in the Christian life and thought.” (source)
- Title: CH201 Historical Theology: The Patristic Period
- Author: George Kalantzis
- Series: Logos Mobile Education
- Publisher: Lexham Press
- Print Publication Date: 2018
- Logos Release Date: 2018
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Courseware
- Subjects: Theology, doctrinal › History; Theology › History--Early church, ca. 30-600; Education › Theology, doctrinal--History; Education › Theology--History--Early church, ca. 30-600
- Resource ID: LLS:CH201KALANTZIS
- Resource Type: Courseware Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2019-06-21T15:24:33Z
George Kalantzis (Ph.D., Northwestern University) is associate professor of theology and director of The Wheaton Center for Early Christian Studies at Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois. His research and writing interests focus on the dynamic relationship between the written documents and their interpretation in early Christianity, paying particular attention to the development of christological and trinitarian thought, as well as the interplay of classical Greco-Roman and early Christian philosophical understandings of anthropology and biblical hermeneutics. He is the author of Caesar and the Lamb: Early Christian Attitudes on War and Military Service, Theodore of Mopsuestia: Commentary on the Gospel of John, coeditor with Andrew Tooley of Evangelicals and the Early Church: Recovery, Reform, Renewal, with Jeffrey P. Greenman of Life in the Spirit: Spiritual Formation in Theological Perspective and with D. Stephen Long of The Sovereignty of God Debate, as well a numerous articles and essays on Patristic thought. He is currently completing a project on wealth and poverty titled Crumbs From the Table: The Eucharist in the Life of the Church. Before coming to Wheaton College, Kalantzis taught seminary and doctoral students as they were preparing to engage the world and the church. He and his wife share this goal and vision with their Chicago area congregation where they serve in missions, the worship arts programs, and in adult and children's education.