This revised edition of the standard history of the first great period in Christian thought has been thoroughly updated in the light of the latest historical findings. Dr. Kelly organizes an ocean of material by outlining the development of each doctrine in its historical context. He lucidly summarizes the genesis of Chrisitian thought from the close of the apostolic age to the Council of Chalcedon in the fifth century--a time teeming with fresh and competing ideas. The doctrines of the Trinity, the authority of the Bible and tradition, the nature of Christ, salvation, original sin and grace, and the sacraments are all extensively treated in these pages. This revised edition of Early Christian Doctrines includes: Sweepingly updated early chapters - Revised and updated bibliographies - A completely new chapter on Mary and the saints "Extremely well done."-- Robert M. Grant"This book is a clear, precise and up-to-date account of the early history of Christian doctrine. It is invaluable for an understanding of the formative period when the main lines of Christian dogma were laid down; and it presents a balanced picture of the early controversies in the light of modern scholorships."-- Cyril C. Richardson Classic text by a leading scholar provides a full history of the first great period of Christian thought. This revised edition of the standard history of the first great period in Christian thought has been thoroughly updated in the light of the latest historical findings. This revised edition of the standard history of the first great period in Christian thought has been thoroughly updated in the light of the latest historical findings. Dr. Kelly organizes an ocean of material by outlining the development of each doctrine in its historical context. He lucidly summarizes the genesis of Chrisitian thought from the close of the apostolic age to the Council of Chalcedon in the fifth century--a time teeming with fresh and competing ideas. The doctrines of the Trinity, the authority of the Bible and tradition, the nature of Christ, salvation, original sin and grace, and the sacraments are all extensively treated in these pages. This revised edition of Early Christian Doctrines includes: Sweepingly updated early chapters - Revised and updated bibliographies - A completely new chapter on Mary and the saints J.N.D. Kelly is Principal of St. Edmund Hall, Oxford, England. He is acknowledged internationally as an authority on patristic Christian thought. Dr. Kelly is also the author of Jerome, which Library Journal "highly recommended for every serious religious collection." Chapter One The Background I. The Patristic Epoch The object of this book is to sketch the development of the principal Christian doctrines from the close of the first century to the middle of the fifth. The choice of these frontiers is not so arbitrary or artificial as one might at first sight suppose. There is an obvious convenience in placing the starting-point outside the New Testament. Not only is its teaching a distinct, highly specialized field of study, but the difference of atmosphere becomes immediately apparent as one crosses from the apostolic to the post-apostolic age. At the other end the council of Chalcedon (451) saw the curtain begin to fall on the Church's first doctrinally creative period. Discussion was far from being closed; to take but one example, the Christological issue which Chalcedon had tried to settle continued as a subject of fierce controversy for generations. But, so far as the central stream of Christendom was concerned, the brilliant upsurge of fresh ideas which had distinguished the earlier centuries had spent itself. By the sixth century, both in East and West, the reign of formalism and scholasticism was well under way. If he is to feel at home in the patristic age, the student needs to be equipped with at least an outline knowledge of Church history and patrology. Here there is only space to draw his attention to one or two of its more striking features. In the first place, he must not expect to find it characterized by that doctrinal homogeneity which he may have come across at other epochs. Being still at the formative stage, the theology of the early centuries exhibits the extremes of immaturity and sophistication. There is an extraordinary contrast, for example, between the versions of the Church's teaching given by the second-century Apostolic Fathers and by an accomplished fifthcentury theologian like Cyril of Alexandria. Further, conditions were favourable to the coexistence of a wide variety of opinions even on issues of prime importance. Modern students are sometimes surprised at the diversity of treatment accorded by even the later fathers to such a mystery as the Atonement; and it is a commonplace that certain fathers (Origen is the classic example) who were later adjudged heretics counted for orthodox in their lifetimes. The explanation is not that the early Church was indifferent to the d