books on Trinity doctrine development - Nicea - church history

Steven Avery

Steven Avery

Administrator
Thomas Whitman
Hi all. I'm interested in book recommendations on the development of the doctrine of the Trinity in the church fathers.
Ideally it would be something that takes a good look at monarchical Trinitarianism.

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Matthew Bates
I'd especially recommend Anatolios, Retrieving Nicaea; Ayres, Nicaea and Its Legacy; Behr, The Way to Nicaea; Behr, The Nicene Faith (2 vols).; Dunzl, A Brief History of the Doctrine of the Trinity in the Early Church.

Joshua Barron
I’d start with David N. Bell’s CLOUD OF WITNESSES (as the most accessible), then move to the texts by John Behr mentioned by Matthew Bates above, and then read vol. 1 in Jaroslav Pelikan’s THE CHRISTIAN TRADITION.
Speaking of Matthew, I’ve heard good things about his THE BIRTH OF THE TRINITY, but I haven’t read it yet.

Nathan Scott
In addition to the above excellent recommendations,
T.F. Torrance's "The Trinitarian Faith" is quite good.

Howard Diehl
Fr. John Behr has several volumes that are good, although the focus is more on Nicea

Elias Nyström
In The Holy Trinity Robert Letham gives a really good historical developments of the doctrine from the early church to this day. He has some excellent chapters on the early creeds, the Cappadocians and Augustine. I highly recommend it!
 
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Steven Avery

Steven Avery

Administrator
Khaled Anatolios
Retrieving Nicaea; Ayres, Nicaea and Its Legacy; (2011)
https://www.amazon.com/Nicaea-Its-Legacy-Fourth-Century-Trinitarian/dp/0198755058
Google Preview
https://books.google.com/books/about/Retrieving_Nicaea.html?id=l6VzBQAAQBAJ
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Retrieving-Nicaea-Development-Trinitarian-Doctrine/dp/080103132X
Christianbook.com
https://www.christianbook.com/retri...ine/khaled-anatolios/9781441231956/pd/14308EB

Behr, The Way to Nicaea; Behr, The Nicene Faith (2 vols).;
And more volumes

Frank Dunzl, John Bowden (Translator)
A Brief History of the Doctrine of the Trinity in the Early Church.
https://www.amazon.com/Brief-History-Doctrine-Trinity-Church/dp/0567031934
Google Preview mode
https://books.google.com/books/about/A_Brief_History_of_the_Doctrine_of_the_T.html?id=BdTeBAAAQBAJ

David N. Bell’s
CLOUD OF WITNESSES (2007)
Google Preview mode
https://books.google.com/books/about/A_Cloud_of_Witnesses.html?id=ehTODAAAQBAJ
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Cloud-Witnesses-Introductory-Development-Cistercian/dp/0879072180

Jaroslav Pelikan’s THE CHRISTIAN TRADITION. vol 1

Matthew Bates
The Birth of the Trinity: Jesus, God, and Spirit in New Testament and Early Christian Interpretations of the Old Testament (2015)
Google Preview
https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Birth_of_the_Trinity.html?id=C9OloAEACAAJ
Introduction in Academia.edu
https://www.academia.edu/12486416/M...iversity_Press_2015_Oxford_Scholarship_Online
Amazon
Themelios
https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/...ent-and-early-christian-interpretations-of-t/
Review - Gospel Coalition
http://mydigitalseminary.com/the-birth-of-the-trinity/

T.F. Torrance's "The Trinitarian Faith"

Robert Letham - The Holy Trinity
 
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Steven Avery

Steven Avery

Administrator
Steven Avery
Wonderful references, thanks.
And I have all these references noted, and hope to build on them shortly.

Pure Bible Forum
books on Trinity doctrine development
https://www.purebibleforum.com/index.php?threads/books-on-trinity-doctrine-development.3554/

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There are a number of books by Unitarians and others who are overtly non-Trinitarian in any orthodox sense.
However, in my experience, the actual scholarship in those books is a bit lacking. We could list some.

One writing that is fairly important doctrinally in the Ante-Nicene period is the Anonymous Treatise on Baptism, which is generally not given any proper analysis in historic Christian treatises. However, it is more on the water baptism question than directly on the Christology question.
 
Steven Avery

Steven Avery

Administrator
Ehrman note
https://ehrmanblog.org/the-trinity-a-final-summation/

if you could recommend to me a couple of books especially on the nuances of this particular debate between Arius and Alexander and their stalwarts.

It depends on how deep you want to get into it. If you want the hard core stuff, look at the work of Lewis Ayres. Another option is Richard Norris, The Christological Controversy. It’s older, but more accessible.

For bible/religion non-scholars (I qualify), highly recommend as well “The Closing of the Western Mind: The Rise of Faith and the Fall of Reason” by Charles Freeman. The book is not without controversy, so I suggest any interested to consider: http://www.bede.org.uk/freeman.htm

Hurtado – in his book on ‘God in New Testament Theology’ – does make the point that there is “an undeniable two-ishness to the devotional life reflecte in the New Testament”; in that “God and Jesus feature as distinguishable and yet uniquely linked subjects and recipients of reverence in the setting of corporate worship”. ( dual addressing )
 
Steven Avery

Steven Avery

Administrator
Facebook - Patristics for Protestants - 2024 - Hefin Jones
https://www.facebook.com/groups/patristicsforprotestants/posts/8172679589484431/

John Behr - The Way to Nicaea.

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Kelly, Early Christian Creeds:
https://books.google.com/.../Early_Christian_Creeds.html...

Pelikan, Creeds and Confessions (I don’t recall which volume):
https://farahfoundation.org/.../creeds-and-confessions.../

Schaff, Creeds:
https://books.google.com/books?id=CKfgvb5TGWAC&pg=PR1...

Hanson, The Search for the Christian Doctrine of God: The Arian Controversy, 318–381
http://bakerpublishinggroup.com/.../the-search-for.../270500

Pelikan, Volume 1: The Emergence of the Catholic Tradition (100-600)
https://books.google.com/.../The_Christian_Tradition.html...

Retrieving Nicaea: The Development and Meaning of Trinitarian Doctrine
by Khaled Anatolios
https://books.google.com/.../about/Retrieving_Nicaea.html...

The Trinitarian Controversy by William G. Rusch
https://books.google.com/.../The_Trinitarian_Controversy...

Lewis Aryes, Nicaea and Its Legacy: An Approach to Fourth-Century Trinitarian Theology
https://books.google.com/.../Nicaea_and_Its_Legacy.html...
https://archive.org/details/nicaeaitslegacya0000ayre

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ancient Christian doctrine series by Bray et al.

The series that starts with Credo by Pelikan is great Not "current"

Early Christian Creeds by Kelly,
The First Seven Ecumenical Councils by Leo Davis and
Creeds, Councils and Controversies by. J. Stevenson

Retrieving Nicea by Khaled Anatolios



Creeds & confessions of faith in the Christian tradition
PICS on Facebook
https://archive.org/.../creedsconfessio.../page/145/mode/1up

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The universally-agreed Creed of 381 (325/381) Nicene/Constantinopolitan, is occasionally called "Nicene" (but it isn't strictly speaking.)
The original Nicene was formulated in 325. It was shorter, said nothing about the procession of the Holy Spirit or about one holy catholic and apostolic church.
50 years later it was felt that clarification was needed.
By 380/381 the mainstream imperial Church (or the 5 patriarchates) was officially called "catholic" - so the updated Creed which is the only authorised Creed. It contained no Filioque clause.


And the original Creeds too.
Personally I see books calling "Nicene" creeds with the Filioque that became official only in 1014-1044 in the west. I consider such a "red flag" for the "quality" of the book I am reading because of course the original Nicene of 325 was different.
 
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