Ayres, Lewis - Nicaea and its Legacy

Lewis Ayres offers a new account of the most important century in the development of Christian belief after Christ. He shows how the doctrine of the Trinity was developed, and in particular argues that a conception of God's mysteriousness and spiritual progress towards understanding is central to that doctrine.

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CONTENTS

I. Towards a Controversy
1 Points of Departure
2 Theological Trajectories in the Early Fourth Century I
3 Theological Trajectories in the Early Fourth Century II
4 Confusion and Controversy: AD 325-340
5 The Creation of `Arianism': AD 340-350
II. The Emergence of Pro-Nicene Theology
6 Shaping the Alternatives: AD 350-360
7 The Beginnings of Rapprochement
8 Basil of Caesarea and the Development of Pro-Nicene Theology
9 The East from Valens to Theodosius
10 Victory and the Struggle for Definition
III. Understanding Pro-Nicene Theology
11 On the Contours of Mystery
12 `The First and Brightest Light'
13 `Walk Towards Him Shining'
14 `On Not Three Gods': Gregory of Nyssa's Trinitarian Theology
15 The Grammar of Augustine's Trinitarian Theology
16 In Spite of Hegel, Fire and Sword
Epilogue: On Teaching the Fourth Century