Varieties of Nicene Theology Phoebadius of Agen, Apollinarius of Laodicea, and Theodore of Mopsuestia

by DelCogliano, Mark; Ayres, Lewis

• ISBN13: 9780198836032
• ISBN10: 0198836031
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2026-06-03
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
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Summary

Scholarship of the past forty years on the fourth-century Trinitarian controversies has been suspicious of narratives that speak of a well-defined, monolithic, and unchanging theological parties, whether Arians or Nicenes. Against such a narrative, such scholarship has emphasized the development of multiple interrelated positions within theological alliances which exhibit significant diversity among themselves while at the same time being unified in certain fundamental tenets. Each of these traditions of Trinitarian theology emerged in different historical, theological, and polemical contexts in response to the wide variety of different impulses that shaped it. This is especially true for those theologians called "pro-Nicenes" in recent scholarship.

This volume provides scholars and students with resources for studying variety among Nicene theologians in the second half of the fourth century. It presents dual-language editions of three lesser-known but seminal Nicene theological texts that are not currently available in English: Phoebadius of Agen's Against the Arians, Apollinarius of Laodicea's The Detailed Confession of the Faith, and Theodore of Mopsuestia's Debate with the Macedonians. Each text has an extensive introduction that situates the text historically and theologically. These three texts, which are different in genre, in language of original composition or preservation, and in theological focus, help us understand the complex diversity of Nicene theology in the fourth century in greater depth.

Author Biography

Mark DelCogliano, Professor of Theology, University of St. Thomas,Lewis Ayres, Professor of Catholic and Historical Theology, Durham University

Mark DelCogliano is Professor of Theology at the University of St. Thomas (St. Paul, Minnesota). His research focuses on patristic doctrinal debates, theological developments, and scriptural exegesis in Late Antiquity. Author of Basil of Caesarea's Anti-Eunomian Theory of Names (Brill, 2010), as well as several volumes of translations of patristic texts, he is also one of the four co-editors of The Cambridge Edition of Early Christian Writings. In this series he edited Volume 3: Christ: Through the Nestorian Controversy, and Volume 4: Christ: Chalcedon and Beyond (Cambridge University Press, 2022).


Lewis Ayres is Professor of Catholic and Historical Theology at Durham University. He publishes on early Christian theology, specifically on the Trinitarian controversies of the fourth century, on the formation of Christian biblical exegesis in the first three centuries of the Christian era, and on post-Chalcedonian Christology. He also works on some themes in modern Catholic theology, particularly the relationship between Tradition, the nature of biblical exegesis, and the nature of theological reasoning. He studied at St Andrews and Oxford, and has taught in the UK, US, Ireland, and Rome.

Table of Contents

Preface and AcknowledgementsAbbreviationsEditor's NoteIntroduction: Framing Pro-Nicene TheologiesPhoebadius of Agen, Against the AriansIntroductionEdition and TranslationAppendicesBibliographyApollinarius of Laodicea, The Detailed Confession of the FaithIntroductionEdition and TranslationBibliographyTheodore of Mopsuestia, Debate with the MacedoniansIntroductionEdition and TranslationBibliographyIndex LocorumScriptural Index