Encyclopedia of Ancient Christianity - by Angelo Di Berardino (Mixed Media Product)

About the Book

This three-volume encyclopedia offers unparalleled, comprehensive coverage of the people, places and ideas of ancient Christianity, with 3,220 articles by an international team of 266 scholars, covering eight centuries and drawing upon fields from archaeology, architecture, and biography to ecclesiology, geography, and theology.

Book Synopsis

Midwest Publishing Association Award of Excellence (Scholarly/Reference)

Readers' Choice Awards Honorable Mention

The Encyclopedia of Ancient Christianity covers eight centuries of the Christian church and comprises 3,220 entries by a team of 266 scholars from 26 countries representing a variety of Christian traditions. It draws upon such fields as archaeology, art and architecture, biography, cultural studies, ecclesiology, geography, history, philosophy, and theology.

This three-volume encyclopedia offers unparalleled, comprehensive coverage of the people, places, and ideas of ancient Christianity. The encyclopedia's A-to-Z coverage extends from "Aaron (iconography)" to "Zosimus, pope" and chronologically from Christianity's origins to Bede (d. 735) in the West and John of Damascus (d. ca. 749) in the Greek East, with detailed emphasis on the first four centuries of Christian history.

This edition updates and expands on previous Italian and English-language editions with the addition of more than 500 new articles (added to the current Italian or English edition), including 30 articles exclusive to IVP's edition. Extensive cross-referencing provides ease in exploring related articles, and helpful bibliographies, including primary sources (texts, critical editions, translations) and key secondary sources (books and journal articles), give access to the very latest in-depth scholarship in countless disciplines of study.

IVP's new Encyclopedia of Ancient Christianity (2014) is translated from Nuovo dizionario patristico e di antichita cristiane (2006-2008), produced by the Institutum Patristicum Augustinianum, the world's foremost center for partristic studies, under the direction of Professor Angelo Di Berardino, and it greatly updates and expands the 1992 Encyclopedia of the Early Church (Oxford University Press/James Clarke).

Review Quotes

"The Encyclopedia of Ancient Christianity is highly recommended as a front line source for information on all aspects of the early church. . . . It is a must for any seminary, training school, or other educational institution. Those specializing in church history will want to have this reference set within arm's reach at their desk."

--Dennis M. Swanson, The Master's Seminary Journal, Fall 2014

"Anyone who has ever used Di Berardino's well-known Encyclopedia will be extremely grateful for this considerably expanded and updated English translation of the second edition of the Italian original. An admirably wide and authoritative coverage of authors and places, archaeology, iconography and liturgy are also well represented, making this Encyclopedia a truly superb resource."

--Sebastian Brock, Emeritus Fellow of Wolfson College, University of Oxford

"Given this resource's breadth of coverage and caliber of scholarship, its value cannot be overstated--even more so because scholarly interest in this period is currently expanding. Summing Up: Essential. Lower-level undergraduates and above; general readers."

--D. R. Stewart, CHOICE, September 2014

"The greatly expanded Encyclopedia of Ancient Christianity provides a comprehensive, up-to-date presentation of the life and thought of the early church. Its impressive scholarship opens the first centuries of Christian life to fruitful examination and appreciation. It is a welcome and indispensable resource for all who wish to grow in knowledge of the foundational period of Christianity."

--Donald Cardinal Wuerl, Archbishop of Washington

"The most thorough and extensive collection of information on the early church available. . . . Recommended for theological, academic, and large public libraries."

--Christopher McConnell, Booklist, July 2014

"The revised and expanded Encyclopedia of Ancient Christianity is certain to become the standard work of reference for patristics and the study of Late Antiquity. The range of subjects covered by the articles is astounding, including virtually everyone about whom anything at all is known, as well as geography, literary and legal culture, art and symbolism, architecture and liturgy. These articles, together with their extensive and up-to-date bibliographies, make the Encyclopedia the portal of choice to the world of Late Antiquity."

--Andrew Louth, Professor Emeritus of Patristic and Byzantine Studies, Durham University

"This three-volume set edited by Di Berardino and a team of consulting editors offers a comprehensive alphabetical listing of people, places and concepts important to the Christian Church's first eight centuries. . . . The list of contributors, most of them from one of several prestigious European universities, assures the reader that the content is authoritative and thoughtfully considered. . . . Recommended for scholars, this encyclopedia set, with its academic and precise content, is aimed at those whose interest in ancient Christianity is beyond general."

--Annette Haldeman, Library Journal, April 15, 2014

"This wonderful new and greatly expanded Encyclopedia of Ancient Christianity is the very best reference work on the foundational period of Christian thought and life available in English. We all owe Angelo Di Berardino a great debt for once again assembling a masterful team of scholars and producing a reference work that will last for a generation."

--Lewis Ayres, Professor of Catholic and Historical Theology, Durham University

About the Author

The Rev. Dr. Joel C. Elowsky (PhD, Drew University) is associate professor of historical theology at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis. He has served as the operations manager for the Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture and has edited the two volumes on John's Gospel in that series. He is the volume editor for We Believe in the Holy Spirit in the Ancient Christian Doctrine series and has edited volumes on Theodore of Mopsuestia and Cyril of Alexandria in the Ancient Christian Texts series.

Angelo Di Berardino is past president and current professor of patrology at the Augustinian Patristic Institute (Augustinianum) in Rome. He is the editor or author of authoritative works on the early church, including Encyclopedia of the Early Church (recently updated and expanded in Italian as Nuovo dizionario patristico e di antichità cristiane) and Patrology: The Eastern Fathers from the Council of Chalcedon to John of Damascus. He also serves as the Italian-language editor for the Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture.

James Hoover (M.Div., Gordon Conwell) is IVP's associate editorial director and senior editor for IVP Academic. Since 1999 he has served as in-house editor in the area of patristic studies, overseeing editorial work on the 29-volume Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture, the 5-volume Ancient Christian Doctrine series, the 15-volume Ancient Christian Texts series and, most recently, the Encyclopedia of Ancient Christianity.

Thomas C. Oden (1931-2016), was the general editor of the Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture and the Ancient Christian Doctrine series as well as the author of Classic Christianity, a revision of his three-volume systematic theology. He was the director of the Center for Early African Christianity at Eastern University in Pennsylvania and he served as the Henry Anson Buttz Professor of Theology at The Theological School of Drew University in Madison, New Jersey. Oden was active in the Confessing Movement in America, particularly within the United Methodist Church and was president of The Institute for Classical Christian Studies. He suggested that Christians need to rely upon the wisdom of the historical Church, particularly the early Church, rather than on modern scholarship and theology and said his mission was "to begin to prepare the postmodern Christian community for its third millennium by returning again to the careful study and respectful following of the central tradition of classical Christianity."