The Patristic Age

by Hughes Oliphant Old

Overview

The Reading and Preaching of the Scriptures in the Worship of the Christian Church is a multivolume study by Hughes Oliphant Old that canvasses the history of preaching from the words of Moses at Mount Sinai through modern times. Volume 2, The Patristic Age, continues Old's historical survey by focusing on preaching as it was developed and practiced by the Greek schools of Alexandria and Antioch. Old then goes on to consider preaching in the Syriac church and the flourishing of Latin preaching in the Christian Empire, concluding with the ministries of Leo the Great, Peter Chrysologos, and Gregory the Great.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780802843579
Publisher:	Eerdmans, William B. Publishing Company
Publication date:	02/01/1998
Series:	Reading and Preaching of the Scriptures Series , #2
Pages:	492
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.08(d)

About the Author

Hughes Oliphant Old (1933–2016) was John H. Leith Professor of Reformed Theology and Dean of the Institute for Reformed Worship, Erskine Theological Seminary, Columbia, South Carolina.

Table of Contents

Chapter I	The Flourishing of Greek Preaching in the Christian Empire--the School of Alexandria	1
I.	Cyril of Jerusalem	3
A.	Catechetical Sermons	5
B.	Preaching as Mystagogy	18
II.	The Cappadocian Fathers	32
A.	Basil of Caesarea	33
B.	Gregory of Nazianzus	61
C.	Gregory of Nyssa	82
D.	The Festal Calendar of the Cappadocians	95
E.	The Ministry of the Word as Worship	105
III.	Cyril of Alexandria	108
A.	Cyril as Interpreter of Scripture	110
B.	Cyril as Preacher	111
C.	Cyril's Sermons on Luke as Doctrinal Preaching	114
D.	Cyril's Sermons on Luke as the Preaching of the Christian Life	120
IV.	Hesychius of Jerusalem	125
A.	Regular Expository Preaching in the Church of Jerusalem	128
B.	The Sermons on Job	129
Chapter II	The Jerusalem Lectionary in the Fifth Century	135
I.	The Journals of Etheria	136
II.	Scripture Readings for Feast Days	143
III.	The Festal Preaching of Hesychius	160
Chapter III	The Flourishing of Greek Preaching in the Christian Empire--the School of Antioch	167
I.	John Chrysostom	171
A.	Sermons on Genesis--the Graciousness of God's Word	174
B.	Sermons on the Statues	189
C.	Catechetical Sermons	196
D.	Sermons on Colossians and Chrysostom's Social Hermeneutic	202
E.	The Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom	218
II.	Theodore of Mopsuestia	223
A.	Catechetical Sermons	224
B.	Antiochene Theology of Worship	228
III.	Theodoret of Cyrus	234
A.	Learned Preaching	235
B.	Sermons on Providence and the Antiochene Theology of Evangelism	237
Chapter IV	The Syriac Church	247
I.	Ephrem of Nisibis	249
A.	Ephrem as Biblical Scholar	251
B.	The Hymns on Paradise	253
C.	Ephrem's Doctrine of Scripture	255
D.	Homiletical Poetry	264
II.	Narsai	268
III.	Philoxenus of Mabbug	274
IV.	The Syriac Lectionaries	277
A.	The Lectionary of Mosul	278
B.	The Lectionary of Athanasius V	292
Chapter V	The Latin Fathers	297
I.	Ambrose	300
A.	Sermons on Luke	301
B.	The Sermon against Auxentius	315
C.	Preaching as Mystagogy	317
II.	Jerome	325
III.	Maximus of Turin	340
IV.	Augustine	344
A.	Eloquia Dei	344
B.	Expository Preaching	345
C.	Festal Sermons	368
D.	Introducing the Faith	382
E.	On the Art of Christian Teaching: Exegesis, Hermeneutic, and Rhetoric	386
F.	Theologia Verbi Dei	397
Chapter VI	The Eternal Gospel in a Dying Culture	399
I.	Leo the Great	401
A.	Leo's Festal Cycle	402
B.	The Predominance of a Penitential Approach to Worship	411
II.	Peter Chrysologus	416
III.	Gregory the Great	425
A.	Sermons on the Roman Lectionary	428
B.	Sermons on Ezekiel	437
C.	Theology of the Word	440
D.	The Word as Worship	454
	Bibliography	459
	Index	473

Editorial Reviews

This book's strength lies in its potential as a reference, a foundational source for studying patristic homiletics.... Old has given veterans and neophytes alike a valuable survey of patristic preaching in what promises to be a monumental series.... It will be long before this magisterial survey will be surpassed.

Journal of Early Christian Studies

A scholarly resource one will often turn to and spend much time on.

IZBG: Issues in Law & Medicine

There is no doubt that every serious preacher, theologian and Christian thinker will have to buy and ponder these important volumes. Dr. Old has done the church an enormous service in bringing this aspect of our heritage back into the prominence which it deserves, and it can only be hoped that his message will be widely heard and heeded in the days ahead.

Churchman