Revised: 6/99

BIBLIOGRAPHY #5: Cyril of Alexandria & the Christological
Controversy

1. CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: STUDIES & TEXTS

John A. McGuckin, trans., St. Cyril of Alexandria: On the Unity of Christ (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir’s Seminary

Press, 1995) paperback, $7. Cyril, a brilliant theologian and an unscrupulous politician, was the great
opponent of Nestorius and engineered his downfall at the Council of Ephesus. This treatise is one of Cyril’s
finest reflections on his own view of the meaning of the Incarnation—and his refutation of any Christology
that divides and separates Christ’s humanity from Christ’s divinity.

John A. McGuckin, St. Cyril of Alexandria: the Christological Controversy: Its History, Theology and Texts,

Supplements to Vigiliae Christianae 23 (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1994) hardcover, $150. A superb and unusually
thorough analysis of the clash between Cyril and Nestorius and the eventual resolution at the Council of
Ephesus. It also includes a valuable new translation of the key documents.

Aloys Grillmeier, Christ in the Christian Tradition, Vol. 1: From the Apostolic Age to Chalcedon, revised ed., trans.

John Bowden (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 1975) hardcover, $50. A bit dated, rather technical, but
still one of the great studies of the question.

Leo Donald Davis, The First Seven Ecumenical Councils (325-787): Their History and Theology (Collegeville, MN:

Liturgical Press, 1983) paperback.

Bart D. Ehrman, The Orthodox Corruption of Scripture: The Effect of Early Christological Controversies on the

Text of the New Testament (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993) paperback, $16.

Everett Ferguson, ed., Orthodoxy, Heresy, and Schism in Early Christianity, Studies in Early Christianity 4 (New

York: Garland Publishing, 1993).

Jane Patricia Freeman, trans. Leo the Great: Sermons, Fathers of the Church #93 (Washington: Catholic University

of America Press, 1996).

W.H.C. Frend, The Rise of the Monophysite Movement: Chapters in the History of the Church in the Fifth and Sixth

Centuries (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1972).

W.H.C. Frend, Saints and Sinners in the Early Church (Wilmington: Michael Glazier, 1985).
J.N.D. Kelly, Early Christian Doctrines, 5

th

edition (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1978).

Peter L’Huillier, The Church of the Ancient Councils: The Disciplinary Work of the First Four Councils (St.

Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1996) paperback, $20.

John Meyendorff, Christ in Eastern Christian Thought (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1987)

paperback, $14. Especially valuable on christology after Chalcedon.

Stephen William Need, Human Language and Knowledge in the Light of Chalcedon (New York: Peter Lang, 1996)

hardcover, $45.

Richard A. Norris, ed., The Christological Controversy, Sources of Early Christian Thought (Philadelphia: Fortress

Press, 1980) paperback, $13. A valuable collection of the major sources.

G.L. Prestige, Fathers and Heretics: Six Studies in Dogmatic Faith (London: SPCK, 1940). A classic.
Basil Studer, Trinity and Incarnation: the Fathers of the Early Church (Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 1994)

paperback, $20.

Lionel R. Wickham, ed., Cyril of Alexandria: Selected Letters (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1983). Excellent

translations with Greek text.

2. OTHER IMPORTANT GREEK & SYRIAN FATHERS

J.N.D. Kelly, Golden Mouth: the Story of John Chrysostom (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1995) paperback,

$18. John Chrysostom was the most eloquent preacher of the early church. But as Patriarch of
Constantinople, he found himself ill-equipped to deal with the intricate and deadly politics of the imperial

Bibliography #5: Cyril of Alexandria

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capital. This is the first book-length biography of Chrysostom in 50 years—and by one of the finest
patristic scholars of this century.

Sebastian Brock, The Luminous Eye: The Spiritual World Vision of Saint Ephrem the Syrian, CS 124 (Kalamazoo:

Cistercian Publications, 1992) paperback, $15. Like Dante, Ephrem was a poet-theologian, in fact, the
greatest poet of the early Church. He composed in Syriac, the third language of the early church (after
Greek and Latin), and his mind was saturated with biblical images. This is the only book-length study of
Ephrem, and is a fine introduction by the dean of Syriac studies.

Andrew Louth, Denys the Areopagite, Outstanding Christian Thinkers Series, (Harrisburg, PA: Morehouse

Publishing, 1989) paperback, $10. Denys the Areopagite (also called Pseudo-Dionysius) was a 5th- or 6th-
century Syrian monk writing under the pseudonym of St. Paul’s Athenian convert. He composed a set of
treatises that have powerfully shaped mystical currents both in the Greek East and the medieval West; they
even influenced the development of the Gothic cathedral. Louth offers an excellent introduction to complex
matters.

Andrew Louth, Maximus the Confessor, Early Christian Fathers Series (London: Routledge, 1996) paperback $20.

Maximus was a 7th-century Byzantine monk and a brilliant theologian who was brutally tortured because of
his devotion to Chalcedonian christology. He spent a long while in exile in the Latin West and became one
of the last to bridge the gap between East and West. This is a good study of his life and work and includes a
valuable selection of his works.

George C. Berthold, trans., Maximus Confessor: Selected Writings, Classics of Western Spirituality (New York:

Paulist Press, 1985) paperback, $10.

Sebastian Brock, trans., Ephrem the Syrian: Hymns on Faith (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1990)

paperback, $10.

Glenn F. Chesnut, The First Christian Histories: Eusebius, Socrates, Sozomen, Theodoret, and Evagrius (Macon:

Mercer University Press, 1986).

Elizabeth A. Clark, Jerome, Chrysostom, and Friends: Essays and Translations (New York: Edwin Mellen Press,

1979).

Susanna Elm, “The Dog That Did Not Bark: Doctrine and Patriarchial Authority in the Conflict Between Theophilus

of Alexandria and John Chrysosotom,” in Lewis Ayres, ed., Christian Origins: Theology, Rhetoric, and
Community (New York: Routledge, 1998) paperback, $25. NEW.

Melvin E. Lawrenz, The Christology of John Chrysostom (New York: Edwin Mellen Press, 1997) paperback, $15.
Colm Luibheid, trans., Pseudo-Dionysius: The Complete Works, Classics of Western Spirituality 54 (New York:

Paulist Press, 1987) $17.

Edward G. Mathews, trans. Ephrem the Syrian: Selected Prose Works, Fathers of the Church #91 (Washington:

Catholic University of America Press, 1994).

Kathleen E. McVey, trans. Ephrem the Syrian: Hymns, Classics of Western Spirituality (New York: Paulist Press,

1989) paperback, $18.

Richard A. Norris, Manhood and Christ: A Study in the Christology of Theodore of Mopsuestia (Oxford: Clarendon

Press, 1963).

Paul Rorem, Pseudo-Dionysius: A Commentary on the Texts and an Introduction to the Their Influence (New York:

Oxford University Press, 1993) hardcover, $42.

Lars Thunberg, Man and the Cosmos: the Vision of St. Maximus the Confessor (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir’s

Seminary Press, 1985) paperback, $10.

Theresa Ubrainczyk, Socrates of Constantinople: Historian of Church and State (Ann Arbor: University of

Michigan Press, 1997) hardcover, $40.

Robert L. Wilken, John Chrysostom and the Jews: Rhetoric and Reality in the Late Fourth Century, Transformation

of the Classical Heritage 4 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1983).