Revised: 6/99
BIBLIOGRAPHY #4: Athanasius & the Trinitarian Controversy
1. THE ARIAN CONTROVERSY: SURVEYS
R.P.C. Hanson, The Search for the Christian Doctrine of God: the Arian Controversy, 318-381 AD (Edinburgh: T &
T Clark, 1988) hardback, $60. A massive 900-page study of Nicaea, Athanasius, & the Cappadocians by
one of the deans of patristic studies. This is the finest and the most exhaustive treatment of the theology of
the Trinitarian controversy.
Michel René Barnes,  The Fourth Century as Trinitarian Canon, in Lewis Ayres, ed., Christian Origins: Theology,
Rhetoric, and Community (New York: Routledge, 1998) paperback, $25. NEW. A fine brief overview of
how contemporary scholars have revised the older view of the crucial period from Nicaea to
Constantinople.
Michel René Barnes & Daniel H. Williams, ed., Arianism After Arius: Essays on the Development of the Fourth-
Century Trinitarian Conflicts (Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1993) hardback, $50.
Leo Donald Davis, The First Seven Ecumenical Councils (325-787): Their History and Theology (Collegeville, MN:
Liturgical Press, 1983) paperback, $18.
Everett Ferguson, ed., Doctrines of God and Christ in the Early Church, Studies in Early Christianity, vol. 9 (New
York: Garland Publishing, 1993).
Robert C. Gregg and Dennis Groh, Early Arianism: a View of Salvation (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1981) . Path-
breaking, but their thesis has not been fully accepted.
Robert C. Gregg, ed., Arianism: Historical and Theological Reassessments, Patristic Monograph Series #11
(Cambridge, MA: Philadelphia Patristic Foundation, 1985).
R.P.C. Hanson,  The Achievement of Orthodoxy in the Fourth Century, AD, in Rowan Williams, ed., The Making
of Orthodoxy (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989) pp. 142-156.
J.N.D. Kelly, Early Christian Creeds, 3rd edition (London: Longman, 1972) paperback, $18. Though written a bit
before some recent breakthrough studies, still an excellent study with balanced judgments.
Thomas A. Kopecek, A History of Neo-Arianism, Patristic Monograph Series #8 (Cambridge, MA: Philadelphia
Patristic Foundation, 1979; reprint: Mercer University Press). A path-breaking study.
Joseph T. Lienhard, Contra Marcellum: Marcellus of Ancyra and Fourth Century Theology (Washington: Catholic
University Press, 1999) hardcover. NEW. Looks like a major work.
Joseph T. Lienhard,  The  Arian Controversy: Some Categories Reconsidered, Theological Studies 48 (1987) 415-
436. A path-breaking article.
A.H.B. Logan,  Marcellus of Ancyra and the Councils of AD 325: Antioch, Ancyra, and Nicaea, Journal of
Theological Studies n.s. 43 (1992) 428-446.
Manlio Simonetti, La crisi ariana nel iv secolo, Studia Ephemerides (Rome: Augustianum, 1975).
Manlio Simonetti,  Arius Arians Arianism, in The Encyclopedia of the Early Church, ed. Angelo di Berardino
(New York: Oxford University Press, 1992).
Basil Studer, Trinity and Incarnation: The Faith of the Early Church, ed. Andrew Louth (Collegeville: Liturgical
Press, 1993) paperback, $20.
Rowan Williams, Arius: Heresy and Tradition (London: Darton, Longman & Todd, 1987).
2. ATHANASIUS: STUDIES
Alvyn Pettersen, Athanasius (Harrisburg, PA: Morehouse Publishing, 1995) paperback, $18. It is in large measure
due to Athanasius, bishop of Alexandria from 328-373, that Nicaea survived. He combined shrewd,
determined political action and a penetrating theology to rescue the faith of Nicaea. And he knew well that
the stakes were Christian faith itself: that God is one and that Christ is true God. This is a fine, but dense
survey that focuses on Athanasius theology and sidesteps recent attacks on his behavior.
Bibliography #4: Athanasius 2
Khaled Anatolios, Athanasius: The Coherence of His Thought (New York: Routledge, 1998) hardcover, $75. NEW.
A defense of Athanasius christology.
Duane W.-H. Arnold, The Early Episcopal Career of Athanasius of Alexandria, (Notre Dame: Notre Dame
University Press, 1991) hardcover, $20. An overly defensive view of Athanasius.
L.W. Barnard,  Athanasius and the Meletian Schism in Egypt, Journal of Egyptian Archeology 59 (1975) 183-189.
Timothy D. Barnes, Athanasius & Constantius (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1993) hardcover, $50.
An unduly skeptical view, but full of valuable information.
David Brakke, Athanasius and Asceticism (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1998) paperback, $18. A reprint of the
earlier text Athanasius and the Politics of Asceticism (Oxford, 1995).
T.G. Elliott, The Christianity of Constantine the Great (Scranton: University of Scranton Press, 1997) paperback,
$19. Includes two chapters on Athanasius relationship with Constantine.
W.H.C. Frend,  Athanasius as an Egyptian Christian Leader in the Fourth Century, in Religion Popular and
Unpopular in the Early Christian Centuries (London: Variorum Reprints, 1976) 20-37.
Aloys Grillmeier, Christ in the Christian Tradition, vol. 1: From the Apostolic Age to Chalcedon, rev. ed., trans.
John Bowden (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 1975) 308-328. On Athanasius Christology.
Christopher Haas, Alexandria in Late Antiquity: Topography and Social Conflict (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins, 1997)
hardcover, $45. Includes a valuable study of Athanasius street politics.
Charles Kannengiesser, ed., Politique et Theologie chez Athanase d Alexandre, Théologie historique 27 (Paris:
Beauchesne, 1974).
Charles Kannengiesser, Athanase d Alexandre, ÉvÄ™que et Écrivain: Une lecture des traités Contre les Ariens,
Theologie historique 70 (Paris: Beauchesne, 1983).
Charles Kannengiesser, Arius and Athanasius: Two Alexandrian Theologians, Collected Studies 353 (London:
Variorum Reprints, 1991).
Charles Kannengiesser,  Athanasius of Alexandria and the Ascetic Movement of His Time, in Asceticism, ed.
Vincent Wimbush (New York: Oxford University Press, 1995) 479-492.
Andrew Louth,  Athanasius Understanding of the Humanity of Christ, Studia Patristica 16 (1985) 309-323.
Rebecca Lyman, Christology and Cosmology: Models of Divine Activity in Origen, Eusebius, and Athanasius,
Oxford Theological Monographs (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993) hardcover $40.
E.P. Meijering,  Athanasius on the Father as the Origin of the Son, in God Being History: Studies in Patristic
Philosophy (Amsterdam: North-Holland Pub. Co., 1975). A classic essay.
Alvyn Pettersen, Athanasius and the Human Body (Bristol: Bristol Press, 1990).
Johannes Roldanus, Le Christ et l homme dans la théologie d Athanase d Alexandre, Studies in the History of Christian
Thought 4 (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1977).
G. Christopher Stead,  Athanasius, Encyclopedia of the Early Church, ed. Angelo di Berardino (New York: Oxford
University Press, 1992).
G. Christopher Stead,  Rhetorical Method in Athanasius, Vigiliae Christianae 30 (1976) 121-137.
Peter Widdicombe, The Fatherhood of God from Origen to Athanasius, Oxford Theological Monographs (New
York: Oxford University Press, 1994) hardcover, $55.
3. THE CAPPADOCIANS: STUDIES
Anthony Meredith, The Cappadocians (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir s Seminary Press 1996) paperback, $18. The
Cappadocians Basil of Caesarea (d.379), Gregory of Nazianzus (d.389), and Gregory of Nyssa (d.395)
were Athanasius' successors. They defended the divinity of the Holy Spirit and were the architects of the
doctrine of the Trinity. And they contributed much else. This new introduction is a good place to start.
Anthony Meredith, Gregory of Nyssa, Early Church Fathers Series (New York: Routledge, 1999) paperback, $25.
NEW. This has both an introduction to his life and thought, as well as selections from the full range of his
writings: doctrinal works, philosophical treatises, and mystical commentaries.
Hans Urs von Balthasar, Presence and Thought: An Essay on the Religious Philosophy of Gregory of Nyssa, trans.
Mark Sebanc (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1995) paperback, $14.
Hubertus R. Drobner & Albert Viciano, eds., Gregory of Nyssa: Homilies on the Beatitudes: An English Version
with Commentary and Supporting Studies. Proceedings of the Eighth International Colloquium on Gregory
Bibliography #4: Athanasius 3
of Nyssa (Paderborn, 14-18 September 1998); Supplements to Vigiliae Christianae (Leiden: Brill, 1999).
NEW. To be available in fall, 1999.
Gerard H. Ettlinger,  The Orations of Gregory of Nazianzus: A Study in Rhetoric and Personality, Preaching in
the Patristic Age: Studies in Honor of Walter J. Burghardt, SJ, ed. David G. Hunter (New York: Paulist
Press, 1989) 101-118.
Paul Jonathan Fedwick, ed., Basil of Caesarea: Christian, Humanist, Ascetic, 2 volumes, (Toronto: Pontifical
Institute of Medieval Studies, 1981).
R.C. Gregg, Consolation Philosophy: Greek and Christian Paideia in Basil and the Two Gregories, Patristic
Monograph Series 3 (Cambridge, MA: Philadelphia Patristic Foundation, 197_).
Andrew Louth, The Origins of the Christian Mystical Tradition (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1981).
Jaroslav Pelikan, Christianity and Classical Culture: The Metamorphosis of Natural Theology in the Christian
Encounter with Hellenism (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1993) paperback, $18. A dense & difficult
study of the Cappadocian Fathers  natural theology.
Philip Rousseau, Basil of Caesarea, Transformation of the Classical Heritage 20 (Berkeley: University of California
Press, 1994) NEW in paperback, $20. A major study, but presumes one knows the basics.
I.P. Williams,  The Cappadocians, The Cambridge History of Late Greek and Early Medieval Philosophy, ed. A.H.
Armstrong (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1967) pp. 432-456.
Denys Turner, The Darkness of God: Negativity in Christian Mysticism (New York: Cambridge, 1995) hardcover
$60. On the mysticism of Gregory of Nyssa.
Rowan Williams,  Macrina s Deathbed Revisited: Gregory of Nyssa on Mind and Passion, in L. Wickham and C.
Bammel, Christian Faith and Greek Philosophy in Late Antiquity, Supplement to Vigiliae Christianae 19
(Leiden: Brill, 1993).
Donald F. Winslow, The Dynamics of Salvation: A Study in Gregory of Nazianzus, Patristic Monograph Series
(Cambridge, MA: Philadelphia Patristic Foundation, 1979).
4. ATHANASIUS & THE CAPPADOCIANS: TEXTS
Frederick W. Norris, ed., Faith Gives Fullness to Reasoning: the Five Theological Orations of Gregory of
Nazianzus, trans., Lionel Wickham and Frederick Williams, Supplements to Vigiliae Christianae 13
(Leiden: Brill, 1991) hardcover, $130. A superb translation & commentary.
Athanasius, The Life of Anthony, Classics of Western Spirituality 16, trans. Robert C. Gregg (New York: Paulist
Press, 1980) paperback, $15. This was one of the great religious best-sellers of ancient world and was
responsible for popularizing the desert ideal throughout the ancient world. This work would shape all later
lives of the saints.
Basil the Great, On the Holy Spirit, trans. David Anderson (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir s Seminary Press, 1980)
paperback, $6. It was this work more than any other which cleared the way for the official declaration of
the divinity of the Holy Spirit. This is an unusually good translation.
Gregory of Nyssa, Life of Moses, Classics of Western Spirituality 4, trans. Everett Ferguson & Abraham J. Malherbe
(New York: Paulist Press, 1978) paperback, $20. Gregory was not only one of the architects of Trinitarian
doctrine but was also a mystic. Here he allegorizes the Exodus story, treating it as the story of the journey
of the soul to God. Whatever one thinks of it as biblical interpretation, it is a brilliant analysis of the
mystical journey to God.
Gregory of Nyssa, On the Soul & Resurrection, trans. Catharine P. Roth (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir s Seminary
Press, 1993) paperback, $7. Another classic by the Cappadocian Gregory of Nyssa. Ostensibly a dialogue
between him and his dying sister, Macrina, it offers one of the most learned meditations of the Christian
understanding of the resurrection.
Georges A. Barrois, trans., The Fathers Speak: Saint Basil the Great, Saint Gregory of Nazianzus, Saint Gregory of
Nyssa, Selected Letters (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir s Seminary Press, 1986) paperback, $12.
Bibliography #4: Athanasius 4
J. Patout Burns & Gerald M. Fagin, ed., The Holy Spirit, Message of the Fathers 3 (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical
Press, 1984). A valuable anthology of key texts, including ones from Athanasius and the Cappadocians.
Virginia Woods Callahan, Gregory of Nyssa: Ascetical Works, Fathers of the Church 58 (Washington: Catholic
University of America Press, 1967).
Roy J. Deferrari, trans., Basil of Caesarea: The Letters, Loeb Classical Library, 4 vol. (New York: G. Putnam, 1922-
1934; reprint: Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press). Includes the Greek text.
Edward Hardy, ed. Christology of the Later Fathers, Library of Christian Classics (Philadelphia: Westminster Press,
1954) paperback, $25. Contains Gregory s Five Theological Orations.
Denis Molaise Meehan, trans., Gregory of Nazianzus: Three Poems, Fathers of the Church #75 (Washington:
Catholic University Press, 1987
Robert W. Thomson, trans., Athanasius: Contra Gentes and De Incarnatione (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1971). This
includes both the Greek text and a fine translation of these two early works of Athanasius.
Monica Wagner, trans., Basil of Caesarea: Ascetical Works, Fathers of the Church 9 (Washington: Catholic
University Press of America, 1950).
Carolinne White, trans., Gregory of Nazianzus: Autobiographical Poems, Cambridge Medieval Classics, vol. 6
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997) hardcover, $55. NEW.