Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture - by Thomas C Oden (Mixed Media Product)

About the Book

This unique thirty-volume series from general editor Thomas C. Oden--now in paperback for the first time--offers you the opportunity to study for yourself key writings of the early church fathers. Arranged canonically and employing the RSV, each volume allows the living voices of the church in its formative centuries to speak as they engage the sacred page of Scripture.

Book Synopsis

Volumes in the Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture (ACCS) offer you the opportunity to study for yourself key writings of the early church fathers. Arranged canonically and employing the RSV, each volume allows the living voices of the church in its formative centuries to speak as they engage the sacred page of Scripture. This thirty-volume series--now in paperback for the first time--includes an additional companion volume featuring biographical sketches, a comprehensive timeline, master indexes of Scripture references and authors, and more.

The ACCS is a postcritical revival of the early commentary tradition known as the glossa ordinaria, a text artfully elaborated with ancient and authoritative reflections and insights. The vast array of writings from the church fathers, including much that is available only in the ancient languages, have been combed for their comment on Scripture. From these results, scholars with a deep knowledge of the fathers and a heart for the church have hand selected material for each volume, shaping, annotating, and introducing it to today's readers. Each portion of commentary has been chosen for its salient insight, rhetorical power, and faithful representation of the consensual exegesis of the early church.

An ecumenical project, the ACCS promotes a vital link of communication between the varied Christian traditions of today and their common ancient ancestors in the faith. On this shared ground we listen as leading pastoral theologians of six centuries gather around the text of Scripture and offer their best theological, spiritual, and pastoral insights.

"The Ancient Christian Commentary Series is a marvelous tool for the recovery of biblical wisdom in today's church. Not just another scholarly project, the ACCS is a major source for the renewal of preaching, theology, and Christian devotion."

--Timothy George, Beeson Divinity School, Samford University

Review Quotes

"The initial cry of the Reformation was ad fontes--back to the sources! The Ancient Christian Commentary Series is a marvelous tool for the recovery of biblical wisdom in today's church. Not just another scholarly project, the ACCS is a major source for the renewal of preaching, theology and Christian devotion."

--Timothy George, dean, Beeson Divinity School, Samford University

"A 'must' for all theological libraries."

--International Review of Biblical Studies, Vol. 55, 2008-2009

"Composed in the style of the great medieval catenae, this new anthology of patristic commentary on Holy Scripture, conveniently arranged by chapter and verse, will be a valuable resource for prayer, study and proclamation. By calling attention to the rich Christian heritage preceding the separations between East and West and between Protestant and Catholic, this series will perform a major service to the cause of ecumenism."

--Avery Dulles, S. J., Laurence J. McGinley Professor of Religion and Society, Fordham University

"Contemporary Christians would do well to draw the hermeneutical circle broadly enough to include not only cross-cultural voices from around the world but also the voices to be found in the Ancient Christian Commentary series. This is an excellent sermon-preparation resource for pastors."

--Christian Century, May 2, 2006

"This volume continues the valuable exploration of patristic interpretation."

--Mark Bilby, Religious Studies Review, September 2009

About the Author

Thomas C. Oden (1931-2016) was a pioneering theologian and served as the architect and general editor for the Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture, the first full-scale early Christian commentary on Scripture in the last five hundred years. He was also the general editor of the Ancient Christian Doctrine series and the Ancient Christian devotionals, as well as a consulting editor for the Encyclopedia of Ancient Christianity. Oden's self-described 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." A prolific writer and seasoned teacher, Oden also served as the director of the Center for Early African Christianity at Eastern University in Pennsylvania, and was active in the Confessing Movement in America, particularly within the United Methodist Church.