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God Visible: Patristic Christology Reconsidered considers the early development and reception of what is today the most widely professed Christian conception of Christ. The development of this doctrine admits of wide variations in expression and understanding, varying emphases in interpretation that are as striking in authors of the first millennium as they are among modern writers. The seven early ecumenical councils and their dogmatic formulations are
crucial way-stations in defining the shape of this study. Brian E. Daley argues that the scope of previous enquiries, which focused on the declaration of the Council of Chalcedon in AD 451 that Christ was one Person in two natures, the Divine of the same substance as the Father, and the human of the same
substance as us, now seems excessively narrow and distorts our understanding. Daley sets aside the Chalcedonian formula and instead considers what some major Church Fathers-from Irenaeus to John Damascene-say about the person of Christ.
About the author
Brian E. Daley, SJ, is Catherine F. Huisking Professor of Theology at the University of Notre Dame. He is a historical theologian, who specializes in the study of the early Church, particularly the development of Christian doctrine from the fourth to the eighth centuries. His publications include Light on the Mountain: Greek Patristic and Byzantine Homilies on the Transfiguration of the Lord (St Vladimir's Seminary Press, 2013) and Hope of the Early Church: A Handbook of Patristic Eschatology (Baker, 2002). In 2014, he co-edited The Harp of Prophecy: Early Christian Interpretation of the Psalms with Paul R. Kolbet (University of Notre Dame Press, 2014).
Summary
This study is a reflection on the development and formulation of Christology in the first eight centuries of Christian theology.
Additional text
This book appears in a series designed to re-examine the paradigms and presuppositions that have guided the historians of Christian thought. It is successful in fulfilling that objective. This is not just a work for scholars but for any Christian with an interest in how the church has understood the person of Christ.
