A Review of History of Early Church and Patristics

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Periodical of Early Christian Studies 10.three (2002) 423-424

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[Admission article in PDF]

Book Review

Life and Practice in the Early Church:
A Documentary Reader

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Steven A. McKinion. Life and Do in the Early on Church: A Documentary Reader . New York and London: New York University Press, 2001. Pp. 200. $55.00 (cloth); $18.50 (paper).

In this volume Steven McKinion provides texts selected from the stop of the first century C.E. to the fifth century that describe "life and practice in the patristic period" (one). The piece of work consists of a short introduction, vi chapters, ane page of endnotes, and an index. McKinion himself is an associate professor of church building history at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Woods, South Carolina. He is also an ordained Southern Baptist minister.

By far, the most distinctive aspect of the book is its construction. McKinion writes in his introduction that almost one-volume collections of patristic documents are organized doctrinally, focusing on the evolution of detail theological ideas and dogma (1). In contrast to these works, he wants to demonstrate how early on believers "did church" (1). Accordingly, McKinion organizes his book around the story of life in the early on church. The starting time chapter contains documents that focus on baptism, specifically the qualities required of a catechumen, and descriptions of the ceremony. The second chapter, which deals with early Christian worship, sets the theme for the tertiary and fourth capacity, which contain documents that describe and address questions most the liturgies of the give-and-take and the eucharist respectively. Afterward a chapter on evangelism, McKinion closes with a department on the evolution of church offices. [End Page 423]

Each selection includes an introduction by the writer which provides some historical context. The selections embrace a broad range of writers including Justin Martyr, Tertullian, Cyril of Jerusalem, the Cappadocians, John Chrysostom, and Augustine. Though McKinion uses translations already published in the dues-Nicene Fathers and Nicene and post-Nicene Fathers serial, he indicates that for the sake of clarity, he has slightly contradistinct some of these renderings by "dearchaizing vocabulary . . . and polishing some of the syntax" (2). In other places, he notes that it was necessary to replace an "inadequate translation" (2). Sadly, these places are not marked in the text. Thus, one glaring weakness in the volume is its lack of documentation. Likewise, an index of passages would have been helpful; the only fashion to find out what is in the volume is by flipping pages.

McKinion argues in his introduction that all as well frequently patristic anthologies strive to exist all things to all peoples (ane). The value of his work, on the other hand, rests in its focus: he wants to tell the story of the life of early Christians with all of the diversity of opinions which that life includes. What McKinion has succeeded in producing hither is theology "from the ground upwardly," and but as at that place was diverse opinion over eligibility requirements for baptism in the early church, so, too, there is diversity of opinion about this approach. Every bit a work intended for students, both graduate and undergraduate, as well as for pastors and laity, this book could be an adequate reader for a patristic course seeking to study pop practise in early on Christianity. Notwithstanding, if the same class were structured around doctrine, this would not be the book to use.

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Carl F. Baechle
Fordham University

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Source: https://muse.jhu.edu/article/10271

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