Early Christian Theology: A History (J. Warren Smith) - A Review
Much of what Christians affirm as
standard theology emerged during the first five to seven centuries of the
church's existence. This is the era in which the ecumenical creeds emerged,
defining what continues to be “orthodox” trinitarian theology. In many ways,
the fourth century proved to be the turning point for the Christian movement,
both because the Roman Empire essentially adopted Christianity as its official
religion and because the Councils of Nicaea and Constantinople, both of which
were called by Roman emperors, proved to have lasting influence. Nevertheless,
there was much more theological work to be done in the coming centuries,
especially when it came to Christology. Therefore,
getting a handle on this period is essential for a full understanding of the
Christian faith. The good news is that we
have resources that can help us walk through these important centuries of
theological development.
Among the most recent and
up-to-date resources to emerge is J. Warren Smith’s Early Christian Theology: A History. Smith is professor of historical theology at Duke
Divinity School and author of books focused on Augustine, Ambrose, and Gregory
of Nyssa. As someone trained as a historical theologian, I welcome this
contribution. Smith points out that the subtitle of this extensive volume, “A
History,” is important because, while it deals with historical theology, which
is his calling, it is first and foremost a work of history. In making this
point, he shares that "it offers an account of what various authors from
classical antiquity to the eighth century AD wrote and how I understand what
they meant" (p. 1). With this book, which is surprisingly accessible (that
is, though it's not written as a popular history, a general reader can benefit
from it), he seeks to offer the reader a history of Christian theology as
accurately as he can. That said, he recognizes that this is not a purely
objective account, since what he shares with us is what he believes are the
most important developments of the period. Other scholars might have a
different set of important developments, but he covers all the major bases.
Smith's history of early Christian
theology is laid out in fourteen chapters. He begins with a chapter titled
"The Foundation: Church, Doxology, Scripture, and Pagan Wisdom." As
the subtitle reveals, this chapter provides the foundational elements on which
early Christian theology emerged and developed. The inclusion of “pagan wisdom”
is important because early Christian theologians borrowed heavily from cultural
and philosophical works to develop more fully a Christian theology that would
make sense to the people whom early Christians sought to reach. Therefore, for
me, that last element in his foundation piece might be the most important
element of that first chapter since it deals with the "Wisdom and Rhetoric
of Classical Culture." If we do not have a handle on Greek and Roman
philosophy, we will be at a loss going forward.
The methodology that Smith uses in
laying out his history of early Christian theology combines both chronology and
thematic development. Therefore, he titles the second chapter
"Persecution, Apologetics, and Polemics: From Justin Martyr to
Augustine." Even as the first chapter lays a foundation for the subsequent
discussion, this chapter lays down a second layer that helps us understand the critical
context in which early Christian theology developed from the second through the
early fifth centuries. This was an era of great creativity as early Christians,
including people like Irenaeus, Origen, Tertullian, Athanasius, the
Cappadocians, Augustine, Ambrose, and Cyril of Alexandria, to name but a few of
the important theologians and church leaders of that period, wrestled with
their scriptural inheritance in the context of a largely unfriendly world.
After Smith lays out these
foundational chapters, he begins to address specific doctrinal developments, starting
with a discussion of the creation and fall of humanity (Chapter 3). He follows
up this chapter with one dealing with the important Christological developments
that took place before Nicaea. In this chapter (Chapter 4), which focuses on
the second and third centuries, we encounter Philo, Justin Martyr, Marcion, the
Gnostics, Irenaeus, along with Syriac Christological developments, the rise of
Monarchianism, Tertullian's trinitarian developments, and Origen's important
theological work, which would influence later developments. Chapter 5 focuses
on the important developments of the fourth century, with discussions of the
major players at Nicaea and its aftermath, including Arius, Alexander of Alexandria,
Athanasius, and various mediating positions. In Chapter 6, Smith focuses on the
triumph of trinitarian theology, taking note of the work of the Cappadocians along with Ambrose and Augustine.
It is in this chapter that Smith demonstrates how these theologians, among
others, fine-tuned what became Nicaean
orthodoxy.
Although the debates of the fourth
century focused on developing a trinitarian theology that affirmed the divinity
of Christ, it was also a period in which pneumatology came to the fore (note
the difference in what was said of the Holy Spirit in the original creed of
Nicaea and what emerged at Constantinople half a century later). While the Holy
Spirit was something of an afterthought in the creed of Nicaea, due to the
efforts of Basil of Caesarea and the other Cappadocians, by the time the
bishops gathered at Constantinople, the Holy Spirit finally received the
attention the Spirit required (Chapter 7). While Constantinople seemed to set
in place an agreeable trinitarian theology, there was much more to do,
especially when it came to Christology. With that in mind, in Chapter 8, Smith
focuses his attention on "The Word Made Flesh: Theologies of the
Incarnation, Fourth-Eighth Centuries." In this chapter, which begins with
the responses of the Cappadocians to Apollinaris (who was in many ways a
successor to Athanasius), we see how the debates emerged during this period
concerning questions about how to bring together the church’s confession that
Jesus was fully human and fully divine. As Smith shows us, the leaders of the
churches couldn’t come to complete unity on this matter. This was the era
during which the councils of Ephesus and Chalcedon, among others, sought to
come to some kind of agreement as to how Jesus could be fully human and divine.
Among the important theologians who participated in these conversations were Cyril
of Alexandria, Nestorius, Maximus the Confessor, and John of Damascus. Smith
writes that “The challenge was the same for all these writers: how to describe
this union of divinity and humanity in a way that explained the saving work of
the divine Logos without compromising the very divinity that enabled Jesus’s
ministrations then and in the present to be redemptive of passible and mortal
humanity” (pp. 375-376). Subsequent chapters explore the various atonement theories
that emerged during these early centuries (Chapter 9), ecclesiology in North
Africa, with a focus on Augustine vs. the Donatists (Chapter 10), Creation and the
problem of evil, with a focus again on Augustine and North Africa (Chapter 11),
questions about free will, grace and election, from Origen to Augustine
(chapter 12), a discussion of deification, monasticism, and mysticism (chapter
13), and finally, in chapter 14, a discussion of eschatology, from the early
martyrs to the discussions of the restoration of all things. All in all, he
covers all the theological bases, making sense of the major developments during
this period of theological creativity.
Since this is intended to be an
introductory history of early Christian theology, Smith helpfully provides at
the end of each chapter a reading list of both primary and secondary sources,
so that readers can follow up on the discussion. Smith has fulfilled his
purpose in offering the reader a history of early Christian theology,
pointing us to the key figures and doctrines. Since this is intended to be a
history of theology, you will not find a full history of the development of the
Christian movement in this volume, except as they provide a context for
doctrinal developments. Therefore, while he discusses ecclesiology as a
theological concept, he does not address questions of polity. He also doesn’t
focus on important social issues. It is not that these are not important, but
they are not his focus.
It is important to remember that the
things we believe about God, Jesus, the Trinity, and the future all have
a historical context. Through the centuries, Christians have attempted to jump
back over time to the first century, skipping all the developments that took
place in the intervening years, believing that in so doing, they can rid the
church of things they believe distort the faith. It is good to go back to the
beginning to see what the earliest Christians believed and how they lived their
faith, but we can’t ignore those historical developments that led to the faith
we have received. So, as one who believes that historical knowledge is
important if we’re going to truly understand our faith, I appreciate works like
this. At first glance, it might not seem that practical, but if we dig deeper,
we’ll discover how history has formed us. We may want to rid ourselves of some
of the things that have emerged over time, but we will still be a product of
the history of Christian theology. Therefore, as someone who has advanced
training in church history, I can say that I was very impressed by what I found
in J. Warren Smith’s Early Christian Theology: A History. I especially recommend
it to my clergy colleagues as a book to be consulted regularly for historical
and theological background.
Copies of Early Christian Theology: A History can be purchased at your favorite retailer, including my Amazon affiliate and my Bookshop.org affiliate.
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