Nicene and Post-nicene Fathers: First Series, Volume II St. Augustine: City of God, Christian Doctrine

Jacket Description/Back: The English reader has now, in the first three volumes of this Library, a complete collection of the historical writings of the Fathers, whose permanent value, as sources, is universally acknowledged. Several of them have never before appeared in English. The unavoidable delay in the publication of the third volume has been very annoying to the general editors and publishers, but the subscribers will be amply compensated by the addition of the writings of Rufinus, which were not promised in the prospectus. It is encouraging that this difficult and costly enterprise is beginning to be duly appreciated by competent judges on both sides of the Atlantic. Publisher Marketing: "The Council of Nicaea in 325 AD marked the beginning of a new era in Christianity. For the first time, doctrines were organized into a single creed. The Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers did most of their writing during and after this important event in Church history. Unlike the previous era of Christian writing, the Nicene and Post-Nicene era is dominated by a few very important and prolific writers. In Volume II of the 14-volume collected writings of the Nicenes and Post-Nicenes (first published between 1886 and 1889), readers will discover one of Augustine s masterworks: City of God. In this groundbreaking work, Augustine proposes a philosophy that sees history as having a purpose and direction. Coming at a time when Roman civilization was failing, this work argued that Romans could find comfort in Christianity because all of history was merely a struggle between the City of God (believers) and the City of Man (nonbelievers). Should Romans put their faith in the City of God, even their declining civilization should cause them no grief. Even though it was written at a very particular time in history, City of God appeals to all Christians seeking inspiration to continue their religious practice.""

Contributor Bio:  Schaff, Philip Authors: John Williamson Nevin (1803-1886), and Philip Schaff (1819-1893) were professors at Mercersburg Seminary of the German Reformed Church, Nevin being among the leading American Protestant theologians of his day and Schaff quickly rising to become the nineteenth century's premier church historian. Daniel Gans (1822-1903) was a pupil of theirs and later German Reformed minister and writer. Editor: William B. Evans is the Younts Professor of Bible and Religion at Erskine College in South Carolina. The author of Imputation and Impartation: Union with Christ in American Reformed Theology (Paternoster, 2008), he has also written numerous articles on Reformed Christology, ecclesiology, and the Mercersburg theology. General Editor: W. Bradford Littlejohn is President of the Davenant Trust and the author of The Mercersburg Theology and the Quest for Reformed Catholicity (Pickwick, 2009), as well as two forthcoming books and several articles on Richard Hooker and the English Reformation.