The Christian Tradition: A History of the Development of Doctrine, Volume… (1971)

I don't think that the English language has a word that is sufficient to describing just how excellent this book is. Every Christian and, really, every non-Christian should have to read this book. Pelikan describes in a good amount of detail, but in a nonetheless very approachable and readable manner, the development of doctrine from the close of the Apostolic era through to the time of St. Augustine, St. Gregory the Great, and the Fifth Ecumenical Council, hinting at the developments of both East and West slightly beyond. His approach is wide and his views are always fair and balanced. A very helpful feature of the book is the sidenote approach where, rather than in-text citations, footnotes, and endnotes, Pelikan instead lists the sources of his quotations and summaries to the side of where they are given. I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the books in this series. I cannot recommend enough reading this book, no matter your own personal doctrinal or non-doctrinal views. ( )

Quite a complete presentation of early Christian doctrines. The focus of this book is really purely doctrinal, so there's not even a mention of how the church developed as an institution in Roman society. The discussion of the relationship between Christian doctrine and Greek philosophy was of particular interest to me.

I sued to have the whole series and I traded it in for lawn furniture. He is dead like the rest of us will be soon enough but made his way toOrthodoxy.

An excellent and commanding work on the development of doctrines within early catholicism from 100-600. The book is rather advanced and presupposes a healthy knowledge of theological concepts and the Greek language. Nevertheless, Pelikan provides a balanced perspective of the challenges that faced the early Christians in their formulations of their beliefs. A great resource. ( )

I'll be honest when I say that I didn't read the whole book and I understood little of what I did read. Some of it was very intruiging, but it is one of those books where you need a dictionary next to you the entire time. ( )