‘And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, [the risen Jesus] interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself’ (Lk 24:27).The church fathers mined the Old Testament throughout for prophetic utterances regarding the Messiah, but few books yielded as much messianic ore as the Twelve Prophets, sometimes known as the Minor Prophets because of the relative brevity of their writings. Encouraged by the example of the New Testament writers, the church fathers found numerous parallels between the Gospels and the prophetic books. Among the events foretold, they found not only the flight into Egypt after the nativity, the passion, and resurrection of Christ, and the outpouring of the Spirit at Pentecost, but also Judas's act of betrayal, the earthquake at Jesus' death and the rending of the temple veil. Detail upon detail brimmed with significance for Christian doctrine, including baptism and the Eucharist as well as the relation between the covenants.In this rich and vital resource you will find excerpts, some translated here into English for the first time, from more than thirty church fathers, ranging in time from Clement of Rome, Justin Martyr, and Irenaeus (late first and early second centuries) to Gregory the Great, Braulio of Saragossa, and Bede the Venerable (late sixth to early eighth centuries). Geographically the sources range from the great Cappadocians—Basil the Great, Gregory of Nazianzus, Gregory of Nyssa—John Chrysostom, Ephrem the Syrian, and Hippolytus in the East, to Ambrose, Augustine, Cyprian, and Tertullian in the West, and Origen, Cyril, and Pachomius in Egypt.This Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture volume is a treasure trove out of which Christians may bring riches both old and new in their understanding of these ancient texts.
Table of Content
General Introduction
A Guide to Using This Commentary
Abbreviations
Introduction to the Twelve Prophets
Commentary on Hosea
Commentary on Joel
Commentary on Amos
Commentary on Obadiah
Commentary on Jonah
Commentary on Micah
Commentary on Nahum
Commentary on Habakkuk
Commentary on Zephaniah
Commentary on Haggai
Commentary on Zechariah
Commentary on Malachi
Appendix: Early Christian Writers and the Documents Cited
Biographical Sketches
Timeline of Writers of the Patristic Period
Bibliography of Works in Original Languages
Bibliography of Works in English Translation
Author/Writings Index
Subject Index
Scripture Index
About the author
Thomas C. Oden (1931–2016) was the general editor of the Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture and the Ancient Christian Doctrine series as well as the author of Classic Christianity, a revision of his three-volume systematic theology. His books also include The African Memory of Mark, Early Libyan Christianity, and How Africa Shaped the Christian Mind. He wasthe director of the Center for Early African Christianity at Eastern University in Pennsylvania and he also served as the Henry Anson Buttz Professor of Theology at the Graduate School and The Theological School of Drew University in Madison, New Jersey.