Sara Parvis | |
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Born | Sara Dudley Edwards [1] Aberdeen, Scotland |
Spouse | Paul Parvis [1] |
Parent(s) | Owen Dudley Edwards [1] Bonnie Dudley Edwards |
Academic background | |
Education | St Hilda's College, Oxford (BA) University of Edinburgh (PhD) |
Thesis | Marcellus of Ancyra and the Arian controversy: a bishop in context (2002) |
Doctoral advisor | David F. Wright, John Stuart Richardson |
Other advisors | Jane Dawson, Stewart J. Brown, Denis Minns O.P., Maurice Wiles |
Academic work | |
Institutions | University of Edinburgh |
Sara Parvis is a British Patristic scholar and Senior Lecturer in Patristics at the University of Edinburgh. She is known for her works on early Christianity. [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11]
Arianism is a Christological doctrine considered heretical by all mainstream branches of Christianity. It is first attributed to Arius,a Christian presbyter who preached and studied in Alexandria,Egypt. Arian theology holds that Jesus Christ is the Son of God,who was begotten by God the Father with the difference that the Son of God did not always exist but was begotten/made before "time" by God the Father;therefore,Jesus was not coeternal with God the Father,but nonetheless Jesus began to exist outside time as time applies only to the creations of God.
The First Council of Nicaea was a council of Christian bishops convened in the Bithynian city of Nicaea by the Roman Emperor Constantine I. “The Council of Nicaea met from May to the end of July 325.”
Irenaeus was a Greek bishop noted for his role in guiding and expanding Christian communities in the southern regions of present-day France and,more widely,for the development of Christian theology by combating heterodox or Gnostic interpretations of Scripture as heresy and defining proto-orthodoxy. Originating from Smyrna,he had seen and heard the preaching of Polycarp,who in turn was said to have heard John the Evangelist,and thus was the last-known living connection with the Apostles.
Polycarp was a Christian bishop of Smyrna. According to the Martyrdom of Polycarp,he died a martyr,bound and burned at the stake,then stabbed when the fire failed to consume his body. Polycarp is regarded as a saint and Church Father in the Catholic,Eastern Orthodox,Oriental Orthodox,Anglican,and Lutheran churches.
Valentinus was the best known and,for a time,most successful early Christian Gnostic theologian. He founded his school in Rome. According to Tertullian,Valentinus was a candidate for bishop but started his own group when another was chosen.
The Councils of Sirmium were the five episcopal councils held in Sirmium in 347,351,357,358 and finally in 375 or 378. The third—the most important of the councils—marked a temporary compromise between Arianism and the Western bishops of the Christian church. At least two of the other councils also dealt primarily with the Arian controversy. All of these councils were held under the rule of Constantius II,who was sympathetic to the Arians.
Marcellus of Ancyra was a Bishop of Ancyra and one of the bishops present at the Council of Ancyra and the First Council of Nicaea. He was a strong opponent of Arianism,but was accused of adopting the opposite extreme of modified Sabellianism. He was condemned by a council of his enemies and expelled from his see,though he was able to return there to live quietly with a small congregation in the last years of his life. He is also said to have destroyed the temple of Zeus Belos at Apamea.
Homoiousios is a Christian theological term,coined in the 4th century to identify a distinct group of Christian theologians who held the belief that God the Son was of a similar,but not identical,essence with God the Father.
The Old Roman Symbol,or Old Roman Creed,is an earlier and shorter version of the Apostles’Creed. It was based on the 2nd-century Rule of Faith and the interrogatory declaration of faith for those receiving Baptism,which by the 4th century was everywhere tripartite in structure,following Matthew 28:19,which is part of the Great Commission.
Subordinationism is a Trinitarian doctrine wherein the Son is subordinate to the Father,not only in submission and role,but with actual ontological subordination to varying degrees. It posits a hierarchical ranking of the persons of the Trinity,implying ontological subordination of the persons of the Son and the Holy Spirit. It was condemned as heretical in the Second Council of Constantinople.
The doctrine of the Trinity,considered the core of Christian theology by Trinitarians,is the result of continuous exploration by the church of the biblical data,thrashed out in debate and treatises,eventually formulated at the First Council of Nicaea in AD 325 in a way they believe is consistent with the biblical witness,and further refined in later councils and writings. The most widely recognized Biblical foundations for the doctrine's formulation are in the Gospel of John,which possess ideas reflected in Platonism and Greek philosophy.
The First Apology was an early work of Christian apologetics addressed by Justin Martyr to the Roman Emperor Antoninus Pius. In addition to arguing against the persecution of individuals solely for being Christian,Justin also provides the Emperor with a defense of the philosophy of Christianity and a detailed explanation of contemporary Christian practices and rituals. This work,along with the Second Apology,has been cited as one of the earliest examples of Christian apology,and many scholars attribute this work to creating a new genre of apology out of what was a typical Roman administrative procedure.
The Arian controversy was a series of Christian disputes about the nature of Christ that began with a dispute between Arius and Athanasius of Alexandria,two Christian theologians from Alexandria,Egypt. The most important of these controversies concerned the relationship between the substance of God the Father and the substance of His Son.
The Melitians,sometimes called the Church of the Martyrs,were an early Christian sect in Egypt. They were founded about 306 by Bishop Melitius of Lycopolis and survived as a small group into the eighth century. The point on which they broke with the larger Catholic church was the same as that of the contemporary Donatists in the province of Africa:the ease with which lapsed Christians were received back into communion. The resultant division in the church of Egypt is known as the Melitian schism.
Christianity in the ante-Nicene period was the time in Christian history up to the First Council of Nicaea. This article covers the period following the Apostolic Age of the first century,c. 100 AD,to Nicaea in 325 AD.
Flavius Ablabius or Ablavius was a high official of the Roman Empire and contemporary of Emperor Constantine I. and tutor to his son,Constantius II.
The Church Fathers,Early Church Fathers,Christian Fathers,or Fathers of the Church were ancient and influential Christian theologians and writers who established the intellectual and doctrinal foundations of Christianity. The historical period in which they worked became known as the Patristic Era and spans approximately from the late 1st to mid-8th centuries,flourishing in particular during the 4th and 5th centuries,when Christianity was in the process of establishing itself as the state church of the Roman Empire.
Hermeneutics is the theory and methodology of interpretation. The tradition of Western hermeneutics starts in the writings of Aristotle and continues to the modern era.
Paul Parvis is a British Patristic scholar and Lecturer in Patristics at the University of Edinburgh. He is known for his works on early Christianity. He was Regent of Studies and head of Blackfriars College up to 1998.