Table Of ContentThe Fathers on the Bible
This book offers an overview of how the Church Fathers used and inter-
preted biblical texts. It brings together a range of different Christian con-
fessional and social perspectives to explore the biblical basis and impact of
their thinking. The contributors cover different ages and traditions, with
each chapter focusing on a specific individual and theme. The book takes
an ecumenical approach to the relationship between the Church Fathers
and Holy Scripture and fosters a better understanding of the relationship
between Christian tradition and the Bible. It will be of interest to schol-
ars of Christian theology, the history of Christianity, biblical studies and
patristics.
Nicu Dumitras¸cu is Professor of Patristics, Mission and Ecumenism in the
Faculty of Orthodox Theology “Episcop Dr. Vasile Coman” at the Univer-
sity of Oradea, Romania. His previous book with Routledge is Basil the
Great: Faith, Mission and Diplomacy in the Shaping of Christian Doctrine
(2018).
Routledge New Critical Thinking in Religion,
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God After the Church Lost Control
Sociological Analysis and Critical-Constructive Theology
Jan-Olav Henriksen and Pål Repstad
Religion and Intersex
Perspectives from Science, Law, Culture, and Theology
Stephanie A. Budwey
Exploring Theological Paradoxes
Cyril Orji
African Churches Ministering ‘to and with’ Persons with Disabilities
Perspectives from Zimbabwe
Nomatter Sande
The Fathers on the Bible
Edited by Nicu Dumitraşcu
The Theological Imperative to Authenticity
Christy M. Capper
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The Fathers on the Bible
Edited by
Nicu Dumitras¸cu
First published 2023
by Routledge
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© 2023 selection and editorial matter, Nicu Dumitras¸cu; individual
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or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and
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British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN: 9781032209562 (hbk)
ISBN: 9781032226613 (pbk)
ISBN: 9781003273592 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781003273592
Typeset in Sabon
by codeMantra
Contents
List of contributors vii
Preface ix
NICU DUMITRAȘCU
1 St. Athanasius of Alexandria on the Interpretation of the Psalms 1
JOHN ANTHONY MCGUCKIN
2 Psalmody in the Hesychastic Tradition 13
KRZYSZTOF LEŚNIEWSKI
3 How the Latin Christians Started to Read the Book of Isaiah 34
ANNI MARIA LAATO
4 The Fathers on the Third Temptation of Jesus in Matthew 4:8–11 48
HECTOR SCERRI
5 Defending the Scriptural Legitimacy of Ousia Language:
St. Athanasius and Basil of Ancyra 60
GHEORGHE OVIDIU SFERLEA
6 Questioning St. Gregory of Nyssa’s Anthropology and
Theory of Sexuality in On the Making of Man 75
FLORIN TOADER TOMOIOAGĂ
7 Philo and Ambrose on Genesis 25 as Slavery in Passions 93
VICTOR YUDIN
8 Wealth and Power: A Personal Meditation on Luke 18:18–25
{With Short Pastoral and Patristic Comments} 110
NICU DUMITRAȘCU
vi Contents
9 “Love Whoever Hates You and Persecutes You” The
Reception of the Mount Sermon in a Fourth-Century
Anonymous Work 124
PABLO ARGÁRATE
10 Theological Principles in the Formation of the Biblical
Canon According to Athanasius’ Thirty Ninth
Paschal Letter 141
GUNNAR AF HÄLLSTRÖM
11 Augustine’s Approach to Scriptural Interpretation 153
CARL SÉAN O’BRIEN
12 The Doctrine of Love in Saint’s Gregory the Great
Commentaries on the Song of Songs 172
ADINA VOICHIȚA ROȘU
13 The Configuration of Ethos in Gregory Nazianzus’s First
Theological Oration 185
ANCA TOMOIOAGĂ
14 The Contribution of St. John Chrysostom to the
Understanding of Pauline Hamartiology 217
ȘTEFAN FLOREA
15 Between Sacrament and Vocation: Augustine’s Biblical
Teaching on Marriage and Its Influence on
Luther’s Theology 232
PIOTR KOPIEC
Index 247
Contributors
Pablo Argárate is Professor and Head of Department at the Institute for
Ecumenical Theology, Eastern Orthodoxy and Patristics at the Faculty
of Catholic Theology at the University of Graz (Austria).
Nicu Dumitras¸cu is Professor in Patristics, Mission and Ecumenism of the
Faculty of Orthodox Theology “Episcop Dr. Vasile Coman”, University
of Oradea (Romania). He currently directs the Ecumenical Patristic So-
ciety, a formal Research Association for Patristics, History and Chris-
tian Spirituality.
Ștefan Florea is Professor of Systematic Theology at the Faculty of Ortho-
dox Theology and Educational Science, “Valahia” University of Târgo-
viste (Romania).
Gunnar af Hällström is a retired Professor of Systematic Theology and Pa-
tristics at the Åbo Akademi University in Turku (Finland).
Piotr Kopiec is Professor of Ecumenical Theology in the Ecumenical Insti-
tute and Lecturer of Sociology in the Institute of Family Studies at the
John Paul II Catholic University in Lublin (Poland). He also is President
of the Theological Commission of the International Ecumenical Fellow-
ship and Secretary of the Editorial Board of “Roczniki Teologiczne”
(Annals of Theology).
Anni Maria Laato is Adjunct Professor in Dogmatics at the Åbo Akademi
University, and in Patristic Studies at the University of Helsinki. She is
also the chair of the Finnish Patristic Society.
Krzysztof Leśniewski is Professor of Orthodox Theology at the John Paul
II Catholic University of Lublin (Poland).
John Anthony McGuckin is the Nielsen Chair of Ancient Church History
Emeritus at Union Theological Seminary, and Emeritus Professor of
Byzantine Christian Studies at Columbia University in New York. He
is currently a member of Oxford University’s Theological Faculty, and
viii Contributors
directs the Sophia Institute, an International Research Centre for East-
ern Orthodox culture.
Carl Séan O’Brien is Lecturer in the Department of Philosophy, Ruprecht-
Karls-Universität Heidelberg (Germany).
Adina Voichița Roșu is Assistant Lecturer of Classical Language, and Pa-
tristics at the Faculty of Orthodox Theology “Episcop Dr. Vasile Co-
man”, University of Oradea (Romania).
Hector Scerri is Professor in Systematic Theology (Christology, sacraments
and eschatology) and Ecumenism at the University of Malta (Malta).
Gheorghe Ovidiu Sferlea is a Lecturer in Mission and Ecumenism at the
Faculty of Orthodox Theology “Episcop Dr. Vasile Coman”, University
of Oradea (Romania).
Anca Tomoioagă is a Lecturer of Romanian Literature and Romanian
Language for Foreigners at the Faculty of Letters, University of Oradea
(Romania).
Florin Toader Tomoioagă is a Lecturer in Systematic Theology at the Fac-
ulty of Orthodox Theology “Episcop Dr. Vasile Coman”, University of
Oradea (Romania).
Victor Yudin is a Lecturer in Patristics and Dogmatic Theology at H. Jo-
hannes de Theoloog College (Brussels/Ghent, Belgium) and Deacon at
St. Matthew’s Orthodox Parish (Leuven, Belgium).
Preface
The history of European culture and civilization cannot be conceived with-
out the contribution and influence of Christianity, whether we are talking
about literature, poetry, education, art or even technology. Even though,
in recent decades, the process of secularization has shifted the center of
gravity of life and culture in general, from God to man, leading the lat-
ter to believe that he could become the master of the universe, he rather
turns himself into its prisoner, because the progress of science, in all its
forms, unfortunately comes with spiritual regression. Convinced that rea-
son will allow him to rule nature and the outside world, modern man is no
longer interested in heavenly paradise, but in the construction of an earthly
paradise, which ultimately turns out to be a chimera and a source of un-
happiness. Therefore, the return to traditional Christian values and their
preeminence in the hope of regaining the spiritual balance in contemporary
society seems a recurring theme, which never loses its importance. In other
words, although for many young people today, theology is an exotic field,
fixed somewhere in time, as a relic of the past, it can always be a factor of
the permanent renewal of life and relationships between people, because
it came always with an answer to most of the problems that humanity has
faced throughout its history. And its most important representatives were,
without a doubt, the Church Fathers.
They are the champions of the interpretation of the Holy Scripture and
the transmission of its message over the ages to the present day because they
can answer, through their own experiences, the essential questions people
ask, regardless of faith, race or ethnicity, old or young, men or women.
They do not address, as was sometimes mistakenly believed, only monks,
ascetics or practicing Christians, pietists or even fundamentalists, but all
people who want to discover (or rediscover) their vocation as “imitators”
of Christ. They contributed, through their faith, eloquence and sacrifice,
to the correct understanding of the Old Testament’s relation with the New
Testament and the fulfillment and continuity of the former into the lat-
ter, to the establishment of Christian spirituality in a world permanently
marked by crises and confrontations which turned it away from God, the
