The Ancient Witnesses

Preface & Acknowledgments • 11

documentation can judge for themselves how well I’ve represented these ancient sources. Not everyone who contributed to the historical development of Nicene Orthodoxy came to be known as a Church Father. The concept of Ancient Witnesses is broad enough to include others such as Tertullian of Carthage and Origen of Alexandria who made significant contributions though their legacies are controversial. The arrangement of the book follows the theological framework—“From Before to Beyond Time”—described in Dr. Davis’s Sacred Roots . Each chapter unpacks select quotations from the ancient witnesses in relation to the “economy” (to use a favorite term of the fathers) or theme of each time period. In Chapter 1, “A Journey to Nicaea,” readers are introduced to the modern- day pastors-in-training on a tour of ancient Eastern Christianity. In Chapter 2, “Before Time,” the pastors encounter the development of the doctrine of the Holy Trinity. In Chapter 3, “The Beginning of Time,” they sample the fathers’ views on Creation and the Fall. In Chapters 4 and 5, “The Unfolding of Time,” they hear the fathers’ comments on several Old Testament themes, including the Promise (Patriarchs), the Exodus and Covenant at Sinai, the Promised Land, the City, Temple, and Throne, the Exile, and the Remnant. 3 In Chapter 6, “The Fullness of Time,” they listen as the fathers exegete the Gospels, and in Chapter 7 “The Last Times,” Acts and the Epistles. In Chapter 8, “The Fulfillment of Time,” the pastors ask the fathers questions about the afterlife and hear answers based on 1 Thessalonians and Revelation. In Chapter 9, “Beyond Time,” the journey comes to close as the stage is set for a potential future adventure.

3 Here and elsewhere in the book, I draw on Susanne de Dietrich’s, God’s Unfolding Purpose (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1960).