Abstract

The contribution stresses the many strengths of this rich volume, which provides far more than its title suggests: by dividing the last section of the Creed into its individual articles and commenting on them, the author is able to depict the history of many features of early Christianity, from both doctrinal and practical perspectives. Ecclesiology, baptismal theology and practice, and eschatology are the central themes, but several observations on the most diverse aspects of the doctrinal, institutional, literary history of ancient Christianity converge in the reconstruction of a comprehensive picture of the first eight centuries. At the same time some methodological problems of the volume are presented and discussed.