The Cambridge Edition of Early Christian Writings, Volume 1: God ed. by Andrew Radde-Gallwitz, and: The Cambridge Edition of Early Christian Writings, Volume 2: Practice ed. by Ellen Muehlberger (review)

The first two of six volumes in the highly-anticipated Cambridge Edition of Early Christian Writings have arrived, to much fanfare. Series editors Andrew Radde-Gallwitz, Mark DelCogliano, Ellen Muehlberger, and Bradley K. Storin have only been collaborating since 2012 to produce the series, and though there does not appear to be a timeline for the remaining volumes, their efforts, with those of each volume's contributors, are beyond commendable. These compendia feature new or newer translations of selected texts from c.100 ce to c. 650 ce, and in many cases include works previously untranslated into English. Further, these texts are not limited to the usual Greek or Latin heavy hitters, but several from the Syriac and Coptic traditions are included. Each translation is accompanied by a short but helpful introduction that orients the reader to the author and work's historical context. Each also clearly indicates which critical edition of the source the translation is based upon.

It must be stated upfront that a large number of these texts are excerpted. In Volume 1, twelve of the twenty-five sources are presented in their entirety, and in Volume 2, thirteen of twenty-four—though in both cases these numbers depend on how selected letters are counted. This is understandable due to the aim of the series to represent as many voices as possible, and to the practical element of the sheer length of many of these original sources. Thus, disappointment primarily comes from a desire to have the entirety of the previously untranslated texts readily accessible to English readers, and is multiplied by the quality of the translations themselves, which is consistently masterful.

One of the most significant features of these volumes is that they are broadly organized thematically. As the editors explain in the series introduction in Volume 1, the themes chosen—God, Practice, Christ, Community, Reading, and Creation—"allow the reader to understand early Christianity in its full intellectual, practical, ritual, and communal diversity" (xiii). The major task of the series is to produce an unbiased selection of texts that represent the diverse narrative of Christianity's development in the first six centuries of its existence; thus works that have previously been deemed "heretical" are presented alongside the "orthodox."

Volume 1, edited by Radde-Gallwitz, takes a chronological-thematic approach to the general category of "God." Radde-Gallwitz divides the included works into three periods, ca. 150–300, 300–400, and 400–ca. 570, in order to best demonstrate the emergence of and shaping of Christian ideas about God. The first group of texts is primarily linked by their anti-Marcionite focus, and though nothing particularly new is presented with the choice of selections by Ptolemy, Irenaeus, Tertullian, Hippolytus, and Origen, the translations are refreshing. Muehlberger's work with the fourth-century Coptic transmission of the second-century Gospel of Truth is the star of this section; it is a highly-readable, well-footnoted translation of an enigmatic text. The second section highlights works from the volatile fourth century, drawing from East and West, and features conciliar documents, works by the well-known "champions" of orthodoxy, as well as surviving texts by Arius and Eunomius. The introductions are key to all these selections, as the tumultuous conciliar activity of this century is nearly as confusing to specialists as to nonspecialists. Many of the texts themselves present their own challenges: DelCogliano's work on just a small section of Hilary of Poitiers' On the Trinity is worth highlighting, as Hilary's Latin is, at times, completely inscrutable. The final section of this volume features a handful of figures from the fifth and...