This volume concerns the development and formation of the Christian teachings during ancient times, in the Old Church of the West and East as well during the Middle Ages. This represents a section of the history of Church dogmas and theology which was fundamental or at least vital to the overall history of the Church. This period in time was of particular importance to those Byzantine Orthodox Churches and the various Eastern Orthodox Churches that recognize only two or three of the seven ecumenical councils otherwise valid for the Byzantine Orthodox Church. This is also the case, albeit in a different way, for the Roman-Catholic and the Anglican Churches. And it was fundamental to the Reformation, particular Lutheranism. Thus, the original title of this volume is rightly chosen since the authors do describe the "Development of Christian Teachings in the Framework of Catholicity."A special feature of this volume lies in its description of the interactions between the history of Church dogmas and Church theology. It also follows the historical events and comments on particularly important juxtapositions that are of general interest, instead of approaching the material longitudinally by depicting the path in the light of our modern standpoint, resulting in extensive introductions to the individual elements of dogmatics. In this sense, this volume represents an invaluable and unrivalled handbook for Germany and elsewhere.

Dr. Adolf Martin Ritter ist em. Professor für Historische Theologie (Patristik) an der Theologischen Fakultät der Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg.Dr. Ekkehard Mühlenberg ist Professor für Kirchengeschichte in Göttingen.Martin Anton Schmidt war ein Kirchenhistoriker.Carl Andresen war Professor für Kirchenschichte an der Universität Göttingen und beschäftigte sich mit der christlichen Archäologie.

Bearbeitet von Adolf Martin Ritter