Faith and Love in Ignatius of Antioch

Faith is the beginning of life love is the end. All things together are good if you believe with love. Faith and love are everything. Nothing is better than them. In his seven letters Ignatius of Antioch puts the concepts of faith and love side by side in novel and gripping combinations. Olavi Tarvainen illuminates Ignatiuss terse statements in this close study of his letters. In doing so he sheds new light on an understudied theme in early Christianity. Yet he moves beyond the question of what these words collectively mean to ask how Ignatius employs them individually. By doing so faith and love become a new lens through which to view the entire scope of Ignatiuss theology in fresh and exciting ways. The letters of Ignatius of Antioch are an ever-fresh source of inspiration for Christians and scholars of the early church. The themes of faith and love that he integrated and taught to his flock are central to our understanding of how the Gospel was proclaimed and received in the apostolic and post-apostolic period and this important study finally published in English after half a century will open our eyes to a witness that has too often been neglected. --Gerald Bray Research Professor of Divinity Beeson Divinity School In this clear and insightful book Olavi Tarvainen uses faith and love as lenses through which to view the major facets of Ignatiuss theology. The result is a lively and readable exposition of what Ignatius says about such key themes as right belief unity prayer justification humility mutual love and ethics. We owe a debt of gratitude to the translator Jonathon Lookadoo for bringing this gem of scholarship to a wider readership. --Paul Trebilco Professor Department of Theology and Religion University of Otago Dunedin New Zealand This new issue in translation of Tarvainens remarkable book published in 1967 is most welcome and is a distinctive evangelical contribution to Patristic studies. Whilst in no way neglecting historico-critical issues of background and authorship the author focuses on faith and love in Ignatius in the light of Pauline and Johannine theology. A most welcome re-adjustment of focus in Ignatian studies. --Allen Brent MA DD (Cantab) Professor of Early Christian History and Iconography Kings College London; Professore Invitato Augustinianum Lateran University Rome Fifty years ago Olavi Tarvainen penned a masterful little treatise on the thought of Ignatius of Antioch in his native Finnish and had it published in German. Writing within the Lutheran tradition but with an ecumenical outlook Tarvainen convincingly demonstrates that the various elements of Ignatiuss theology cohere around the core principles of faith and love. Jonathon Lookadoos able translation now makes this valuable study available to an English-speaking audience. --Gregory R. Vall Professor of Scripture Notre Dame Seminary Olavi Tarvainen was a Finnish church historian who studied Ignatius of Antioch Martin Luther and Finnish revivalism. Jonathon Lookadoo is a PhD student at the University of Otago who studies Ignatius of Antioch and early Christianity.