Ecclesiology has become one of the central doctrinal loci for systematic and moral theology. Its historical origins and development, however, have been neglected. James K. Lee remedies that neglect in this beautifully written presentation of the "nature, ends, and boundaries of the church" in the early Latin theologians. He makes a persuasive case that they had a "discernible doctrine" of the church and traces its development through Tertullian, Cyprian, Augustine of Hippo, and Leo the Great. He situates ecclesiology within its historical and theological context, relating it to soteriology, pneumatology, sacraments, ethics, and more. Everyone interested in ecclesiology is in his debt for this masterful work. -- D. Stephen Long, Southern Methodist University
Theologians of the early church had profound things to say about the church and its nature. Too often, however, their insights go unnoticed because they are scattered in texts on many other topics. All the more need for a book like this by Lee that gathers together the wisdom of the most important fathers of the West on the nature of the church. -- Michael Root, The Catholic University of America
James Lee drills down into an important aspect of early Christian thought, one that impacts our very identity, what it means to be a Christian and a member of the Body of Christ, and yet one that is surprisingly missing from many studies of the period. Through the lives and writings of four Latin fathers, Lee expertly lays out the trajectory of early western ecclesiology. The Church in the Latin Fathers is thorough enough for scholars, but accessible to the non-specialist as well. Any study of ecclesiology must begin with the early Church, and for that, this book will be an indispensible resource. -- Jim L. Papandrea, Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary
