Early Church Documents: B


  • Bacon, Roger, English Franciscan friar, philosopher, and scientist, (XIII Century):
    • Opus Majus (Part Four only): About geography, ethnology, and the usefulness of studying these subjects -- e.g. if we knew the exact wherabouts of those barbarian hordes locked up behind miraculous walls by Alexander the Great until the time of Antichrist, we could check on the walls to see if they're still in good repair. Draft Howe translation, © 1996. --- Univ. of Wisconsin
    • Works of disputed authorship:
  • Bar-Daisan, Syrian Christian (semi-Gnostic) philosopher:
    • Teachings of Bardesan, from The Book of the Laws of Divers Countries: Apparently from an ancient source, but no details given. A treatise on the triumph of free will over both fate and nature, illustrated with anthropological examples from lands as remote as Britain and the Far East. Also presents a "scientific" argument that the world can last only 6000 years. --- NA
    • Secondary sources:
      • Ephraim of Syria: A Hymn Against Bar-Daisan: God is everywhere and fills all things; everything else -- in particular, Fire -- is merely created, and not pre-existent as Bar-Daisan must have argued. Jones translation, 1904. --- SPL
  • Barlaam the Hermit of Ethiopia or Great India, (IV Century?):
  • Basil the Great, Bishop of Cæsarea, Cappadocian Orthodox theologian, (IV Century):
    • Canons: Schaff-Wace translation. --- CCEL
    • Epistles:
      • Complete collection. Translator not given. --- NA
      • Second Epistle: In praise of the monastic way of life. Newman-Jackson translation. --- SPL
      • Seventh Epistle A personal letter to Gregory the Theologian in which Basil asserts that he is less suited than Gregory to the task of defending Orthodoxy. Jackson translation. --- SPL
      • Eighth Epistle Ostensibly a justification of Basil's withdrawing into the country to meditate, this is is one of the finest Orthodox expositions of the Trinity to emerge from the Arian crisis. However, since the 1920s, most scholars have attributed this work to Evagrius Ponticus, a controversial disciple of Basil and Gregory the Theologian whose Origenistic speculations (in other writings) were condemned by the Fifth Ecumenical Council. The Greek manuscripts themselves, however, ascribe the epistle to Basil. Jackson translation. --- SPL
      • Two-hundred Thirty-fourth Epistle: Teaches that God's essence is unknowable. This is one of the key documents of Orthodox apophatic theology. Jackson translation. --- SPL
    • The Hexæmeron: A commentary on the creation story in Genesis, also illustrating Basil's views on science and its relationship to theology. --- NA
    • On the Holy Spirit: One of the first detailed theological treatments of the Third Person of the Trinity. --- NA
    • Secondary sources:
  • Bede the Venerable, English abbot, historian, and astronomer (VII/VIII Centuries):
  • Beguines, radical Christian dissidents of the Middle Ages:
  • Benedict XII, Pope of Rome, (XIII/XIV Centuries):
    • Benedictus Deus: Defining the later Western conception of the Beatific Vision, asserts that the saints behold God's essence directly. --- Apana
  • Benedict of Nursia, Italian monastic leader, (V/VI Centuries):
  • Benne, Conrad, German deacon and monastic, (XV Century):
  • Berceo, Gonzalo de, Spanish poet, (XIII Century):
  • Bernard of Clairvaux, French Cistercian monastic, (XII Century):
    • On Loving God: A famous treatise on divine and human love. Translator not indicated. --- CCEL
    • In Praise of the New Knighthood Bernard had a vision of Christian chivalry which he hoped would be embodied in the Knights Templar. Translated by Conrad Greenia, 1977. --- ORB
  • Berthold of Micy, Frankish monk, (IX Century):
  • Bible:
  • Boehme, Jakob, German mystic, (XVI/XVII Centuries):
    • Of True Repentance: Seventeenth century English version. --- CCEL
    • Of Regeneration: Seventeenth century English version. --- CCEL
    • Of True Resignation: The light of reason by itself leads to death, but it can be coordinated with the divine. The torment of Hell is the result of a being created for light choosing to live in darkness. Ends with an attack on mainstream Protestantism: faith which is mere assent to historical facts, unaccompanied by ascetical struggle with the self, cannot save. Seventeenth century English version. --- CCEL
    • The Supersensual Life: The mystic's goal is to enter a "supersensual" state mirroring that of God before the Creation of the world when there was nothing to perceive. Also contains Boehme's two-wills theory of the human being, and much reassurance to the nervous disciple that he will be annihilated neither physically nor spiritually, and can dwell in both time and eternity. Law translation. --- CCEL
  • Boethius, Roman Christian philosopher, scholar, and government official, (V/VI Centuries):
  • Bonaventure, Italian Franciscan theologian, (XIII Century):
  • Boniface VIII, Pope of Rome, (XIII/XIV Centuries):
  • Boniface of Crediton, English martyr and missionary in Germany and the Netherlands, (VII/VIII Centuries):
    • Oath of Loyalty to the Pope Boniface, an Anglo-Saxon, was strongly in favour of canonical order and central administration -- unlike some of his missionary colleagues who hailed from Ireland and with whom he was often in conflict. Robinson translation. --- MSBP
  • Bonnet, Prous, French Beguine visionary, (XIV Century):
  • Brendan the Navigator, Abbot of Clonfert, (V/VI Centuries):
  • Breviaries:
  • Brother-Making Rite:
    • Byzantine: Extremely controversial document, containing the text of a service which may have been used, perhaps without official approval, for the swearing of blood-brotherhood oaths and, in the opinion of John Boswell, as a same-sex marriage service. Boswell and Zymaris translations. --- MSBP
  • Byzantine Devotional Material and Hymnography:

    Next

    A -- C -- D -- E -- F -- G -- H -- I -- J -- K -- L -- M -- N -- O -- P -- R -- S -- T -- U -- V -- W -- Y -- Z -- Councils -- Vitae

    Copyright © 1996, Karen Rae Keck and Norman Hugh Redington.

    •  

    Copyright © 2002 [www.seeking4truth.com]. All rights reserved.Revised: 06/02/2003