Hilary of Poitiers' Preface to His Opus Historicum: Translation and CommenataryWhat precisely does Hilary's so-called "Opus Historicum" aim at? His Preface provides the clue. An introduction to the present edition sketches the mutilated work's discovery, tabulates its contents, and discusses problems of dating and authenticity. The English translation, which faces the Latin text, adopts some alternative readings. The Preface is elucidated in itself, and by reference to the earlier "In Matthaeum," Central issues are hope and love, confessors and martyrs, imperial favours and threats, the bishop and his inner freedom. The circumspect treatment of both the reader and the subject reveals 'conscientization' of the bishops as the aim of the "Opus Historicum," One of the book's excurses deals with the edict of Arles and Milan, and concludes that the nameless creed quoted by Hilary might preserve the lost edict's doctrinal preliminaries. |
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abbrev Adversus Valentem Arians Arles and Milan Athana Athanasius atque Béziers bishops book's Brennecke CaP App CChr.SL 9 Christ Christian clause codex Commentary communion conclusion condemnation confessors Constantius Constantius II council of Sardica Coustant creed CSEL deum documents Doignon dossier edict emperor enim episcopis eternal Eusebius of Vercelli Excursus exile faith Feder fidei fides Foebadius Gaul Germinius gesta haec heretics Hilaire de Poitiers Hilarius von Poitiers Hilary of Poitiers Hilary's ibid idem L'Ad Const Latin letter Liberius Lucifer Lucifer of Cagliari Marx Matthaeum Meslin Milan synod noun opus Orientals Ossius paragraph parallel Paris Paulinus Photinus phrase preface present quae quam quod quoted reader rescript Rhodanius Rimini Sardica council Saturninus scholars sentence Sirmium Smulders Stud Sulpicius Sulpicius Severus sunt synod of Béziers synods of Arles Tertullian transl Trin Ursacius verb Western council Wilmart words