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JACKSON, Tenn. — June 25, 2010 — A new book edited by 51���� Christian studies professor Brad Green examines the thinking of key ancient and medieval theologians.

“Shapers of Christian Orthodoxy: Engaging with Early and Medieval Theologians” is published by InterVarsity Press-United Kingdom and consists of eight chapters on such theologians as Irenaeus, Tertullian, Origen, Athanasius, the Cappadocian Fathers, Augustine, Anselm and Thomas Aquinas.

“While writing my dissertation and doing lots of reading of Augustine, I found that I was learning to think theologically by ‘watching’ Augustine think theologically,” Green said. “From this experience of learning how to think theologically by reading Augustine came the idea for the book -- a book that would look at key ancient and medieval theologians, and that might help readers to learn how to think theologically by seeing how key theologians think and theologize.”

Green wrote the book’s chapter on Augustine. Other contributors are Brian Shelton, Bryan Litfin, Gerald Bray, Carl Beckwith, Robert Letham, David Hogg and Mark Elliott. Each chapter is about 45-60 pages long.

“This is a superb collection of essays on the greatest theologians of the Great Tradition during the first 13 centuries of church history,” writes Timothy George, founding dean of Beeson Divinity School, in an endorsement of the book. “It is encouraging to see such fresh and creative engagement with the development of Christian doctrine seen through the prism of its major shapers.”

R.R. Reno, of Creighton University, called the book “a winsome introduction to many of the towering minds of the Christian tradition, and a welcome invitation to join our minds to their searching efforts to enter more fully into the mystery of Christ.”

The book is the first of three books by Green that are being published this year. His next title is “The Gospel and the Mind: Recovering and Shaping the Intellectual Life,” published by Crossway, which will be available in November.

“Shapers of Christian Orthodoxy” is being published by IVP-UK in the United Kingdom, and by IVP-US in the United States. It is now available for purchase at the IVP-US website: .