This thesis offers a constructive engagement with T.F. Torrance’s theological reading of the patristic tradition. It argues that Torrance reconstructs the Fathers into a Consensus Patrum, or “Consensus of the Fathers” consisting of catholic/ecumenical themes and figures. Torrance’s consensus is a creative attempt to produce a Reformed and evangelical version of the consensus which involves significant changes to both standard readings of the Fathers in other approaches to the consensus and Torrance’s own Reformed evangelical tradition. It is unique among other interpreters of the Fathers and ecumenically relevant, offering much to contemporary theology in both substance and method. In order to view Torrance’s project in historical context this thesis examines the notion of the consensus as found in historical Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Protestant theology. Each tradition has a lens through which they view the Fathers: Aquinas for the Roman Catholics, Palamas for the Orthodox, Augustinian themes for the Reformers, and “de‐Hellenization” for liberal Protestants. This thesis places Torrance’s project within other contemporary retrievals of the church Fathers arguing for its uniqueness as a distinctively Reformed evangelical approach to the Fathers on their own terms. It inspects the Torrancian consensus exploring its consistence of a Reformed and evangelical approach to patristic themes and figures, rooted in the primary theme of the Nicene ὁμοούσιον and the primary figure of Athanasius of Alexandria. It examines Torrance’s creative reconstruction of the Fathers into a Reformed evangelical consensus and points to his constructive achievements demonstrating that Torrance’s approach is ecumenically relevant, as seen particularly in his work in the Reformed‐Orthodox Dialogue. A critical adoption of the Torrancian consensus is proposed in conclusion.

This thesis extends recent scholarly interest in the practical processes of Late Antique Roman law and on the integration of the episcopate into Roman power structures in the fourth century, the first century of imperial patronage of Christian communities. It confirms the "minimalist" model of Roman governance and provides a non-medieval example of the persecution of minorities as a contingent effect of competing claims to authority. This thesis argues that fourth-century elite Roman men disputing episcopal status via the Roman courts led to a transformation of episcopal polity, and that this development has been obscured by a subsequent paradigm shift in the norms concerning episcopal use of Roman law towards the end of that century. This paradigm shift identified by this thesis has three important aspects:1. With the change in imperial dynasty from the Valentinians to Theodosians, imperial favour moved from non-Nicene to Nicene bishops. Disparity of access to imperial favour during the fourth century required Nicene-identified bishops to invent tools to succeed in spite of their poor position. After the Theodosian-Nicene takeover, the Nicene-identified bishops retained these tools while also inheriting the legal framework that the non-Nicene bishops had crafted during their mid-century period of patronage.2. The power structures through which imperial favour was granted also changed. The typical fourth-century use of Roman law to resolve inter-episcopal disputes was different from that which would become established as a more enduring precedent in the Theodosian era. 3. The episcopal rhetoric used in claiming imperial favour changed from a focus on affirming one's own privilege to a focus on the proscription of others. The terminology of orthodox versus heretical is significant but must be understood as relational: even once heretics were proscribed by law, orthodoxy remained a status granted by the emperor. The methodology of this thesis argues for the importance of interpreting the relevant fourth-century sources in the context of their own time and norms, rather than in the light of the significantly different fifth-century practice as previous scholarship has done. This thesis first discusses two case studies before the paradigm shift: in Chapter One, Athanasius of Alexandria, as an example typical of the fourth century, and in Chapter Two, Priscillian of Avila, as an example at the cusp of the transition in the 380s who still demonstrates conformance with earlier practice. The thesis then describes the transition to the Theodosian-Nicene mode with an extended focus on Ambrose of Milan. Chapter Three shows Ambrose, contemporary with Priscillian, refusing to engage with existing episcopal legal practices and inventing a new strategy to survive the threat of Roman law. Chapter Four shows how Ambrose further refined this strategy in other conflicts and in doing so created a new place for bishops within the power structures of the Roman Empire.

Submitted by Sandra Pereira (srpereira@ufrrj.br) on 2016-10-18T10:49:20Z No. of bitstreams: 1 2016 - Jorge Gabriel Rodrigues de Oliveira.pdf: 1803407 bytes, checksum: 14d3e313e5d9cd8d6206d683acccc3ca (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-10-18T10:49:20Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 2016 - Jorge Gabriel Rodrigues de Oliveira.pdf: 1803407 bytes, checksum: 14d3e313e5d9cd8d6206d683acccc3ca (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-04-20 / This research aims to demonstrate the process of developing a martyr stereotype for the hermit Copts monks, through which we believe we can analyze the hagiographic representation drawn to these religious, from textual traces found in primary sources Vita Antonii (357) and Vita Pauli (374-379), written, respectively, by Athanasius of Alexandria (296-373) and Jerome of Stridon (347-420), about the desert monks Anthony the Great (251- 356) and Paul of Thebes (228-330). We understand that the martyrdom of the content is present in this stereotype monastic hermit Copt, introduced by the authors of the sources, this will allow us greater strength in proving our hypothesis about the development of a patristic representation, which aimed to raise the monks as the authentic successors of the martyrs and establishes guidelines and patristic models defined for these religious and those who followed them. / Nesta pesquisa pretende-se demonstrar o processo de elabora??o de um estere?tipo de m?rtir para os monges eremitas coptas, atrav?s do qual acreditamos ser poss?vel analisar a representa??o hagiogr?fica elaborada para esses religiosos, a partir de vest?gios textuais encontrados nas fontes prim?rias Vita Antonii (357) e Vita Pauli (374-379), de autoria, respectivamente, de Atan?sio de Alexandria (296-373) e Jer?nimo de Estrid?o (347-420), acerca dos monges Ant?o do deserto (251-356) e Paulo de Tebas (228-330). Entendemos que se o conte?do do mart?rio estiver presente neste estere?tipo mon?stico erem?tico copta, introduzido pelos autores das fontes, isto nos permitir? maior solidez na comprova??o de nossa hip?tese acerca da elabora??o de uma representa??o patr?stica, que visava al?ar os monges como os aut?nticos sucessores dos m?rtires, al?m de estabelecer diretrizes e modelos patr?sticos definidos para esses religiosos e aqueles que os seguiam.