Includes bibliographical references (p. 541-569) and indexes.

Preliminary material -- INTRODUCTION -- THE STATUE OF HIPPOLYTUS: DISCOVERY -- THE STATUE AND THEMISTA OF LAMPSACUS -- THE STAIDE AND THE HIPPOLYTAN CORPUS -- THE STATUE AND THE TWO AUTHORS THEORY (I) -- THE STATUE AND THE TWO AUTHORS THEORY (II) -- THE SCHOOL AND 'SCHISM' OF HIPPOL YTUS -- HIPPOL YTUS AND CHURCH ORDER -- BIBLIOGRAPHY -- INDEX.

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Allen Brent examines the significance of the Hippolytan events in the life of the Roman Church in the early third century. Developing the thesis of at least two authors in the Hippolytan corpus, he proposes a new, redactional explanation of the relation between these different authors and the theological and social tensions to which their work bears witness. Brent reconstructs a picture of the community that contextualizes both the Hippolytan literature and in particular the Statue, for which he proposes a new interpretation as a community artefact though universally misjudged as a monument to an individual. Tertullian's relationship with Callistus is finally re-assessed. This work is thus an important contribution to new understandings of a period critical both for the development of Church Order and embryonic Trinitarian Orthodoxy.