Patristics Topical Index
Faithlife has already created a powerful tool in the Catholic Topical Index, which, as far as I know, is only available through Verbum base packages and crossgrades. My suggestion is to create something similar for Logos for Protestants, but to expand the topics included as much as possible, remove the references to Catholic sources (Vatican documents, encyclicals, etc.), and have it strictly reference the Church Fathers. It would be used within the Topic Guide or Factbook, somewhat akin to the Ancient Literature section in the Passage Guide. Rather than showing references to the Fathers by passage, it would do so by topic. Since I do not own the Catholic Topical Index, I cite the entry for "Baptism" from the index J.N.D. Kelly's Early Christian Doctrines as an example of what I have in mind:
Baptism: teaching of Ambrose, 355, 422, 423, 430, 432; Ambrosiaster, 356, 432; Athanasius, 427, 430, 431; Augustine, 364–6, 423, 425, 427 f., 429 f., 431, 432; ‘Barnabas’, 194; Basil Caes., 427; Chrysostom, 405, 430, 431; Clement Alex., 207, 318; Clement Rom., 194; Cyprian, 176, 206, 210 f.; Cyril Hieros., 423, 425, 427, 428 f.; De rebaptismate, 210; Didache, 89; Didascalia Apostolorum, 219; Didymus, 427, 429, 431; Eusebius, 427; Gregory Naz., 425, 430; Gregory Nyss., 431; Hermas, 194; Hilary, 409, 432; Hippolytus, 208; Ignatius, 194; Irenaeus, 195; Jerome, 429, 430; Justin, 33, 89 f., 194 f.; Novatian, 209 f.; Optatus, 411, 424, 429; Orange, council of, 372; Origen, 208; Pelagius, 359, 366, 430; Pope Stephen, 210; Tertullian, 39, 209; Theodore Mops., 403, 430–2; Theophilus, 195; Zosimus, 370
https://www.logos.com/product/34092/j-n-d-kellys-early-christian-doctrines-and-creeds
Kelly's page numbers refer back to his own book, but what I envision would link directly to the Patristic sources, assuming they are available in one's library.
Looking at the BIG picture, this would just be a starting point. The Index could eventually be expanded to include results from all (or at least most) of the works included in the Ancient Literature section of the Passage Guide.
Comments
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I do have the Catholic Topical Index and I think that this could be a very good idea. Supplying the extensive Scriptural section of the CTI to Protestants/others may also be a good idea. The hard part's already been done, after all.
Here's the Patristic part of the Baptism entry in the Catholic Topical Index. (I took the Ecclesiastical Writers section and omitted St. Thomas Aquinas.)
Ecclesiastical Writers
Apostolic Fathers Did 7, Barn 11.11, Herm, S IX, xvi, ISmyr 8.2, Did 9.5, MPoly 9.3
Apostolic Traditions APTR 21
Apostolic Constitutions Const. Ap. 3.16
St. Justin Martyr 1 Apol. 61
St. Irenaeus Adv. Haer. 2.22.4, 3.17.1, 24.1
Tertullian De bapt., De cor. 3, Adv. Prax. 26
St. Cyprian Ep. 58, De orat. dom. 9, 12, Cyprian, Ep. (O) 73.21–22, Cyprian, Ep. (O) 64.2, Cyprian, Ep. (O) 69.12, Cyprian, Ep. (O) 70.1
St. Cyril of Jerusalem Cyr. Hier., Cat. Lect. 20.4, 21.1
St. Gregory Nazianzen Orat. 40.28, 39.17, 40.3–4, 9, 16.9, 31.28
St. Ambrose De Spir. Sanct. 1.3.42, Ep. 41.12
St. Jerome Lucif. 9
St. Augustine De bapt., Ep. 98.5, Tract. in ev. Joan. 80.3, De civ. Dei 13.7, Enchir. 43, De pecc. merit. et remiss. 1.34.63, 2.28.46, De nup. et concup. 1.34.39, De anima 1.9.11, Ep. 43.1.1, De fide et Symb. 10, Conf. 6.11.20, 10.29.40, De catech. rud. 3.5, Contra fund. 5.6, Augustine, Serm. (Ben.) 58 .11.13, Augustine, Serm. (Ben.) 78 .6
St. Leo the Great Ep. 167.3
St. Gregory the Great Regist. 1.43“The trouble is that everyone talks about reforming others and no one thinks about reforming himself.” St. Peter of Alcántara
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Thanks for providing that! I think something like what I am proposing would be of great benefit to both Catholics and Protestants alike, especially if/when it was expanded to include all the other works included in the Ancient Literature section of the Passage Guide. At that point I think the dataset would have to be called Ancient Literature Topical Index rather than the name I proposed, but I think that would be every bit as revolutionary as the Ancient Literature section of the Passage Guide proved to be. Definitely something no other Bible software program offers, but definitely would be a monumental task to put together.
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Also see
Jurgens, W. A., trans. The Faith of the Early Fathers. Vol. 1–3. Collegeville, MN: The Liturgical Press, 1970–1979.
Orthodox Bishop Alfeyev: "To be a theologian means to have experience of a personal encounter with God through prayer and worship."; Orthodox proverb: "We know where the Church is, we do not know where it is not."
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Volume 218-221 of Migne's Patrologiae Latinae contain a few thousand pages of indexes of the entire series. That could be a good starting place. [:)] These indexes are amazing, with not just references, but small summaries of each reference. All in Latin, of course.
The Greek series also has a pretty simple index volume, and there are indexes included in the Oriental Series as well.
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Thank you both for the additional resources. If such lengthy indexes already exist, I wonder if any of the scholars in residence at Faithlife might translate into English and build a dataset from that. It certainly seems like enough work has already been done that a Faithlife would have a good foundation to build upon. Any comment from Faithlife?
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“The trouble is that everyone talks about reforming others and no one thinks about reforming himself.” St. Peter of Alcántara
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