The Early Development of Canon Law and the Council of Serdica

In this new edition, Hamilton Hess has updated his account of The Canons of the Council of Sardica, AD 343 in the light of recent literature, included new material and the full texts of the canons, and translated all quotations into English. Three new opening chapters make a fresh contribution to the study of early church history.

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When first published in 1958, The Canons of the Council of Sardica, AD 343 at once became the standard account of the canons passed by the Western bishops assembled at Serdica in 343 and the thinking on Church matters that lay behind them. In this new edition Hamilton Hess has updated his account in the light of recent literature and translated all quotations into English to reach a wider audience. There is also a new section on the development of canons in the early Church from local provisions to general rules, and an appendix with the full texts of the canons in the original Latin, in the Greek translation, and in the recasting by Theodours Diaconus, together with English translations of all three.