History of the Councils of the Church, volume 5
1896A History of the Councils of the Church, volume V, by the German church historian Karl Joseph von Hefele, continues his extensive documentary history of the great councils and synods of Christianity, covering the period from A.D. 626 to the close of the Second Council of Nicaea in 787. Published in English by T. & T. Clark, this volume opens with a detailed treatment of the Monothelite controversies, examining the theological and political circumstances that led to the dispute over the wills and operations of Christ, the roles of Emperor Heraclius, Sergius of Constantinople, Cyrus of Alexandria, Sophronius of Jerusalem, Pope Honorius I, and St. Maximus the Confessor, and the eventual resolution of the controversy at the Sixth Ecumenical Council. Hefele combines chronological narrative with close examination of conciliar acts, papal and patriarchal correspondence, patristic testimony, and earlier historical scholarship, frequently discussing conflicting sources and questions of authenticity or chronology. The volume ultimately carries the history of the councils through the ecclesiastical controversies of the seventh and eighth centuries to the Second Council of Nicaea, making it an important reference work for the study of Christological controversy, conciliar history, and the development of Christian doctrine in the early medieval period.