On Reading the Church Fathers
October 25, 2024
October 25, 2024
As Protestants, we love the Reformers and the Puritans (and if we don’t, we should). But as the distance increases between our contemporary American culture and the historic Christian faith, we need to expand our palettes and engage more with believers who were likewise fundamentally divided from the culture of their times.
In other words, we need to read more of the Church Fathers.
Already, an important caveat: though the divide between mainstream American life and traditional Christianity is growing, we are not at the point where the Early Church started. Cultural hostility and social media cancellation campaigns aren’t the same as systematic persecution. For example, Eusebius writes of the early church:
Some of the victims [of persecution] suffered death by beheading, others punishment by fire. So many were killed on a single day that the axe, blunted and worn out by the slaughter, was broken in pieces, while the executioners had to be periodically relieved.11 . Eusebius, The History of the Church.” Trans. G.A. Williamson (New York: Penguin Classics, 1989). VIII.8.</sp
Clearly this is not where American Christians are, and we would do well to remember that we still generally have things far better than most Christians throughout history.
With that said, it’s still a new cultural moment for us. Whether we’re joining Aaron Renn in calling our times the “negative world” or simply agreeing with Carl Trueman that the “modern self” has triumphed, you and I live in a world of cultural hostility that our grandparents and great-grandparents generally would not have recognized. This is a good moment for us to learn from the example of past generations.
Specifically, there are at least three things the Church Fathers model for us exceptionally well in the midst of a hostile culture.
Cultural hostility forces Christians to set aside some smaller issues that divide us. But we are still fallen sinners who will bicker with others, pursue our selfish and petty agendas, split churches, and even occasionally fall into heresy. Over and over, we see the Fathers fighting to hold to biblical truth and preserve the structural unity of the church. Sometimes they succeed and sometimes they fail. The point is that even in times of crises and persecution, theological and institutional problems do not simply evaporate. The Church Fathers model how to navigate these problems.
As human beings who live in this world, Christians still must participate to some extent in culture no matter how hostile. What should this participation look like? That’s a tough question. The Church Fathers reflected deeply on everything from big philosophical ideas to the day-to-day activities of life. Should we study pagan philosophers, attend the chariot races, wear ceremonial clothing, or serve in the military? They wrestled over the right answers to these questions. We can read their arguments and draw on their appeals to Scripture as they weigh the proper place of Christians in society. While we may not always agree with their conclusions, their rigor as they sought to hold society to the standard of God’s Word is remarkable.
The apologetic works of the Early Church are crisp and delightful reads, but of equal importance is the desire of their authors to convey the basics of the Christian faith even to their persecutors. Several examples come to mind:
These three approaches are extremely different, yet they each model how the Church Fathers used even the tools of the culture to explain the gospel to the world.
I want to deal briefly with two common objections to the Church Fathers that we hear from thoughtful Protestants.
The answer is complicated and requires more space and discussion than we have room for here (though you’ll notice that commentaries by the Fathers don’t make my short list of recommended readings below). Two truths are helpful to keep in mind when thinking about the relationship between the Fathers and Scripture. First, despite their occasionally poor hermeneutical practices, you will come away from their books with no doubt that they absolutely intend Scripture to govern their lives and thoughts. They fully hold God’s Word as their standard and foundation, and that comes through on every page of their surviving texts. Second, as Gerald Bray points out, even when they misfire in their reading of Scripture, they still regularly land on good theology.22 . Gerald Bray, Augustine on the Christian Life (Wheaton: Crossway, 2015). Bray makes this point specifically about Augustine, but it’s a good general rule for most of the Church Fathers. Of course as with any stretch of several centuries there is going to be error and heresy and religious weirdos, but at the end of the day the Church Fathers end as squarely in orthodoxy as any other historical cluster of believers.
This likewise requires a more complex response, but the short answer is “no.” The medium-sized answer is “no one really gets to claim the Church Fathers because we all have similarities and differences with them.” The less irenic answer is “most Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox aren’t terribly familiar with the Church Fathers either.”
One quick closing word on where to begin. Assuming that picking up the thirty-eight volume set edited by Philip Schaff isn’t going to be an option for most busy pastors, let me recommend five shorter texts for you. These also have the benefit of being engaging reads, given that they have been translated or written more recently than Schaff’s 19th-century version:
This is a collection of writings post-canon through roughly the middle of the Second Century AD. In other words, the first and second generations of Christians after the apostles. While the texts can be spotty and incomplete, these are still essential reads and exceptionally well translated by Michael Holmes.
This includes Justin’s defense of the faith to the Roman world, as well as one of the earliest descriptions of baptism and communion.
A delightful little meditation on patience by someone who claims not to have much himself (that’s part of why he’s writing it).
This is the classic reflection on the relationship between Christians and Roman society and is an excellent starting point for anyone who wants to think more about the Church Fathers and their relevance for us.
Simply an excellent overview of the early church by one of its greatest students.
The Christ-centered life is the church-centered life.
William Knibb lived in a time when the prevailing atmosphere could have discouraged him from calling out sin and opposing evil. Instead, Knibb preached the gospel, opposed slavery, and loved and served his church.
Biblical ecclesiology crumbled my world, but it also built me up again.
