Getting to Know the Church Fathers , livre ebook

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166 pages

English

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A Trusted Introduction to the Church FathersThis concise introduction to the church fathers connects evangelical students and readers to twelve key figures from the early church. Bryan Litfin engages readers with actual people, not just abstract doctrines or impersonal events, to help them understand the fathers as spiritual ancestors in the faith. The first edition has been well received and widely used. This updated and revised edition adds chapters on Ephrem of Syria and Patrick of Ireland. The book requires no previous knowledge of the patristic period and includes original, easy-to-read translations that give a brief taste of each writer's thought.

Sujets

Philosophie et théologie

Christian theology

History of religions

Christianity

Informations

Publié par	Baker Publishing Group
Date de parution	19 juillet 2016
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781493404780
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	2 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0672€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

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Title Page
Copyright Page
© 2007, 2016 by Bryan M. Litfin
Published by Baker Academic
a division of Baker Publishing Group
P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287
www.bakeracademic.com
Ebook edition created 2016
Ebook corrections 07.25.2017, 08.15.2022
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—for example, electronic, photocopy, recording—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
ISBN 978-1-4934-0478-0
Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. ESV Text Edition: 2011
Scripture quotations labeled NASB are from the New American Standard Bible®, copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org)
All translations, including Scripture quotations, appearing in the “A Taste of . . .” sections are the author’s own translation.
Baker Publishing Group publications use paper produced from sustainable forestry practices and post-consumer waste whenever possible.
Contents
Cover i
Title Page ii
Copyright Page iii
Acknowledgments v
Timeline vii
Introduction 1
1. Ignatius of Antioch 21
2. Justin Martyr 41
3. Irenaeus of Lyons 61
4. Tertullian of Carthage 81
5. Perpetua of Carthage 99
6. Origen of Alexandria 119
7. Athanasius of Alexandria 141
8. Ephrem the Syrian 163
9. John Chrysostom 187
10. Augustine of Hippo 209
11. Cyril of Alexandria 231
12. Patrick of Ireland 253
Epilogue 275
Index 277
Back Cover 281
Acknowledgments
I owe an immeasurable debt to my teachers:
my father, Dr. A. Duane Litfin,
who taught me to think like a Christian;
Drs. Stephen R. Spencer and D. Jeffrey Bingham,
who taught me to think like a scholar;
and Dr. Robert Louis Wilken,
who taught me to think like a catholic.
But most of all, I am grateful for the support of my wife,
Carolyn Litfin,
whom I describe with the words Tertullian used of his own wife:
dilectissima mihi in Domino conserva .
Map
Timeline
Church fathers indicated with italics.
Some lifespan dates are approximate.
BC 800 Founding of Carthage 753 Founding of Rome 658 Founding of Byzantium 347 Death of Plato 332 Alexander the Great’s conquests; founding of Alexandria 322 Death of Aristotle 300 Founding of Antioch 52 Julius Caesar conquers Gaul 43 Founding of Lugdunum (Lyons) 27 Caesar Augustus becomes the first Roman emperor
The Birth of Christ AD 33 Death and resurrection of Jesus Christ 30s–60s Events of the book of Acts 100–165 Life of Justin Martyr 100+ Gnostic heresy widely preached 115 Ignatius of Antioch travels to his martyrdom 130–202 Life of Irenaeus of Lyons 140 Marcion begins preaching heresy in Rome 156 Polycarp of Smyrna martyred 170–215 Life of Tertullian of Carthage 177 Blandina and her companions martyred at Lyons and Vienne 180 Martyrdom of the Martyrs of Scilli 182–203 Life of Perpetua of Carthage 185–254 Life of Origen of Alexandria 203 Perpetua , Felicity , and companions martyred; Origen ’s father Leonides martyred 250 Emperor Decius decrees a severe persecution of Christians 251–356 Life of the monk Anthony of Egypt 265–339 Life of Eusebius of Caesarea 300–373 Life of Athanasius of Alexandria 303 Emperor Diocletian initiates the Great Persecution 306–373 Life of Ephrem the Syrian 312 Emperor Constantine victorious at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge; Donatist schism erupts in North Africa 313 Emperors Constantine and Licinius issue the Edict of Milan 318 Arius begins preaching heresy 325 Council of Nicaea defines the Trinity 330 Emperor Constantine refounds Byzantium as Constantinople 337 Death of Emperor Constantine 349–407 Life of John Chrysostom 350–428 Life of Theodore of Mopsuestia 354–430 Life of Augustine of Hippo 367 Easter Letter of Athanasius lists the biblical canon 378–444 Life of Cyril of Alexandria 381 Council of Constantinople supports the Nicene doctrine of the Trinity 387 Baptism of Augustine of Hippo 390 Death of Diodore of Tarsus 402 Pelagius begins preaching heresy 410 Alaric the Goth invades Rome 428 Nestorius becomes bishop of Constantinople 431 Council of Ephesus condemns the doctrines of Pelagius and Nestorius 435–460 Approximate years of Patrick ’s ministry in Ireland 440–461 Papacy of Leo the Great 451 Council of Chalcedon defines orthodox Christology 476 Last Roman emperor in the West deposed by a barbarian lord 500 End of the Roman Empire and the Ancient Period; beginning of the Medieval Period
Introduction
When someone asks me what I do for a living, and I say I’m a professor whose academic expertise is the early church fathers, I’ve become accustomed to receiving a curious expression. If the person is a stranger, I often ask if he or she is a Roman Catholic because Catholics have been exposed to the fathers of the church. But evangelical Christians often haven’t. “Would that be someone like Jonathan Edwards?” one friend asked me, referring to the colonial American theologian. “Earlier than that,” I replied. “From the Roman Empire.” Most Christians today haven’t met the fathers. Perhaps they’ve heard of St. Augustine, but that’s about it. If this is true in your case, I believe you’re missing something valuable. For many readers of this book, this will be your first real encounter with the ancient Christian writers. And so you have embarked on a journey of discovery . To convey that sense of discovery to the students I teach, I use an illustration about a boy I call Billy.
Little Billy loved his grandmother very much. His childhood years were filled with visits to her house after school or on Sunday afternoons. Grandma always gave him something delicious for a snack: not the carrot sticks or yogurt Billy’s mother insisted on at home, but a big slice of warm apple pie melting the ice cream on top, or Toll House cookies still gooey from the cooling rack. Grandma had a swing out back, an old-fashioned one, not as safe as modern plastic swing sets. It was just a frayed rope looped around a tree limb far above, running through a plain board seat down low. When you really got it going, it would swing in long, stomach-churning arcs while the tree creaked ominously in protest. If while playing in the yard Billy happened to fall and scrape a knee, Grandma was there with some grandmotherly concoction to tend his wound—though her comforting words actually accomplished far more as a remedy. Billy just loved going to his Grandma’s house. She always lavished care and concern on him, giving her undivided attention to whatever he might be interested in at the moment.
But as he became a teenager, Billy’s visits to Grandma’s house became less frequent. He had his driver’s license now, and his schedule was filled with sports and activities. His friends, both male and female, demanded more and more of his time. Of course, he still loved Grandma and always dutifully wrote her a thank-you note for the birthday cards she insisted on filling with cash. Yet as the years went by, his visits to Grandma’s house began to come only at Christmas, if at all. An occasional phone call kept him current with his “grandson responsibilities” and eased his conscience. But soon Bill was a young adult with a demanding career, a family, and a life of his own.
For this reason Grandma’s death came as something of a shock to him. He hadn’t really noticed her declining health—though he could have if he had paid closer attention. Her funeral service did not bring closure but left Bill with many lingering questions. The responsibility fell to him to dispose of Grandma’s possessions and sell her house. The process caused him to reflect in new ways on his grandmother, and indeed his whole family line. “Who was this woman?” he wondered. “Where did she come from? What people and values shaped her world?” It dawned on Bill that while Grandma had shown great interest in every minor preoccupation of his life, he had never really known her as a person. He began to regret that in a profound way.
One day Bill was cleaning out his grandmother’s attic. The door to the attic led from the guest room—the very room where he used to spend the night whenever his parents were out of town. He had seen that door many times, often imagining the fearsome monsters that might lurk behind it. But he had never done more than peek through the door frame (always in the light of day, of course). Now he opened the door for the first time with adult eyes. Dust particles swirled in the single shaft of sunlight coming from a small window. The air was musty and close. Bill’s eyes fell on a large object in the far corner. It was a cedar hope chest, the kind that, back in the old days, young women always received before they got married. Bill opened it with hushed expectation, like a pirate in the stories Grandma used to tell, discovering long-lost treasure.
The chest was indeed filled with treasure—though not the kind made of silver and gold. Bill first picked up an old baseball glove, which smelled of rich leather and oil. His deceased grandfather’s name was handwritten on it. So Grandpa had been a baseball player? “One of the finest,” his grandmother seemed to whisper to him. Next he examined a necklace with a finely crafted ivory locket hanging from the chain. Inside were two small pictures of Grandma and Grandpa. On the back it was engraved with the words, “Until I return.” But Grandpa had not returned from the war. A framed picture of Grandpa in his uniform reminded Bill of what a handsome fellow he had been in his day. Looking at another portrait, Bill wondered who this pretty girl might be—wait a minute—could it be Gran