Beginning to Read the Church Fathers:
Preface and Introduction
Mark Tarpley, Ph.D.
From the book: Beginning to Read the Church Fathers: Introduction to the Church Fathers Series, Volume 1
© 2019 Forgotten Lighthouse. All rights reserved. Posted on SaintKosmas.org with the permission of the author.
Preface
We live in an “ahistorical culture,” that is to say, a culture that is not only forgetful of history but opposes the significance of history and its relevance to present day life. Given this opposition, the present can conveniently be rewritten to conform to the whims of personal and societal beliefs. Such is the reality of our times. Western society is overturning cultural norms and assumptions established for centuries across time and space at a rate previously unknown.
The reader might think I am critiquing only those who “oppose” Christianity, for example, secularists and materialists. Sadly, the same commentary can too often be applied to various Christian communities as well. In the attempt to “stay up with the times” or make “progress,” Christians can easily become forgetful of the centrality of history in Christianity. As the great twentieth century Christian historian Fr. George Florovsky asserts, “Christianity is basically a vigorous appeal to history, a witness of faith to certain particular events in the past, to certain particular data of history” (Florovsky 31). For example, the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ are intrinsically historical.
Even more, is Christianity not the continued history of God working in every generation and man’s response in faith to God? Are the mighty acts of God that we see in the Old Testament not continued through the New Testament and to our present time a sign of God’s continued drawing of His creation to Himself? Are the Ecumenical Councils, the process of discerning our New Testament scripture, and the writings and lives of the Church Fathers not fundamental to understanding who we are today as Christians? To ignore or oppose history stands in opposition to Christianity.
To be clear, I am not suggesting that to be a “good” Christian you need to be able to articulate the events of each of the Seven Ecumenical Councils or provide a precise definition of the Church’s Christology. Rather, I am expressing the belief that we possess an inheritance that was once and for all delivered to the saints (Jude 1: 3), and this inheritance has been passed down from one generation to the next with the guarantee of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 16: 18).
In this generation, at this moment, we have been handed the baton to run the race that our forefathers have run. Yet, to presume that we know how to run this race well without the guidance, wisdom, expertise, and courage of our forefathers is foolishness. We have a great cloud of witnesses (Hebrews 12: 1) that stands before us, and yet, we too often ignore those witnesses, and the work of the Holy Spirit within their lives. This cloud of witnesses is exemplified in the lives of the Church Fathers and the writings that express their faith and experience of God in each generation. Such a testimony we should treasure and cling to as an anchor to our faith and the witness of the life of Jesus Christ.
However, I have heard it said many times that the Church Fathers are too difficult to read or are too difficult to apply to our own times in the context of our daily living. Regarding the first response, I think the difficulty lies in sorting through good starting points for reading the Church Fathers and having a basic guide to support the reader in how to read and understanding the text. In this sense, the same problem arises when people attempt to read the Bible. For this reason, I offer this selection of brief readings and commentaries that touch on a variety of topics including marriage, wealth and poverty, and friendship to name a few. Frequently, once a person sits down and reads the Church Fathers with appropriate support, they more often than not find the texts very readable and spiritually edifying. Even better, when a group of people will read a text together and discuss it with appropriate direction, good fruit is often born out of this communal experience.
Regarding the second concern, the difficulty of connecting belief with how we live is not a fault of our forefathers but rather a crisis of our own time. Our inability as Christians to connect the relevance of Christ having one person in two natures to how we live each day is not an historical problem. It is a modern crisis among Christians that severely compromises our ability to speak the truth in love to our own times. Our ability to connect dogmatic teaching to daily living is fundamental to our Christian faith, which is understood as the inseparable relationship between “right belief” and “right living.” The fundamental question that the historic Church returned to in every generation when the life in Christ was challenged by the surrounding culture was not “How should I live as a Christian?” or “What does the Bible say?” Rather, the question was always “Who is Christ, and why does it matter?” This persistent return to Christ is rooted in the most significant event in history, namely, the Incarnation in which God fully reveals who He is and thereby who Man is. Christ is the key that unlocks the truth of Scripture and the Christian life, and the Church Fathers are participants in the life in Christ who give expression to the Christian life in every generation. Likewise, in our own generation, this question, too, is the fundamental question that we must understand in light of our rich inheritance – “Who is Christ, and why does it matter?”
Introduction
Beginning to Read the Church Fathers offers a selection of readings that address a variety of topics, namely, Christian instruction, history, theology, statements of faith, friendship, the mysteries (sacraments) of entry into the Church, marriage, and wealth and poverty. The texts are ordered chronologically. Each reading begins with a brief introduction along with questions for reflection and concludes with an explanation to each of the questions. The explanations are not intended to be exhaustive but rather to provide a jumping off point for deeper thought and reflection. Footnotes are provided that cite scriptural references as well as additional notes to clarify the text. The top header on each even page specifies the category for that particular reading such as Christian instruction, theology, friendship, etc. and the odd page header provides the title of the text. The audience of this book is broad. The richness of these texts is accessible to youth, young adults, and adults alike. This volume can be used for the classroom, homeschool, family, group, or individual study.
The goal is to provide the reader an introduction to the themes and concerns of our forefathers through the early centuries of the Church. Further, the aim is that these texts will inspire a greater love for the Church Fathers who have preserved the Christian faith for us up to today through the very lives they have lived. Above all, the hope is the reading of these texts will deepen the understanding and pursuit of the Truth who is Jesus Christ in our lives.