'25 SUMMER READING LIST, #7 - "GETTING TO KNOW THE CHURCH FATHERS" BY BRYAN LITFIN

How many of you get excited by studying church history? Does it seem to be dealing with dry historical figures that don't really fit in with modern life? Here's a book that will help you appreciate the development and the individuals who influenced that development.

If you can read the small, light print on the bar above the author's name, you'll see this is the second edition. I've read both editions. The first one deals with Ignatius, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Tertullian, Perpetua, Origen, Athanasius, John Chrysostom, Augustine, and Cyril of Alexandria. The second edition adds Ephram the Syrian and St. Patrick of Ireland. 

Each chapter gives a biography of the subject and some description of what was going on at the time. This is followed by five or so questions, reading recommendations, and an excerpt of their writings. The questions make this ideal for a group study - I've used this in that setting twice.

 

LOOKING BACK AT THE CHURCH FATHERS AND CHURCH HISTORY

 

"Church Fathers' Fellowship", Jeffrey C. Reynolds. Explanation below.

I hope you enjoyed the last two weeks looking at various church fathers. Maybe you've learned more about the first 500 years of church history than you previously known. Maybe you've been challenged and/or encouraged through this series. If so, please let me know.

We have a problem today with Biblical illiteracy. Add to that the fact that Scripture is inspired by the Holy Spirit and is in its entirety truth(2 Timothy 3:16-17; Hebrews 4:12; Psalm 119:160; 2 Peter 1:21), and church history is not, and we can see why church history is overlooked. But should it be?

Paul urged the Corinthians to follow him as he followed Christ (1 Corinthians 11:1). Likewise, we should note how other believers follow Christ and imitate their obedience and faith (Philippians 3:17; Hebrews 6:11-12; 13:7). In this case, we can learn from the Church Fathers, from the Reformers, from godly pastors/evangelists/apologists/authors of the past and present, and even from pioneers of Christian music (which I would include Isaac Watts and Charles Wesley in that category).

In the book Getting to Know the Church Fathers: An Evangelical Introduction, Bryan Litfin ended each chapter with some provocative questions concerning the church father covered. In the last chapter, the final two questions were more summary questions. 

He asks which of the twelve people he dealt with were your favorites and least favorites, and if there were any whom you felt connection to. My favorites were Tertullian, Athanasius, and John Chrysostom. The first two were in my list of heroes of the faith before I read this book; Chrysostom was not. Least favorite is easy, and if you've been faithful reading this series and have a memory of what you've read in the past three days, you'd know it's Cyril of Alexandria.

Do I relate to any? This took some thought, and I realized there were two. One was Irenaeus of Lyons, who worked to bring peace between the Bishop of Rome and some in the Middle East who disagreed with him on the dating of Easter, as well as standing against the false teaching of the Gnostics. The other was Ephrem the Syrian, between his use of poetry to teach truth and his encouragement of getting "the sisters" to sing by forming women's choirs. Some of you may know I used to be a songwriter, and a few might know that I've always liked hearing female vocalists. 

Litfin's last question of the readers is if their view of "church fathers" changed. At the beginning of the book, he mentioned some confused the catholic fathers with Roman Catholicism - whether you use a capital 'C' makes the difference.  Likewise, he stated some felt the Church fell into apostasy at some point (usually either with Constantine's rise to power or with Leo the Great raising the role of the Pope). My treatment is more abbreviated than Litfin's but it would be interesting if my series has affected your opinion of the church fathers in particular and church history in general.

So let me close to the few, the proud, those who read my blog daily for the last two weeks: Who are your favorites of the twelve Litfin (and I) have dealt with? Whose your least favorites? And do you connect with any of them? 

Explanation of Picture:

"Church Fathers' Fellowship".

In the center, seated, are Origen and John Chrysostom, debating over hermeneutics (Biblical interpretation, with Origen representing Alexandrian allegorism and Chrysostom representing Antiochene interpretation, more literal.

 

On the far left, you have Ignatius of Antioch with the lion he met at the Collesium; they're better friends now in glory. Seated is Ephrem the Syrian, trying to teach Perpetua a hymn he wrote - Ephrem encouraged women's choirs. Perpetua is with a heifer who she encountered at her martyrdom.

 

Behind Origen and Chrysostom are observing, left to right, Irenaeus of Lyons, Athanasius, Augustine, and Cyril of Alexandria. I'd love to hear their theological discussion.

 

On the far right, St. Patrick discussing the shamrock as an object lesson to philosopher/early apologist Justin Martyr (seated) and Tertullian (standing).

 

Artist's impression of the twelve church fathers in "Getting To Know The Church Fathers: An Evangelical Introduction," (2nd edition) by Bryan Litfin.

 

ONE OF THE MOST INFLUENTIAL CHRISTIANS, YET NOT A SAINT? A LOOK AT TERTULLIAN

 

When I first read Bryan Litfin's Getting To Know The Church Fathers: An Evangelical Introduction, I was able to describe nine of the twelve church leaders with one sentence... or less! (There were three I knew nothing about.) Two of the three were men I consider heroes of the faith, and the third was Augustine. 

In a previous installment, I mentioned doing a term paper on six early church movements, and Tertullian had connection with two of them - a positive connection with Montanism (some believe he joined the group, others thought he just accepted them), and an advesarial relationship with Marcionism. 

As my title stated, Tertullian was not canonized as a saint - more about this later. Regardless of that, he is an important figure in church history. Pope Benedict XVI lists this non-saint in his book on church fathers. While Irenaeus was the first to mention a collection of Christian Scripture, Tertullian was the first use the term "New Testament." Another term he was the first to use is "Trinity" relating to the relationship of the Father, Christ, and the Holy Spirit (he was also the first Church Father to write primarily in Latin). You may have heard Tertullian's question "What does Athens have to do with Jerusalem" and more likely to be familiar with the line "The blood of Christians is seed" (more commonly rephrased as "The blood of martyrs is the seed of the church").

In this series I've mentioned the seven letters of Ignatius, the three writings of Justin Martyr, and Irenaeus' two classics. Tertullian's bibliography consists of more than twice the listings of the other trio combined - a total of thirty one in the original Latin.  His biggest is a five volume set titled Against Marcionism.

Who is Marcion? He was a wealthy shipmaker, and had enough money to spread his heretical doctrine. Marcion is included in lists of Gnostic teachers because his theology is similar (especially in a non-physical Jesus who came to forgive sins but didn't pay for them on the cross). However, most Gnostics used their own writings as well as Scripture. 100% of Marcion's Bible is contained in our Bible.

Marcion was the first to give a canon of New Testament books, which consisted of Luke and ten of Paul's letters (excluding the Pastoral Epistles). He believed there were two different gods - the Creator who the Jews worshipped, and the true God who sent Jesus. Thus, Marcion rejected the Old Testament and anything "corrupted" with Jewish thought in our New Testament.

One reason I'm a Tertullian fan is because of how he dealt with Marcion. Two of the five books against Marcion refuted the shipmaker's teachings from Scripture - Volume 3 using Marcion's edited version of Luke, and the next one using Paul's letters. In other words, even Marcion's limited Scripture was enough to disprove him.

When I did my term paper, Tertullian was considered to have joined the Montanists. His version differed from the movement's founder Montanus version, and the authors I read gave three possible reasons: 1) Montantism mellowed between Montanus' time and Tertullian's; 2) North African Montanism which influenced Tertullian was more orthodox than the Middle Eastern Montanism of Montanus; and what I consider the most likely theory, 3) Montanus was Montanus and Tertullian was Tertullian.

If Tertullian was a conservationist, he'd probably be another Crocodile Hunter. Then, maybe you might call him the Rush Limbaugh of Church Fathers. Tertullian could be very harsh and legalistic. He wrote a list of what women could and could not wear, for example.  His crusty personality may be why he wasn't canonized as a saint. Of course, if you use the NT definition of saints as being all of Christ's followers, then Tertullian would definitely be a saint.

One last comment. In dealing with heretical movements, Tertullian said they had no authority to use Scripture. Scripture belongs to the church, and it is ours to use, not those who twist it.

Do you have any heroes of the faith that, while orthodox, can be controversial?