Church Fathers

Background

The term "Church Fathers" translates the Latin Patres Ecclesiae ("fathers of the church"). It arose from the ancient church's custom of calling bishops "father," and it gradually came to designate the teachers of earlier ages who taught and defended the faith. While enduring persecution, the early church also had to contend with movements such as Gnosticism and Marcionism. In that struggle, the writings of the Fathers clarified what constituted apostolic teaching. Those who wrote in Greek are called the Eastern (Greek) Fathers, and those who wrote in Latin are called the Western (Latin) Fathers. The academic study of the Fathers is known as patristics, or patrology.

Development

• The Apostolic Fathers (late first to early second century): These figures are regarded as belonging to the generation closest to the apostles. They include Clement of Rome, Ignatius of Antioch, and Polycarp of Smyrna.
• Apologists and anti-heretical writers (second and third centuries): Justin Martyr defended the faith before pagan intellectuals, and Irenaeus of Lyons refuted Gnosticism. Tertullian and Origen were also active during this period.
• The age of the councils (fourth and fifth centuries): Around the time of the Council of Nicaea in 325, Athanasius of Alexandria opposed Arianism. The Cappadocian Fathers—Basil the Great, Gregory of Nazianzus, and Gregory of Nyssa—subsequently refined the doctrine of the Trinity. In the West, three figures stand out: Ambrose; Jerome, who translated the Latin Bible known as the Vulgate; and Augustine, who refuted Pelagianism. In 451 the Council of Chalcedon established the standard of Christology concerning the divine and human natures of Christ.
• The closing period (sixth to eighth centuries): The patristic era is generally considered to extend to Isidore of Seville in the West and John of Damascus in the East.

Results and Influence

The Fathers played a major role in shaping confessions of faith such as the Nicene Creed and in the formation of the canon. For example, the list of New Testament books that Athanasius included in his Easter letter of 367 matches the twenty-seven books of the New Testament today. The biblical commentaries, sermons, and traditions of worship and monastic life they left behind were carried through the Middle Ages and into the Reformation. Martin Luther and John Calvin frequently cited Augustine in support of their positions. In Korea, the Church Fathers are studied in historical theology courses at Protestant theological seminaries, and Catholic scholars also translate and study patristic texts. Korean renderings of the Fathers' names vary by denomination and translation. For instance, the forms commonly used by Korean Protestants, which follow the English names Augustine, Jerome, and Chrysostom, differ from the forms based on the Latin names Augustinus, Hieronymus, and Ioannes Chrysostomus, though they refer to the same individuals.

Assessment

• The Catholic Church regards the unanimous teaching of the Fathers as an important witness to Sacred Tradition. It identifies four criteria for a Church Father: orthodoxy of doctrine, holiness of life, ecclesiastical approval, and antiquity. Consequently, figures such as Tertullian and Origen, whose teachings have been considered doctrinally problematic, are sometimes classified as "ecclesiastical writers" rather than Church Fathers in the strict sense.
• The Orthodox Church places very great weight on the teaching of the Fathers as a standard of faith. It tends not to close the patristic age at a particular date and to apply the title of Father to later theologians as well.
• Protestantism respects the Fathers but regards their authority as subordinate to Scripture. It holds that the Fathers disagreed among themselves and could err. The Presbyterian and Reformed traditions place particular emphasis on Augustine, and John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, is known to have read the early church writers with enthusiasm. Nevertheless, the weight given to patristic tradition varies according to denomination and theological orientation.