Patristics

Definition and Meaning

Patristics is the theological discipline that studies the lives, writings, and thought of the Church Fathers ("fathers of the church"), the theologians and church leaders of the early church. Four criteria are commonly given for identifying a Church Father: antiquity, orthodoxy of doctrine, holiness of life, and approval by the church. The field's scope usually begins with the Apostolic Fathers of the late first century and is generally taken to end with Isidore of Seville (seventh century) in the West and John of Damascus (eighth century) in the East.

Biblical and Historical Background

The term "Church Father" does not appear in the Bible. However, 1 Corinthians 4:15, in which Paul calls himself a "father" to believers because he had begotten them through the gospel, is cited as background for the custom of calling spiritual teachers fathers. In the face of movements such as Gnosticism and Arianism, the Fathers helped determine the scope of the biblical canon. Through the Council of Nicaea and the Council of Chalcedon, they also refined the basic framework of the doctrines of the Trinity and Christology. Representative figures include Ignatius, Irenaeus, Athanasius, and Augustine. The name "patristics" for the discipline is reported to have come into use around the seventeenth century. The collections of the Latin and Greek Fathers published by Jacques-Paul Migne in nineteenth-century France remain standard resources today.

Practice in the Korean Church

The weight given to the Church Fathers differs by tradition. The Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church regard the teaching of the Fathers, together with Scripture, as an important witness of church tradition. Protestantism, following the Reformation principle of sola scriptura, places the Fathers beneath Scripture. Even so, Protestants have respected the Fathers as witnesses to orthodox faith, as seen in the frequent citation of Augustine by Martin Luther and John Calvin. The Anglican Church of Korea tends to place relatively strong emphasis on the patristic tradition.

In Korean Protestant seminaries, including Presbyterian, Methodist, and Holiness institutions, patristics is generally taught as one of the courses in church history (historical theology). Lay members encounter the faith confessed in the patristic era through the Nicene Creed and the Apostles' Creed, which were formed in that era or are rooted in it. Catholic circles were the first to translate patristic literature into Korean on a significant scale, and related research is also growing in Protestant academic circles.