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FATHERS OF THE CHURCH

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Originally appearing in Volume V10, Page 201 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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FATHERS OF THE See also:

CHURCH . The use of the word " See also:father " as a See also:title of respect is found in the Old Testament, where it is applied to patriarchs (Gen. 1. 24 (See also:Septuagint); Exod. iii. 13, 15; Dent. i. 8), priests (Judg. xvii. to, xviii. 19), prophets (2 See also:Kings ii. 12, vi. 21, xiii. 14), and distinguished ancestors (Ecclus. xliv. 1). In the See also:time of our See also:Lord the See also:scribes claimed the name with an arrogance which He disapproved (Matt. See also:xxiii.

9); in the rabbinic literature " the fathers " are the more eminent of the earlier rabbis whose sayings were handed down for the guidance of posterity.' The See also:

Christian Church, warned perhaps by the words of See also:Christ, appears at first to have avoided a similar use of the See also:term, while St See also:Paul, St See also:Peter and St See also:John speak of their converts as spiritual See also:children (I See also:Cor. iv. 14 f., Gal. iv. 19, I Pet. v. 13, I John ii. 12); they did not assume, so far as we know, the See also:official See also:style of "fathers in See also:God." Nor is this title found in the See also:age which succeeded to that of the apostles. When See also:Polycarp, See also:bishop of See also:Smyrna, was martyred (A.D. 155), the See also:crowd shouted, " This is the father of the Christians "2 ; but the words were probably prompted by the See also:Jews, who took a prominent See also:part in the martyrdom, and who naturally viewed Polycarp in the See also:light of a See also:great Christian See also:rabbi, and gave him the title which their own teachers See also:bore. In the next See also:century members of the episcopal See also:order were sometimes addressed in this manner: thus See also:Cyprian is styled papas or papa by his See also:Roman correspondents.3 The bishops who sat in the great See also:councils of the 4th century were known as " the 318 fathers" of See also:Nicaea, and " the 150 fathers" of See also:Constantinople. Meanwhile the See also:custom was growing up of appealing to eminent Church writers of a past See also:generation under this name. Thus See also:Athanasius writes (ad Afros vi.): " We have the testimony of fathers (the two Dionysii, bishops of See also:Alexandria and See also:Rome, who wrote in the previous century) for the use of the word oµoouvws." Such quotations were multiplied, as theologians learnt to depend increasingly upon their predecessors, until the testimony of " our See also:holy father " Athanasius, or See also:Gregory the Divine, or John the See also:Golden-mouthed, came to be regarded as decisive in reference to controverted points of faith and practice. In the narrower sense thus indicated the " fathers " of the Church are the great bishops and other eminent Christian teachers of the earlier centuries, who were conspicuous for soundness of See also:judgment .and sanctity of See also:life, and whose writings remained as a See also:court of See also:appeal for their successors. A See also:list of fathers See also:drawn up on this principle will begin with the Christian writers of the 1st century whose writings are not included in the New Testament: where it ought to end is a more difficult point to determine.

Perhaps the See also:

balance of See also:opinion is in favour of regarding Gregory the Great (d. 604) as the last of the Latin fathers, and John of See also:Damascus (d. c. 76o) as the last of the fathers of the See also:Greek Church. A more liberal estimate might include John Scotus See also:Erigena or even See also:Anselm or See also:Bernard of See also:Clairvaux in the See also:West and See also:Photius in the See also:East. The See also:abbe See also:Migne carried his Latin patrology down to the time of See also:Innocent III. (d. 1216), and his Greek patrology to the fall of Constantinople (1453); but, while this large See also:extension of the See also:field is much to the See also:advantage of his readers, if undoubtedly stretches the meaning of patrologia far beyond its natural limits. For See also:ordinary purposes it is best to make the patristic See also:period conterminous with the life ' See See also:Buxtorf, s.v. Abh, and cf. the title of the See also:tract Pirke Aboth (ed. See also:Taylor, p. 3). Polyc.

Mart. 8. 3 Studio biblica, iv, p. 273.of the See also:

ancient See also:Catholic Church. In the West the Church enters the See also:medieval See also:stage of its See also:history with the See also:death of Gregory, while. in the East even John of Damascus is rather a compiler of patristic teaching than a true " father." A further question arises. Are all the Christian writers of a given period to be included among the " fathers," or those only who wrote on religious subjects, and of whose orthodoxy there is no doubt ? Migne, following the example of the editors of bibliothecae patrum who preceded him, swept into his great collection all the Christian writings which See also:fell within his period; but he is careful to See also:state upon his title-See also:page that his patrologies include the ecclesiastical writers as well as the fathers and doctors of the Church. For a comprehensive use of the term " ecclesiastical writers " he has the authority of See also:Jerome, who enumerates among them 4 such heresiarchs or leaders of See also:schism as See also:Tatian, Bardaisan, Novatus, See also:Donatus, Photinus and See also:Eunomius. This may not be logical, but See also:long usage has made it permissible or even necessary. It is often difficult, if not impracticable, to draw the See also:line between orthodox writers and heterodox; on which See also:side, it might be asked, is See also:Origen to be placed ? and in the See also:case of a writer like See also:Tertullian who See also:left the Church in See also:middle life, are we to admit certain of his See also:works into our patrology and refuse a See also:place to others ? It is clear that in the circumstances the terms " father," " patristic," " patrology " must be used with much See also:elasticity, since it is now too See also:late to substitute for them any more comprehensive terms. By the " fathers," then, we understand the whole of extant Christian literature from the time of the apostles to the rise of See also:scholasticism or the beginning of the middle ages.

However we may interpret the See also:

lower limit of this period, the literature which it embraces is immense. Some method of subdivision is necessary, and the simplest and most obvious is that which breaks the whole into two great parts, the ante-Nicene and the See also:post-Nicene. This is not an arbitrary cleavage; the See also:Council of Nicaea (A.D. 325) is the See also:watershed which actually separates two great tracts of Christian literature. The ante-Nicene age yields priceless records of the See also:early struggles of See also:Christianity; from it we have received specimens of the early apologetic and the early polemic of the Church, the first essays of Christian See also:philosophy, Christian See also:correspondence, Christian biblical See also:interpretation: we owe to it the works of See also:Justin, See also:Irenaeus, the Alexandrian See also:Clement, Origen, Tertullian, Cyprian. In these products of the 2nd and 3rd centuries there is much which in its own way was not surpassed by any of the later patristic writings. Yet the post-Nicene literature, considered as literature, reaches a far higher level. Both in East and West, the 4th and 5th centuries See also:form the golden age of dogmatic See also:theology, of homiletic See also:preaching, of exposition, of See also:letter-See also:writing, of Church history, of religious See also:poetry. Two causes may be assigned for this fact. The See also:conversion of the See also:empire gave the members of the Church leisure and opportunities for the cultivation of See also:literary See also:taste, and gradually See also:drew the educated classes within the See also:pale of the Christian society. More-over, the great Christological controversies of the age tended to encourage in Christian writers and preachers an intellectual acuteness and an accuracy of thought and expression of which the earlier centuries had See also:riot See also:felt the need. The ante-Nicene period of patristic literature opens with the "apostolic fathers," i.e. the Church writers who flourished toward the end of the apostolic age and during the See also:half century that followed it, including Clement of Rome, See also:Ignatius of See also:Antioch, Polycarp of Smyrna and the author known as " See also:Barnabas." Their writings, like those of the apostles, are epistolary; but See also:editions of the apostolic fathers now usually admit also the early Church order known as the See also:Didache, the See also:allegory entitled the Shepherd, and a See also:short See also:anonymous See also:apology addressed to one See also:Diognetus.

A second See also:

group, known as the " Greek Apologists," embraces See also:Aristides, Justin, Tatian, See also:Athenagoras and See also:Theophilus; and a third consists of the early polemical writers, Irenaeus and 4 In his See also:book De viris illustribus. 5 The term patres See also:apostolici is due to the patristic scholars of the 17th century: see See also:Lightfoot, St Clement of Rome, i. p. 3. "Sub-apostolic " is perhaps a more accurate designation. See also:Hippolytus. Next come the great Alexandrian; Clement, Origen, See also:Dionysius; the Carthaginians, Tertullian and Cyprian; the See also:Romans, Minucius See also:Felix and Novatian; the last four laid the See also:foundations of a Latin Christian literature. Even the stormy days of the last persecution yielded scme considerable writers, such as Meth.odius in the East and Lactantius in the West. This list is far from See also:complete; the See also:principal collections of the ante-Nicene fathers include not a few See also:minor and anonymous writers, and the fragments of many others whose works as a whole have perished. In the post-Nicene period the literary output of the Church was greater. Only the more representative names can be mentioned here. From Alexandria we get Athanasius, Didyrnus and See also:Cyril; from See also:Cyrene, See also:Synesius; from Antioch, See also:Theodore of Mopsuestia, John See also:Chrysostom and See also:Theodoret; from See also:Palestine, See also:Eusebius of Caesarea and Cyril of See also:Jerusalem; from See also:Cappadocia, See also:Basil, Gregory of .Nyssa and Gregory of Nazianzus. The Latin West was scarcely less productive; it is enough to mention Hilary of See also:Poitiers, See also:Ambrose of See also:Milan, See also:Augustine of See also:Hippo, See also:Leo of Rome, Jerome, See also:Rufinus, and a father lately restored to his place in patristic literature, Niceta of Remesiana.' See also:Gaul alone has a goodly list of Christian authors to show: John See also:Cassia's, See also:Vincent of Lerins, Hilary of See also:Arles, Prosper of See also:Aquitaine, See also:Salvian of See also:Marseilles, Sidonius See also:Apollinaris of See also:Auvergne, Caesarius of Arles, Gregory of See also:Tours.

The period ends in the West with two great See also:

Italian names, See also:Cassiodorus and See also:Pope Gregory I., after Leo the greatest of papal theologians. The reader to whom the study is new will gain some See also:idea of the bulk of the extant patristic literature, if we add that in Migne's collection ninety-six large volumes are occupied with the Greek fathers from Clement of Rome to John of Damascus, and seventy-six with the Latin fathers from Tertullian to Gregory the Great.2 For a discussion of the more important fathers the student is referred to the articles which See also:deal with them separately. In this place it is enough to consider the See also:general See also:influence of the patristic writings upon Christian See also:doctrine and biblical interpretation. Can any authority be claimed for their teaching or their exegesis, other than that which belongs to the best writers of every age. The See also:decree of the council of See also:Trent' (ut nemo . . . contra unanimum consensum pairum ipsam scripturam sacram inter pret,See also:art audeat) is studiously moderate, and yet it seems to See also:rule that under certain circumstances it is not permitted to the Church of later times to carry the See also:science of biblical interpretation beyond the point which it had reached at the end of the patristic period. Roman Catholic writers,' however, have explained the See also:prohibition to apply to matters of faith only, and in that case the Tridentine decree is little else than another form of the Vincentian See also:canon which has been widely accepted in the See also:Anglican communion: curandum est ut id teneamus quad ubique, quad See also:semper, quod ab See also:omnibus creditum est. The fathers of the first six or seven centuries, so far as they agree, may be fairly taken to represent the See also:main stream of Christian tradition and belief during the period when the apostolic teaching took shape in the great See also:creeds and dogmatic decisions of Christendom. The See also:English reformers realized this fact; and notwithstanding their insistence on the unique authority of the canon of Scripture, their appeal to the fathers as representatives of the teaching of the undivided Church was as wholehearted as that of the Tridentine divines. Thus the English canon of 1571 directs preachers " to take heed that they do not See also:teach anything in their sermons as though they would have it completely held and believed by the See also:people, See also:save what is agreeable to the doctrine of the Old and New Testaments, and what the Catholic Fathers and ancient Bishops have gathered from that doctrine." Depreciation of the fathers was characteristic, not of the Anglican See also:reformation, but of the The editio princeps of Niceta's works was published by Dr A. E. See also:Burn in 1905.

2 The Greek patrology contains, however, besides the See also:

text, a Latin See also:translation, and in both patrologies there is much editorial See also:matter. Sess. iv. E. G. See also:Mohler, Symbolism (E. tr.) § 42. revolt against some of its fundamental principles which was led by the Puritan reaction.' Now that the See also:smoke of these controversies has passed away, it is possible to form a clearer judgment upon the merits of the patristic writings. They are no longer used as an armoury from which opposite sides may draw effective weapons, offensive or defensive; nor on the other See also:hand are they See also:cast aside as the rubbish of an ignorant and superstitious age. All patristic students now recognize the great inequality of these authors, and admit that they are not See also:free from the faults of their times; it is not denied that much of their exegesis is untenable, or that their See also:logic is often feeble and their See also:rhetoric offensive to See also:modern taste. But against these disadvantages may be set the unique services which the fathers still render to Christian scholars. Their works comprise the whole literature of our faith during the decisive centuries which followed the apostolic age. They are important witnesses to the text of the New Testament, to the history of the canon, and to the history of interpretation. It is to their pages that we owe nearly all that we know of the life of ancient Christianity.

We see in them the thought of the ancient Church taking shape in the minds of her bishops and doctors; and in many cases they See also:

express the results of the great doctrinal controversies of their age in See also:language which leaves Iittle to be desired.' AuTxoRITIEs.--The earliest writer on patristics was Jerome, whose book De viris illustribus gives a brief See also:account of one See also:hundred and See also:thirty-five Church writers, beginning with St Peter and ending with himself. Jerome's See also:work was continued successively by Gennadius of Marseilles, Isidore of See also:Seville, and Ildefonsus of See also:Toledo; the last-named writer brings the list down to the middle of the 7th century. Since the revival of learning books on the fathers have been numerous; among the more See also:recent and most accessible of these we may mention See also:Smith and See also:Wace's See also:Dictionary of Christian See also:Biography, Hauck-See also:Herzog's Realencyklopadie, Bardenhewer's Patrologie and Geschichte der altkirchlichen Litteratur, See also:Harnack's Geschichte der altchristlichen Litteratur bei Eusebius and Ehrard's See also:Die altchristliche Litteratur and ihre Erforschung. A See also:record of patristic collections and editions down to 1839 may be found in Dowling's Notitia Scriptorum SS. Patrum. The contents of the volumes of Migne's patrologies are given in the See also:Catalogue general See also:des livres de l'abbe Migne, and a useful list in alphabetical order of the writers in the Greek Patrologia has been compiled by Dr J. B. See also:Pearson (See also:Cambridge, '1882). Migne's texts are not always satisfactory, but since the completion of his great undertaking two important collections have been begun on See also:critical lines—the See also:Vienna edition of the Latin Church writers,' and the See also:Berlin edition of the Greek writers of the ante-Nicene period' For English readers there are three See also:series of See also:translations from the fathers, which See also:cover much of the ground; the See also:Oxford Library of the Fathers, the Ante Nicene Christian Library and the Select Library of Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers. Satisfactory lexicons of patristic Greek and Latin are still a desideratum: but assistance may be obtained in the study of the Greek fathers from Suicer's See also:Thesaurus, the See also:Lexicon of See also:Byzantine Greek by E. A. See also:Sophocles, and the Lexicon Graecum suppletorium et dialecticum of See also:Van Herwerden; whilst the new great Latin Lexicon, published by the Berlin See also:Academy, is calculated to meet the needs of students of Latin patristic literature.

For a See also:

fuller list of books useful to the reader of the Greek and Latin'fathers see H. B. Swete's Patristic Study (2nd ed., 1902). (H. B.

End of Article: FATHERS OF THE CHURCH

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