• Source: Patristics

Patristics or patrology is the study of the early Christian writers who are designated Church Fathers. The names derive from the combined forms of Latin pater and Greek πᾰτήρ (father). The period of the Church Fathers, commonly called the Patristic era, is generally considered to run from the end of New Testament times or end of the Apostolic Age (c. AD 100) to either AD 451 (the date of the Council of Chalcedon) or to the Second Council of Nicaea in 787.




Eras



The Church Fathers are generally divided into the Ante-Nicene Fathers, those who lived and wrote before the Council of Nicaea (325) and the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, those who lived and wrote after 325. Also, the division of the Fathers into Greek and Latin writers is also common. Some of the most prominent Greek Fathers are Justin Martyr, Athanasius of Alexandria, Basil of Caesarea, Gregory of Nazianzus, John Chrysostom, Cyril of Alexandria, and Maximus the Confessor. Among the Latin Fathers are Tertullian, Cyprian, Jerome, Ambrose of Milan, Augustine of Hippo, and Gregory the Great.
There were also Church Fathers who wrote in languages other than Greek or Latin, such as Coptic, Syriac, Ge'ez, and Armenian, among others. Historically, Chalcedonian Christians have had less interest in these authors since the associated churches ended up rejecting the councils of Chalcedon (becoming Oriental Orthodox), or Ephesus (becoming the Church of the East). Recently this has begun to change, with the easing of tensions between these branches of Christianity and the Western and Byzantine ones. There are Eastern Catholics who follow Oriental rites while remaining in communion with Rome.




Locations



The major locations of the early Church fathers were Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, and the area of western north Africa around Carthage. Milan and Jerusalem were also sites.




Key theological developments


Major focuses for these theologians during the period are, in chronological order, Christianity's relationship with Judaism; the establishment of the New Testament canon; apologetics (the 'defense' or 'explanation' of Christianity); and doctrinal discussions that sought to achieve consistency of faith, in particular within the Christianised Roman Empire. Following the scholar of Christianity Alister McGrath (1998), several major areas of theology can be seen to have developed during the Patristic Period: the extent of the New Testament canon, the role of tradition, the fixing of the ecumenical creeds, the two natures of Christ, the doctrine of the Trinity, the doctrine of the Church, and the doctrine of divine grace.




Key persons






Obstacles to 21st-century understanding


Alister McGrath notes four reasons why understanding patristics can be difficult in the early 21st-century:

Some of the debates appear to have little relevance to the modern world
the use of classical philosophy
the doctrinal diversity
the divisions between East and West, i.e., Greek and Latin methods of theology, the extent of use of classical philosophy.
The terms neo-patristics and post-patristics refer to recent theologies according to which the Church Fathers must be reinterpreted or even critically tested in light of modern developments since their writings reflected that of a distant past. These theologies, however, are considered controversial or even dangerous by orthodox theologians.




Patrology vs. patristics


Some scholars, chiefly in Germany, distinguish patrologia from patristica. Josef Fessler, for instance, defines patrologia as the science which provides all that is necessary for the using of the works of the Fathers, dealing, therefore, with their authority, the criteria for judging their genuineness, the difficulties to be met within them, and the rules for their use. But Fessler's own Institutiones Patrologiae has a larger range, as have similar works entitled Patrologies, for example, that of Otto Bardenhewer (tr. Shahan, Freiburg, 1908). Catholic writer Karl Keating argues that patrology is the study of the Early Fathers and their contemporaries as people, and the authenticity of the works attributed to them. Patristics, on the other hand, is the study of their thought.
On the other hand, Fessler describes patristica as that theological science by which all that concerns faith, morals, or discipline in the writings of the Fathers is collected and sorted. The lives and works of the Fathers are also described by a non-specialized science: literary history. These distinctions are not much observed, nor do they seem very necessary; they are nothing else than aspects of patristic study as it forms part of fundamental theology, of positive theology, and of literary history.




Availability of patristic texts



A vast number of patristic texts are available in their original languages in Jacques Paul Migne's two great patrologies, Patrologia Latina and Patrologia Graeca. For Syriac and other Eastern languages the Patrologia Orientalis (Patrologia Syriaca earlier) is less complete and can be largely supplemented by the Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium. Noted collections containing re-edited patristic texts (also discoveries and new attributions) are the Corpus Christianorum, Sources Chrétiennes, Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum, and on a lesser scale Oxford Early Christian Texts, Fontes Christiani, and Études Augustiniennes.
English translations of patristic texts are readily available in a variety of collections. For example:

The Ante-Nicene Fathers: The Writings of the Fathers Down to A.D.325 (Edinburgh: T&T Clark).
A Select Library of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church (Edinburgh: T&T Clark).
The Works of Saint Augustine, A Translation for the 21st Century (New York City Press).
The Fathers of the Church (Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America Press).
Ancient Christian Writers (New York: Paulist Press).
The Early Church Fathers (London; New York: Routledge-Taylor & Francis Group).
The Popular Patristics Series (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir's Seminary Press).
A range of journals cover patristic studies:

Augustinian Studies
Church History (journal)
The Journal of Ecclesiastical History
Journal of Early Christian Studies
Studia Patristica
Vigiliae Christianae




See also


Armenian studies
Coptology
Early Christianity
Ethiopian Studies
First seven ecumenical councils
Historiography of early Christianity
Nag Hammadi library
Papyrology
Popular Patristics Series
Syriac studies
Women in the patristic age
List of Christian women of the patristic age




Notes






References






Sources


"Patrology". Catholic Encyclopedia. 1911.
Gérard Vallée (1999). The shaping of Christianity. New York: Paulist Press. ISBN 978-0809138678.




External links


Audio

"Patristics for Busy Pastors by Dr J Ligon Duncan". Archived from the original on 13 May 2008.
"Church History 1: Dr Gerald Bray". Archived from the original on 19 May 2008.
Patristics: The Fathers of the Church. Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America.
Online collections

"Early Church Fathers: Ante-Nicene and Post-Nicene". Christian Classics Ethereal Library.
"Early Church Fathers: Additional Texts". The Tertullian Project.
"Large collection of patristic texts that outline the cardinal doctrines of the Catholic faith". cin.org.
J. P. Migne. "Patrologia Latina". and "Patrologia Graeca". free digital edition of almost all the texts.
"The comprehensive Patrologia compiled by J. P. Migne". Faulkner University Patristics Project. Archived from the original on 18 July 2012. English translations of patristic texts and high-resolution scans.
J. P. Migne (1864). Patrologiae cursus completus (in Latin).
"Free digital bilingual edition of patristic texts, studies, meditations, prayers" (in French, Latin, and Greek).
"A 38 volume set containing most of the major works of the first 800 years of Christian patristic writings".
"Ecole Initiative". Archived from the original on 28 December 2005. Online collection of patristic texts, images, and information.
Others

"Search tool for Patrologia Graeca". Archived from the original on 20 January 2021. Retrieved 1 October 2016.
"Roger Pearse: Thoughts on Antiquity and Patristics". 7 March 2024.
"Website of the North American Patristics Society".
"Website of the International Association of Patristics Studies". Archived from the original on 4 February 2007.

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