THE FATHERS OF THE CHURCH:

AN INTRODUCTION TO THE FIRST CHRISTIAN TEACHERS

By Mike Aquilina

Our Sunday Visitor Publishing Division, 2006

287 pages, $13.95

To order: osv.com

1-800-348-2440

When I was a theology student in the late ’70s and early ’80s, the “Fathers of the Church” were Karl Rahner, Edward Schillebeeckx, and Hans Küng.

In contrast, we had a lot of students from a local Orthodox seminary, who seemed to be reared on a diet of St. John Chrysostom, St. Basil, and St. Gregory of Nyssa.

Happily, however, the Church Fathers are back. Writing in 2006 in “First Things,” R.R. Reno observed that “the patriarchs of orthodoxy are reascendant.”

The Fathers’ return to the classroom is truly welcome, but — after all — John Chrysostom didn’t get called “Golden-Mouthed” because of his lectures but because of his sermons. Happily, there is also growing popular interest in the Fathers. Mike Aquilina’s book will fan that flame.

Why study the Fathers? They were guardians of the faith. St. Vincent of Lerins provides this reason: “In the Catholic Church, all care must be taken to hold to the faith that has been believed everywhere, always, and by all. For that is truly and in the strictest sense ‘Catholic’. ... This rule we observe if we follow universality, antiquity, and consent. We follow universality if we confess ... the faith that the whole Church throughout the world confesses. We follow antiquity if we in no way deviate from the interpretations that our holy ancestors and fathers have proclaimed as inviolable. We follow in consent ... if in antiquity we adhere to the definitions and decisions of all (or at least almost all) the priests and doctors.”

Aquilina provides an introduction to and excerpts from all of the main Latin and Greek Fathers. The 31 men include both the well-known (like St. Augustine) and the little-known (like Ephrem of Syria).

In a comprehensive and masterful survey, Aquilina presents all the major patristic figures. Each Father is preceded by a brief biographical sketch explaining who he was, what he did, and why it was important.

At least one excerpt from that Father’s writings follow. While giving a flavor for the issues of the author’s day, the excerpts are not merely dry historical passages.

Aquilina’s masterful anthology nourishes the contemporary reader’s spirituality, addressing issues like “To Work and to Pray” (Benedict of Nursia), “A Song for Christmas” (Ephrem of Syria) and “When Someone Gossips about You” (Maximus the Confessor).

Those selections corroborate an underlying thesis of the book: that the Fathers remain cogent authorities on the spiritual life even for Christians today. At the same time, Aquilina situates the Fathers firmly in their own times, choosing excerpts illustrative of issues they had to address.

While certainly appropriate for undergraduate theology classes, the primary audience for this book should be a general Catholic readership interested in learning about the Fathers and the Church.

Aquilina’s love for the Church Fathers might inspire him to update M.F. Toal’s old “Sunday Sermons of the Great Fathers” according to the new Lectionary. Such a project could greatly bolster the quality of Sunday homilies.

John M. Grondelski writes from Washington, D.C.