Catholic Thought discussion

Reading Catholic works would not be complete without reading the Church Fathers. Many of these texts are short enough that they lend themselves perfectly as candidates for our short reads. They will nicely round out the major works of the Church Fathers we have read (Augustine’s Confessions) or will read in future. Anyone who reads the Magnificat on a regular basis has read excerpts of their writings, many of which are beautifully worded and of a deep and profound spirituality. Starting with Clement of Rome and his Letter to the Corinthians we will embark on this journey into the early Church.

Reading these in a vacuum and without context will not bear much fruit. I will try to gather as much background information as possible, as the historic circumstances are crucial in understanding why a particular piece was written and how it is to be understood in its proper Catholic context.

Who were the Church Fathers?
The Church Fathers are the successors of the Apostles, the bishops and other religious persons of the early Church up to around 750 AD. John of Damascus is generally thought to be the last Church Father. Many of them are venerated as saints. The earliest ones, such as Clement of Rome, Polycarp, Ignatius of Antioch were direct disciples of the Apostles. They and their successors carried on and preserved the Deposit of Faith in its purity to each new generation which became our Tradition. The Church Fathers left us copious writings. If one were to embark on a reading program to only read the Church Fathers it would take years and comprise thousands and thousands of pages.
I have read some of the Church Fathers, but as most folks embarking on this journey, what I have read is miniscule compared to what I have yet to read.

The Church Fathers also get separated into Latin and Greek, as some of them have had more impact on the Eastern Church and Orthodoxy due to geographic proximity. Now this separation happened as time went on and doesn’t really apply to the earliest ones. All of them are worthy to be read.

Given this enormous volume of material, we obviously won’t be able to read it all. What I have in mind is keeping a theme going, to re-visit the Church Fathers on a semi-regular basis and explore their writings, their times, their concerns, their wisdom, and what they can teach us today.

What did they write?
Just about anything concerning our faith life, spirituality, theology, liturgy, the Church, etc., both internally and externally, dealing with the culture and the conflicts that arose, so the writings have a huge and varying scope. With Clement’s Letter to the Corinthians we have an internal matter shedding light on the structure of the Church and apostolic succession. Half a century later there is Justin Martyr, the first one to write a treatise of apologetics, to explain the Christian faith to non-Christians. In it we find the first description of the Mass – and the structure is still the same to this day! By the end of the 2nd century we have Irenaeus and his copious work Against the Heresies, primarily focusing on Gnosticism. Now Irenaeus is a wordy writer, and he demolishes Gnosticism with such minutiae one’s eyes glaze over! Yet if ever anyone is enamored with Gnosticism, he is in dire need to read Irenaeus. Coming face to face with some of the most convoluted nonsense ever made up by man, Irenaeus's dismissal of it is hard to refute. Even Irenaeus got tired of it. There is a funny passage that we’ll have to read some time as a group.

It is my hope that we all find much enrichment in reading the Church Fathers.
And please feel free to make suggestions on what texts you might be interested in.

Thank you, Kerstin. This is like a seminar.

Thank you, Frances!

Getting to know the Church Fathers can be a daunting endeavor. For one, the way they write is very different. When I first started reading them I was a little lost. These texts are not fast reads. They are very wordy and one easily loses the main train of thought. I've started to have a notebook beside me and writing down the main thought or quotation of each paragraph/chapter. This way the purpose of the text becomes much clearer.

I am really looking forward to seeing everyone's comments to these writings. Reading them in a Catholic context will bring out the full richness of them.

I would love to read more on the church fathers. catholic answers had a sort of primer on them, with selections. would that be a good place to start? or how do you the first one with which to start?
thank you
dorianne

Dorianne wrote: "I would love to read more on the church fathers. catholic answers had a sort of primer on them, with selections. would that be a good place to start? or how do you the first one with which to start..."

First, Dorianne welcome. it's always a pleasure when we have new people. Second, do you realize we are reading Clement's first letter right now. The folder with the background and discussion is right here:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/group...

Third, at my parish we have a group that reads a book throughout the year and this year it's Mike Aqulina's The Fathers of the Church: An Introduction to the First Christian Teachers. We've only had one meeting so we haven't gotten very far into it. But it looks like a good survey of all the Fathers. Perhaps we can nominate it for our next read, and of course it has to get voted in.

Fourth, make yourself comfortable around our book club boards. If there is anything I can help you with, let me know.

Manny wrote: "Dorianne wrote: "I would love to read more on the church fathers. catholic answers had a sort of primer on them, with selections. would that be a good place to start? or how do you the first one wi..."

I would recommend When the Church Was Young: Voices of the Early Fathers by Marcellino D'Ambrosio, as a good introduction. It provides some context and some biographical info on the major church fathers, along with a taste of their writings.

edit: oops, sorry! I guess this should have gone in the other thread about books and resources...

No problem, Maria!
I will add the title to the list:) it sounds like a great book.

Maria wrote: "Manny wrote: "Dorianne wrote: "I would love to read more on the church fathers. catholic answers had a sort of primer on them, with selections. would that be a good place to start? or how do you th..."

Sister, that book came highly recommended to me, so much so that I bought it and it's on my bookshelf at this point unread. I would love to have that as one of our book club reads.