Bryan M. Litfin - Getting to Know the Church Fathers: An Evangelical Introduction

2007, 2016 by Bryan M. Litfin

Published by Baker Academic

a division of Baker Publishing Group

P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287

www.bakeracademic.com

Ebook edition created 2016

Ebook corrections 07.25.2017

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meansfor example, electronic, photocopy, recordingwithout the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.

ISBN 978-1-4934-0478-0

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (ESV), copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. ESV Text Edition: 2011

Scripture quotations labeled NASB are from the New American Standard Bible, copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org)

All translations, including Scripture quotations, appearing in the A Taste of... sections are the authors own translation.

Cover i

Title Page ii

Copyright Page iii

Acknowledgments v

Timeline vii

Introduction 1

1. Ignatius of Antioch 21

2. Justin Martyr 41

3. Irenaeus of Lyons 61

4. Tertullian of Carthage 81

5. Perpetua of Carthage 99

6. Origen of Alexandria 119

7. Athanasius of Alexandria 141

8. Ephrem the Syrian 163

9. John Chrysostom 187

10. Augustine of Hippo 209

11. Cyril of Alexandria 231

12. Patrick of Ireland 253

Epilogue 275

Index 277

Back Cover 281

I owe an immeasurable debt to my teachers:

my father, Dr. A. Duane Litfin,

who taught me to think like a Christian;

Drs. Stephen R. Spencer and D. Jeffrey Bingham,

who taught me to think like a scholar;

and Dr. Robert Louis Wilken,

who taught me to think like a catholic.

But most of all, I am grateful for the support of my wife,

Carolyn Litfin,

whom I describe with the words Tertullian used of his own wife:

dilectissima mihi in Domino conserva.

Church fathers indicated with italics.

Some lifespan dates are approximate.

BC

When someone asks me what I do for a living, and I say Im a professor whose academic expertise is the early church fathers, Ive become accustomed to receiving a curious expression. If the person is a stranger, I often ask if he or she is a Roman Catholic because Catholics have been exposed to the fathers of the church. But evangelical Christians often havent. Would that be someone like Jonathan Edwards? one friend asked me, referring to the colonial American theologian. Earlier than that, I replied. From the Roman Empire. Most Christians today havent met the fathers. Perhaps theyve heard of St. Augustine, but thats about it. If this is true in your case, I believe youre missing something valuable. For many readers of this book, this will be your first real encounter with the ancient Christian writers. And so you have embarked on a journey of discovery. To convey that sense of discovery to the students I teach, I use an illustration about a boy I call Billy.