Why You Should Read the Early Church Fathers and Mothers

by Dr. Jackson Lashier

In the 21st century world, newer is always better. Advertisers bombard us with the latest clothing fashions, celebrities show us the newest hairstyles or beard or makeup trends, and big tech constantly releases some newer and better gadget. I Phones purchased last month are already obsolete and today’s preferred social media platform will be tomorrow’s joke (as will anyone who is still on it). In fact, the biggest cultural sin these days is to be behind the times, whether that means having “old fashioned” ideas, using “outdated” language, or wearing “last season’s” Birks (though by the time this is read Birks will probably be out altogether, if they aren’t already).

In such a context, it seems strange to look not to what is new but to what is old for wisdom and guidance. Yet, that’s just what Christians do. We claim the Bible, written 2,000 to 3,000 years ago, as our primary authority for how to live. Moreover, whether we know it or not, the ways we interpret and understand the Bible likewise come from the earliest writings of Christianity. For these writings drew from Scripture the core beliefs that Christians still affirm as well as the liturgies that mark, to varying degrees, modern Christian worship services. Therefore, the best way to understand the Bible is not to read the latest Christian bestseller on Amazon, but to read these oldest Christian writings. 

This era of Christianity, consisting of the first 500 years or so, is called the age of the Church Fathers or, to use the fancier title, the Patristic Age after the Latin word patres for “fathers.” (This title, so given because most of the writers at this time were men, is inaccurate as women were heavily involved in the early Christian movement—for example, the Virgin Mary, Mary Magdalene, Priscilla, and Tabitha in the New Testament and the female martyrs and monastics of the second through fifth centuries—even if not many of their writings survive.) These were the first Christians who had to wrestle with the application of Jesus’s teachings for our lives, the meaning of his death on the cross and his resurrection from the grave, the relationship of the Church to Israel, and the like. Through this era, several councils of church leaders met and, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, agreed upon these central beliefs and put them into short, easily memorized statements of faith. These statements, known as creeds (from the Latin word credo meaning “I believe”), are recited in most churches today as true statements of the redemptive story of Scripture. Thus, while Scripture is the primary authority for all Christian beliefs and practices, the writings of the Patristic era give us the definitive interpretations by which to understand it. 

This may sound jarring at first for it seems to suggest that the writings of the Patristic era are as, or even more, authoritative than the Bible. This is not the case, however, as the Fathers and Mothers of this era themselves make clear. Indeed, they consistently point not to themselves but to Scripture as the lone authoritative source of revelation. In the words of a fourth century bishop, 

[T]here is a distinct boundary line separating all productions subsequent to apostolic times from the authoritative canonical books of the Old and New Testaments. The authority of these books has come down to us from the apostles through the successions of bishops and the extension of the Church….In the innumerable books that have been written [later] we may sometimes find the same truth as in Scripture, but there is not the same authority. Scripture has a sacredness peculiar to itself (Augustine, Reply to Faustus 11.5).

 The writings of the Patristic era, in other words, do not replace Scripture or even stand side by side with it. Rather, they illuminate Scripture by helping us to read it correctly. Using these writings to help us understand Scripture is like using more recent Star Wars films (Rogue One or The Mandalorian for example) to understand the original Star Wars story. As any true Star Wars fan knows, Episodes 4-6 remain the authoritative and primary story, but these later works illuminate aspects of this story in helpful ways (who knew that Boba Fett survives?).

This gives us two reasons to read the writings of the Patristic age. First, they show us the scriptural grounding of the beliefs we hold as true. To cite just one example, the central Christian belief is that God is Trinity, one being who exists eternally as a communion of persons, Father, Son, and Spirit. However, while Scripture says much about God’s essence, no verse states that God is Trinity. Why, then, is this belief so central and how can I trust its scriptural character? The writings of the Patristic era provide the answer for over the course of several centuries, many different writers came to realize that the distinct, divine actors in Scripture’s story—the Father, the Word or Son, and the Holy Spirit—had to each be unified for the story to make sense. Only if our savior is fully human with us and fully divine with the Father, are we saved from our sins. Only if the Spirit who is among us now is fully divine with the Father are we reunited with God. Only if Father, Son, and Spirit together create the world can it be called good and, in the end, be redeemed. So while there is not one verse that articulates the Trinity, the belief undergirds the entirety of scripture as the earliest Christian writings demonstrate. The same goes for all our beliefs and practices, but unless we understand their scriptural logic, we will not fully live by their truth.

Which leads to the second reason for reading these early writings, namely, they teach us how to read scripture. Most Christians, myself included for much of my life, have no idea how to read scripture. We read a verse here or a verse there. Sometimes we start reading in Genesis but quit by the time we reach Leviticus. And forget about reading something as seemingly meaningless to my life as Lamentations. So we usually stick to the New Testament, if we read at all. As my own experience bears out, this haphazard manner of reading is a poor recipe for understanding Scripture. The Church Fathers and Mothers show us a better way. They read Scripture like a story with a beginning (creation and God’s purposes), middle (the story of Israel and fall into unfaithfulness), and ending (the story of Jesus and the redemption of the world). They read the Old Testament through the lens of the New Testament and thereby bring understanding to its, sometimes, confusing content. When passages have no application on the literal level, they turn to analogy (the lamenting of the destruction of the Jewish Temple in Lamentations is like the lamenting of a human separated from God). Because of such reading methods, the Scripture comes alive and speaks to us directly. 

Indeed, the content and reading methods of these earliest writings somehow make the scriptures new. That alone should be enough for a 21st century Christian to give them a try.

After you Read

What did you find most compelling or challenging about this article? Why?

Reflect on where you learned how to read scripture. Who taught you? Who continues to teach you?