Book Critique: Getting to Know the Church Fathers
Introduction
Bryan M. Litfin was an associate professor of theology at Moody Bible Institute, and his expertise is in the early church fathers. He wrote a book entitled Getting to Know the Church Fathers: An Evangelical Introduction that helps Christians better understand who the church fathers were and what they taught and fought for. When he talks about the church fathers, he also tells the history behind what happened then. He goes through the history of the persecution and the trials Christians faced at that time. Then, he talks about the history during and after Constantine, when the persecution of Christians was over, and what new challenges this brought to the Christian faith. Throughout the book, he also wants to address some of the misconceptions placed on the church fathers. Some of these misconceptions are: "the church fathers were not biblical,”[1] “the church fathers were Roman Catholic,”[2] “the church fathers represent the ‘fall’ of Christianity.”[3]
False Claim: The Church Fathers Represent the “Fall” of Christianity
Let's look at one of the main themes throughout the book. This central theme is Litfin’s approach of disproving the misconception that the early church fathers represented the "fall" of Christianity. In contrast, after reading his book, he shows that the early church fathers did not represent the "fall" of Christianity but the preservation of Christianity. In his book, Christianity can be broken up into two different parts. The first part is before Constantine gained power; this was the time of persecution, and the second part is after Constantine gained power; this was the time of theological debates.
Time of Persecution
During the first part of Christianity, the Christians were tortured and even killed just because of their name and their beliefs. Many of the church fathers in this period went to their deaths, still proclaiming Jesus as the Savior. One prominent church father who stood out during this period was Justin Martyr. Litfin shows how Justin defended the Christian faith up to his death. Justin also fought against false claims against Christianity and wrote many apologies to explain what Christians believe and why they practice their faith the way they do.
Litfin also shows how willing the early Christians were to face death because of their faith. When talking about Ignatius of Antioch, he says, "Death for the name of Jesus was something Ignatius greatly desired."[4] Now, why would the Christians be so willing to go to their death for Jesus? Was it because they wanted the honor and prestige of being a martyr? I don't think so; one reason they were so willing to face death is because, through their death, the message of Christ spread. Litfin says, "Even as some Christians were dying in the arena, others were being born again. The word martyr mean 'witness.’”[5] Through the early Christians' deaths, they were witnessing to others about Christ. Their blood was the seed planted in many hearts. So, these early Christians did not cause the "fall" of Christianity, but they were a reason Christianity spread the way it did.
Time of Power
Even when looking at the second part of Christianity, the time after Constantine gained power, we can see, through Liftin's book, that the early church fathers were not the "fall" of Christianity. In this book, we see that after Constantine gained power, the problem of persecution had ended, but a new problem arose. During this time, many people were teaching a gospel contrary to what the Bible teaches. One of these big debates was on the Trinity. A man named Arius taught that Jesus was not eternal, but God created him.[6] This went against the Bible's teaching that Jesus was fully man and fully God. Since this teaching was beginning to spread rapidly, the early church fathers had to do something about it to preserve the Christian faith. Athanasius fought fervently against this heresy and later won the debate at the council in Nicaea. This was just the first of many heretical teachings. Every time a teaching contradicted the Bible, the early church fathers were there to fight against it.
After reading this book, it became clear that the early church fathers were not the "fall" of Christianity. Litfin defends the church fathers from this false claim. The church fathers helped preserve the faith, and if it wasn't for their dedication to the scriptures and Christ, I don't know where Christianity would be today. They should never be considered ones who hurt the gospel teachings but who set an example for us to defend and protect our teachings and beliefs.
False Claim: Early Church Fathers Were Unbiblical
Another big theme throughout this book is another fight against a false claim about the early church fathers. This other false claim is that the early church fathers were not biblical, but when reading this book and studying the lives of the early church fathers, it is apparent that they were astutely biblical and watched very closely how they interpreted and taught the Scriptures.
This is not to say there were not a few black sheep in the flock. Origen, in my opinion, was one of these black sheep. His teachings and the interpretation of the Scriptures often went against what the Bible teaches. Litfin, when talking about what Origen believed, says, “he said there is a hierarchy within the Trinity, so that the Son is subordinate to the Father, and the Holy Spirit is a created being.”[7] Litfin then goes on and tries to defend Origen for his beliefs. “To be fair we must remember that the theological position of the Christian church on these points had not yet been firmly established.”[8] Even though, as Litfin said, the theological position of the Christian church had not yet been established, the teaching of the Bible had already been, and it never changed. So it did seem that Origen often went against Scripture or at least tried to interpret it differently than what it was initially intended to be because he had even believed that the resurrection bodies were not physical and that, eventually, the purifying fires of hell would reform all creatures, even the Devil.[9] Although it seems that Origen was a black sheep among the flock of the early church fathers, the rest of them were very biblical in their teachings. As stated in the book, many went into a monastic lifestyle to saturate themselves in the Word and build on their knowledge and relationship with God. Also, many fought against anyone who taught anything contrary to what the Bible taught.
Conclusion
This book is a must-read for all Christians. It helps us better understand our Christian faith and what the early church fathers went through to preserve it. It can also help strengthen a Christian's faith and motivate them to be as bold and willing to defend it as the early Christian fathers were.
