patristic literature

 

Christian writings of the first few centuries. They are chiefly in Greek and Latin; there is analogous writing in Syriac and in Armenian. The first period of patristic literature (1st–2d cent.) includes the works of St. Clement I, St. Ignatius of Antioch, St. Polycarp, and Papias, the writing known as the Shepherd of Hermas (see Hermas, Shepherd of), the Didache, and the first Christian Pseudepigrapha. The writers of the 3d cent., often called the ante-Nicene Fathers, are principally St. Justin Martyr, Clement of Alexandria, St. Irenaeus, Origen, Tertullian, and St. Cyprian. The last two of these are the earliest Fathers to write in Latin. As Christianity established itself, the interest shifted from apologetics to the new theological questions and to sermons and exegesis of Scripture. In the 4th and 5th cent. the number of writers increased greatly. The chief writers in Greek were Eusebius of Caesarea, St. Gregory Nazianzen, St. Gregory of Nyssa, St. Basil the Great, St. John Chrysostom, St. Cyril (of Jerusalem), St. Cyril (of Alexandria), and St. Athanasius. Among the Latin Fathers were St. Hilary of Poitiers, St. Ambrose, St. Augustine, St. Jerome (who set a standard for later Latin in the Vulgate), Cassian, Salvian, St. Hilary of Arles, St. Caesarius of Arles, and St. Gregory of Tours. The list in the West is closed conventionally with St. Gregory I, although St. Bernard of Clairvaux is often called the last of the Fathers. The canon of Greek Fathers is closed with St. John of Damascus. There is a monumental collection of the Fathers (to Innocent III in the West and to the fall of Constantinople in the East) by Jacques Paul Migne; the Greek texts are accompanied by Latin translations. There are several collections of the Fathers in English, including new editions recently undertaken, and innumerable individual translations.

Patristics or Patrology is the study of early Christian writers, known as the Church Fathers. The names derive from the Latin pater (father). The period is generally considered to run from the end of New Testament times (around 100 AD) until around the 8th century.

Some writers, chiefly in Germany, have distinguished between patrologia and patristica: Josef Fessler, for instance, defines patrologia as the science which provides all that is necessary for the using of the works of the Fathers, dealing, therefore, with their authority, the criteria for judging their genuineness, the difficulties to be met within them, and the rules for their use. But Fessler's own "Institutiones Patrologi" has a larger range, as have similar works entitled Patrologies, of which the most serviceable is that of Bardenhewer (tr. Shahan, Freiburg, 1908). On the other hand, Fessler describes patristica as that theological science by which all that concerns faith, morals, or discipline in the writings of the Fathers is collected and sorted. The lives and works of the Fathers are also described by a non-specialized science: literary history. These distinctions are not much observed, nor do they seem very necessary; they are nothing else than aspects of patristic study as it forms part of fundamental theology, of positive theology, and of literary history.

The church fathers are generally divided into the Ante-Nicene Fathers, those who lived and wrote before the Council of Nicaea (325) and the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, those who lived and wrote after 325. In addition, the division of the fathers into Greek and Latin writers is also common. Examples of the former are Justin Martyr and Cyril of Alexandria. Among the Latin Fathers are Tertullian and Augustine of Hippo.

Most patristic texts are available in J.-P. Migne's two great Patrologies, Patrologia Latina and Patrologia Graeca. For Syriac and other oriental languages the Patrologia Orientalis is less complete and can be largely supplemented by the Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium. Noted collections containing re-edited patristic texts (also discoveries and new attributions) are the Corpus Christianorum, Sources Chrétiennes and on a lesser scale Oxford Early Christian Texts, Fontes Christiani (also Etudes Augustiniennes).

Sources and External links

• Catholic Encyclopedia- Patrology
• Ante-Nicene, Nicene and Post Nicene Fathers Collection A 38 volume set containing most of the major works of the first 800 years of Christian patristic writings.
• Corunum Large collection of patristic texts that outline the cardinal doctrines of the Catholic faith.
• Ecole Initiative Online collection of patristic texts, images, and information.
• Faulkner University Patristics Project A growing collection of English translations of patristic texts and high-resolution scans from the comprehensive Patrologia compiled by J. P. Migne.
• Patristics In English Project An online initiative whose aim is to scan and present all out of copyright patristic texts as well as providing new translations of previously untranslated patristic texts.
• St. Pachomius Library Large collection of various patristic texts and information dealing with Eastern Orthodoxy.
• The Tertullian Project A scholarly site devoted to the study of the second century Latin patristic writer Tertullian. Also includes many out of copyright patristic texts.
• International Association of Patristics Studies
• L'Istituto Patristico Augustinianum di Roma
• North American Patristics Society
• "Way of the Fathers" Weblog

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