The Church Fathers

[Dave G]

I would like for posters to post vital differences and telling anecdotes about the Church Fathers, to give us a clearer idea of who thought and taught what.
I thought of this while reading a twentieth - century biography of important Christians.
In the Preface was a description of Origen. Apparently he was a universalist (who knew?) a literalist (to the point of castrating himself to cure his lust), and made important teachings for historical criticism. His father was martyred for his belief, and Origen was prepared to run outside and be martyred with him, but his mother hid his clothes.
Who else was an important church father, and feel free to add more of Origen, I haven't studied the Fathers yet.

[Lost]

I would like for posters to post vital differences and telling anecdotes about the Church Fathers, to give us a clearer idea of who thought and taught what.
I thought of this while reading a twentieth - century biography of important Christians.
In the Preface was a description of Origen. Apparently he was a universalist (who knew?) a literalist (to the point of castrating himself to cure his lust), and made important teachings for historical criticism. His father was martyred for his belief, and Origen was prepared to run outside and be martyred with him, but his mother hid his clothes.
Who else was an important church father, and feel free to add more of Origen, I haven't studied the Fathers yet.

God says "do not call anyone on earth 'father,' for you have one Father, and he is in heaven"

Do not look to the so-called "church fathers" but rather to you heavenly Father.

[Dave G]

God says "do not call anyone on earth 'father,' for you have one Father, and he is in heaven"

Do not look to the so-called "church fathers" but rather to you heavenly Father.

Matthew 23:8-10 (New International Version)




8"But you are not to be called 'Rabbi,' for you have only one Master and you are all brothers. 9And do not call anyone on earth 'father,' for you have one Father, and he is in heaven. 10Nor are you to be called 'teacher,' for you have one Teacher, the Christ. "

Why didn't you quote the entire context? Is it because you call people "teachers"?
So Lost, do you call anyone on earth "teacher"? Why or why not? And should you contact the Vatican and tell them the practice of calling priests "fathers" is unbiblical?
I'll argue this with you, but please take it to another thread to do so.
It's my thread, and I only want responses from people that study the full church, and understand that the title "Church Fathers" is only a convention of speech.

[Lost]

Matthew 23:8-10 (New International Version)




8"But you are not to be called 'Rabbi,' for you have only one Master and you are all brothers. 9And do not call anyone on earth 'father,' for you have one Father, and he is in heaven. 10Nor are you to be called 'teacher,' for you have one Teacher, the Christ. "

Why didn't you quote the entire context? Is it because you call people "teachers"?
So Lost, do you call anyone on earth "teacher"? Why or why not? And should you contact the Vatican and tell them the practice of calling priests "fathers" is unbiblical?
I'll argue this with you, but please take it to another thread to do so.
It's my thread, and I only want responses from people that study the full church, and understand that the title "Church Fathers" is only a convention of speech.

Go argue with yourself then :)
Did you mention "teachers"?
Did you mention "rabbi"?
You mentioned father - so I quoted father - seems you are just spoiling for an argument - go argue with yourself.

[Dave G]

Go argue with yourself then :)
Did you mention "teachers"?
Did you mention "rabbi"?
You mentioned father - so I quoted father - seems you are just spoiling for an argument - go argue with yourself.

err...I DID mention 'teachers," that was the main point of my post to you.
I didn't mention "rabbi's" (although Jews call their teachers rabbis) because I thought it would be a term you didn't use on a regular basis.
What the heck makes you think I'm spoiling for an argument? You are the one who posted a chastising post to me.
If you are leaving, then fine.
*We now return you to your regular thread broadcast.*

[studyhound]

here is a collection of free ECF
and the foxes book of MARTYRS have some good anecdotes of the early churches martyrs, incudi
ng the ECF

[Rusty T]

Who else was an important church father, and feel free to add more of Origen, I haven't studied the Fathers yet.

The Pope is doing a sermon series on the Fathers of the Church. His most recent being St. Irenaeus of Lyons. You can find it here. Here's a snippet.

Irenaeus is above all a man of faith and a pastor. Like the Good Shepherd, he has prudence, a richness of doctrine, and missionary zeal. As a writer, he aims for a twofold objective: to defend true doctrine from the attacks of the heretics, and to clearly expound the truth of the faith. His two works still in existence correspond exactly to the fulfillment of these two objectives: the five books "Against Heresies," and the "Demonstration of Apostolic Preaching" (which could be called the oldest "catechism of Christian doctrine"). Without a doubt, Irenaeus is the champion in the fight against heresies.

The Church of the second century was threatened by so-called gnosticism, a doctrine which claimed that the faith taught by the Church was nothing more than symbolism for the simpleminded, those unable to grasp more difficult things. Instead, the initiated, the intellectuals -- they called themselves gnostics -- could understand what was behind the symbolism, and thus would form an elite, intellectual Christianity.

[Rusty T]

Oh, I found a link to all of Pope Benedict's Wednesday audiences, where's he's studying the Church Fathers. Found here: http://www.zenit.org/english/audience/

rusty

[Glenn P]

Go argue with yourself then :)
Did you mention "teachers"?
Did you mention "rabbi"?
You mentioned father - so I quoted father - seems you are just spoiling for an argument - go argue with yourself.

Dork.


You bust into the thread, off topic as you did, and then accuse someone else of spoiling for an argument.



My reply to the first post - Origen was a literalist in some ways, an in other ways not. His allegorical approach to many texts, for example, suggest that he was not usually such a literalist.

[Dave G]

Dork.


You bust into the thread, off topic as you did, and then accuse someone else of spoiling for an argument.



My reply to the first post - Origen was a literalist in some ways, an in other ways not. His allegorical approach to many texts, for example, suggest that he was not usually such a literalist.

Thanks guys...that is a lot of material.
I forgot, Theo, that Origen was allegorical...I think that was how he treated the creation account.

[Lost]

Go argue with yourself then :)
Did you mention "teachers"?
Did you mention "rabbi"?
You mentioned father - so I quoted father - seems you are just spoiling for an argument - go argue with yourself.

This sounds too acidic to me.
I am sorry for that.
I stand by what I said but not the way I said it.
Anyway I will leave you to enjoy the thread in the way that you wish.

[Dave G]

This sounds too acidic to me.
I am sorry for that.
I stand by what I said but not the way I said it.
Anyway I will leave you to enjoy the thread in the way that you wish.

no problem, Lost, have a good weekend.