Customer Reviews

The Fathers of the Church: An Introduction to the First Christian Teachers

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Mr. Aquilina made the Fathers of the Church come alive for me. Through his compelling stories of these courageous men's lives, I came to see that people like Ambrose, Athanasius, Tertullian, and all the rest are not just "THE Fathers" but rather, "MY Fathers" who left me an incredible inheritance: The saving Truth of Jesus Christ. A great book!

Prior to reading this book I had read excerpts of the writings of the early Church Fathers, read about Church history and the process which decided which Christian writings were to be included in the bible, read about the development of Church Doctrine and the early heresies and read about the importance of both Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition, yet I have never read any work which has taken these sometimes complex facts and ideas and explained them in a way in which they all, so easily, fit together. While clearly an introduction, rather than an indepth treatise, this work is not short on backup. Aquilina references both Scripture and the Catholic Catechism to support his work and includes an appendix of works for those who want to study the topics he covers in more detail.

The writings of the Church Fathers included in this book are a joy to read and are relevant to living in today's world and appreciating the history and tradition of Christianity and the Catholic Church. This is a remarkable work.

This is an excellent overview for intelligent Christians who are looking for a place to begin to understand Patristics (the writings of the Church Fathers). I can't think of anything that is more important for a Christian or a student of Christianity. We strive to hear the Spirit, but sometimes we disregard the Spirit speaking through Tradition.

Aquilina's brief, readable book serves as an introduction to the Fathers and how their ideas relate to the great councils of the Church. He follows that foreword with 3 chapters, one for those thinkers who preceded the Council of Nicaea, those who were contemporaneous, and those who followed it. For each Father, Aquilina gives a well-researched biographical sketch, followed by a representive piece of that Father's writing. It's a nice blend of commentary and tract, context and text. The author's prose is sharp, direct, concise and unobtrusive, the selections well-chosen. The result is an eminently readable book that leaves you wanting to drink more deeply at the Patristic well.

Mike Aquilina does a nice job introducing The Fathers of the Church. This is a really good book for one to try if he thinks he may be interested in early Church history. Although this is not an indepth and scholarly work, it gives a good representation of this era.

Aquilina intends solely to give a brief overview of the Church Fathers. He does not set out to discuss any controversies, to perform textual criticism, or to give in-depth information regarding any particular Father.

Rather, he presents a brief synopsis of the Church Fathers. This book is highly entertaining. I highly recommend it for any beginners in Patristics or any advanced reader who would like some light, yet quite informative reading.

With a growing interest within the Church concerning the beliefs of the earliest Christians, there has been an avalanche of books on the patristic period. One of the best introductory volumes is provided by Catholic author Mike Aquilina with The Fathers of the Church. Too often books on the topic tends more towards apologetics and prooftexting the Fathers against modern ecclesial disputes. Aquilina, although obviously firmly in the Roman fold, avoids that here and gives a much broader sample of their writings than those allegedly pertinent to contemporary ecclesial disputes.

The book opens with an introduction that focuses on the importance of studying the Fathers. The Church, like any family, has a history, and we should get to know our spiritual ancestors. More importantly, they wrote at a time prior to the Church's current divisions and can lend light on issues free of contemporary partisan concerns. By studying their writings, we can begin to appropriate the legacy of the early Church for ourselves.

The main portion of the book is divided into four sections covering the Apostolic, Pre-Nicene, Nicene, and Post-Nicene Fathers. Each is given a brief introduction and then a selection from their writings is presented. The strength here is in the variety with topics ranging from the Sacraments to martyrdom, from Church unity to the family. While the treatment is certainly not exhaustive (the writing of the Fathers could fill many large volumes), it is excellent for a small book. An appendix listing sources for further study and a helpful timeline close the book.

There is definitely a need for the Church to refamiliarize itself with the writings of its earliers members. Mike Aquilina has for some time been involved in such work in the Catholic Church through his books and website. The Fathers of the Church fills a much needed niche in such a ministry and is essential reading for those beginning to explore the widom of the ancient Christians.

I highly recommend this book . It is a quick, easy, yet excellent introduction the the Fathers of The Church and the Patristic period. It is not a deep, comprehensive, scholarly account of their lives and works: the author admits this openly in the preface. He says something like: "I strove just to tell the story of the early Church as a family, and how the 'fathers' protected their 'family.'" In this respect, which is how the book is set up, Aquilina has done an amazing job. One who expects the book to be a full, all-encompassing account of the early Church which doesn't occasionally gloss over details should look at the book's dimensions. If you're looking for that, don't buy this book. If you are relatively new to the Fathers, this is good springboard to get you interested in them and move into deeper study.

In short: The book's aims are merely to introduce the fathers of the church; it does this superbly; therefore, it is a good book in its own right.

The first Christian fathers provide a great deal of valuable information and insight into our faith. Highly recommended. The total rating should be higher [...]

This is a great book. It is well written.It will give you a good idea of Church Fathers.

Of course, over the centuries, many people have made fine contributions to the church, but some of the finest were those of the early church fathers; Augustine, Ambrose, Leo, Gregory, Origen, Tertulian, Polycarp, and so forth. That's what this book is about.

It's a fine and well-researched book, presented well with good exerpts from their writings, quotes and summaries of their lives, all of which makes it even easier to read. It even goes somewhat into their personalities. I found myself even more drawn to Ambrose and Jerome, and even to Augustine, even though he's already my favorite of the church fathers.

This book is all about the lives, works, and in some cases, about the deaths of many of these great men. In fact, it's something of an overview of the subject, since it's a relatively short book, and huge volumes could have been written about most of these men. It has information on the start of the benedictine monastic orders, the early development of theology, of scripture canons, of the persecutions suffered by the church, and so on. It's all fascinating, and a little humbling, because it's a firm reminder of just how much our own culture has lost.

So many people think their generation is superior to all previous ones; that they're somehow more intelligent, or more "evolved," but a cursory glance at the writings of someone like Aristotle, Augustine or Thomas Aquinas proves that to be a ludicrous claim. I found I got the same kind of impression from reading about the lives of these great Catholics from the early days of the church, and of course, I don't even need to say that it was faithful and orthodox to a T.

If you have any interest in the early development of the Catholic Church, but don't want to spend years studying, then this book will be a very good starting point. It's a simple introduction to the fathers of the Church, and what they did, said and accomplished, and it's done well. I suppose that's really all there is to say.