Book Reviews and More: Church Fathers From Clement of Rome to Augustine

Monday 19 August 2024

Church Fathers From Clement of Rome to Augustine - Pope Benedict XVI

Church Fathers

From Clement of Rome to Augustine

Pope Benedict XVI

Ignatius Press

ISBN 9781621641971

eISBN 9781681494722

ASIN B002FSTJDE

Church Fathers From Clement of Rome to Augustine - Pope Benedict XVI

Over the last few years, I have read a number of books by and about Pope Benedict XVI. Of the popes in my lifetime, I find his writings of immense spiritual benefit. I would state that I underappreciated him until his resignation. And since then, I have read much. And with each piece I read I appreciate his wisdom, faith, and stand against modernism. This was another excellent read. There are two editions of this work, and they are very similar. In Europe this volume was published by the Catholic Truth Society called The Fathers of the Church. In North America Ignatius Press published this version. I had tracked down the CTS version and was reading it when I picked up this eBook from Ignatius. I ended up reading about half the book in each edition.

The descriptions on the back of the two volumes are very different. The description of the edition of the book is:

“Following his best selling book, Jesus of Nazareth, and his talks published in Jesus, the Apostles, and the Early Church, Pope Benedict’s Church Fathers presents these important figures of early Christianity in all their evangelical vitality, spiritual profundity, and uncompromising love of God. Benedict tells the true story of Christianity’s against-all-odds triumph in the face of fierce Roman hostility and persecution. He does this by exploring the lives and the ideas of the early Christian writers, pastors, and martyrs, men so important to the spread of Christianity that history remembers them as ‘the Fathers of the Church’.

This rich and engrossing survey of the early Church includes those churchmen who immediately succeeded the Apostles, the ‘Apostolic Fathers’: Clement of Rome, Ignatius of Antioch, Justin Martyr, and Irenaeus of Lyon. Benedict also discusses such great Christian figures as Tertullian, Origen, Cyprian of Carthage, the Cappadocian Fathers, as well as the giants John Chrysostom, Jerome, and Augustine. This book is a wonderful way to get to know the Church Fathers and the tremendous spiritually rich patrimony they have bequeathed to us.”

It should be noted the chapter breakdowns are significantly different between the two editions. They cover the same information. The Ignatius version includes the date and location of the audience the text is taken from and has a separate chapter for ever audience. The CTS edition has a chapter for each Church father with four of them having subsections. A few of the CTS chapters also combine more than one address into a single chapter. The chapters in this edition are:

Saint Clement, Bishop of Rome

Saint Ignatius of Antioch

Saint Justin, Philosopher and Martyr

Saint Irenaeus of Lyons

Clement of Alexandria

Origen of Alexandria:

Life and Work

The Thought

Tertullian

Saint Cyprian

Eusebius of Caesarea

Saint Athanasius of Alexandria

Saint Cyril of Jerusalem

Saint Basil

Saint Gregory Nazianzen

Saint Gregory of Nyssa (1)

Saint John Chrysostom

The years in Antioch

Bishop of Constantinople

Saint Cyril of Alexandria

Saint Hilary of Poitiers

Saint Eusebius of Vercelli

Saint Ambrose of Milan

Saint Maximus of Turin

Saint Jerome

His life

Scripture and eductation

Aphraates, “the Sage”

Saint Ephrem

Saint Chromatius of Aquileia

Saint Paulinus of Nola

Saint Augustine of Hippo

His life

Augustine’s final works

Faith and Reason

His works

Inner experience

It should also be noted there is no introduction of conclusion to the volume. And the CTS edition does not contain the footnotes found in the Ignatius edition. Making the CTS a great reading edition and Ignatius excellent for study.

I have read much about the church fathers and by the church fathers over the years. Both in school and personal reading, much of it by Mike Aquilina. This is an absolutely fantastic volume. You can read it from beginning to end, or jump around and pick and choose the Fathers in a random order.

This is a wonderful volume to read, no matter which edition you pick up. I enjoyed both the editions I have worked through. There is a continuation of this volume with the title of Church Fathers and Teachers: From Saint Leo the Great to Peter Lombard in the Ignatius press edition and it is published as two beautiful hard covers from the Catholic Truth Society called Spiritual Masters Fathers and Writers of the First Millennium and Spiritual Masters Medieval Fathers and Writers.

A great resource that any Catholic would benefit from reading, it would be great for any Christian. An excellent volume.

Note: This book is part of a series of reviews: 2024 Catholic Reading Plan!

Link to reviews of other books by and about Pope Benedict XVI.

Books by Benedict XVI: