Book Review

Getting to Know the Church Fathers: An Evangelical Introduction



Getting to know the church's father: An Evangelical Introduction

Theme of the Book

The book “Getting to Know the Church Fathers” has been written by Brian M. Litfin Bryan Litfin book is the best guide to the students of early church history. He has made the early Church fathers accessible and inviting to evangelical students who may have little exposure to, background for, and consequent interest in this period. Litfin's work contributes to the growing evangelical interest and scholarly output in patristic that presently includes works like Chris Hall's Reading Scripture with the Church Fathers and Learning Theology with the Church Fathers; Intervarsity's Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture (Thomas Oden, ed.), and Baker Academic's present series, Evangelical Ressourcement: Ancient Sources for the Church's Future.

The book begins with a story of a small child with a name Billy. As a child, Billy spent most of his with her grandmother's house but soon his grandmother died and he become more independent after his grandmother died, he found the story of legacy of his grandparents in the upper floor of his grandmother's house. The story was about how evangelicals often view church fathers. According to the author these in modern days, the role of the church father is more like a proof-texting. The fathers are seen responsible for making decisions regarding theological point of view that which view is orthodox and which one is unorthodox.

Litfin also serves readers by clarifying some misconceptions about the Fathers. In his introductory chapter, he argues against the perception that they relied more on tradition as a means of spiritual authority by showing their great commitment to the Scriptures (pp. 20-22). Similarly, he relates that the Fathers were little V catholics as opposed to Roman Catholics of Luther's day or even the present day (pp. 22-24). Litfin provides a balanced view of Origen. While the Alexandrian father is often depicted as a castrated Platonist given to excessive allegory, Litfin emphasizes Origen's great love for the Scriptures, gives a fair appraisal of his exegetical method, and offers a reminder of Origen's commitment as a safeguard against irresponsible allegorizing (pp. 147-54).

Litfin also briefly discusses the reasons about why there is a need to study father of the church and he gave two important reasons for it. Firstly it helps us to make better use of the teaching of the father of the church about the doctrine of the faith. Secondly, the writings of any father are something more than just the doctrine of faith, but his writings have a lot of say about from which society the father belongs to.

Critical Evaluation of the Book

Litfin work has number of strengths which includes being resourceful, attractive, inviting, engaging and integrative. The format of the book can be viewed as one of its greatest strength. At the end of each chapter, he includes a bibliography which points out different secondary resources used. Litfin also gives a map of the Roman World so that the ...