Faith of Our Fathers: Why the Early Christians Still Matter and Always Will

by Michael J. Aquilina

Publisher:

Emmaus Road

, 2012

Overview

In two-and-a-half centuries, the Church Fathers converted the pagan world without resources, or social or political power. Even with the most primitive communications media, the message of Jesus Christ increased the size of the Church by 40 percent per decade over the course of those centuries. In Faith of Our Fathers: Why the Early Christians Still Matter and Always Will, Mike Aquilina argues that hundreds of years later, we still have a lot to learn from these Church Fathers.

Contents

Top Highlights

“The heart of the early Fathers’ teaching was the so-called ‘rule of faith,’ a brief, creed-like summary of doctrine” (Page 18)

“First, it should concern us because it’s of interest to a large and growing segment of the people we’re called to serve—the people we want to reach. Somebody’s buying those books and magazines.” (Page 7)

“We Catholics should be ashamed to discover that the Fathers’ lyrics appear more often in the hymnals of the Lutheran and Anglican churches than in our own.” (Page 21)

“The skeptics, it seems to me, have the better argument. The Protestants have a big problem trying to use Scripture against the Fathers, since the Fathers were the ones who preserved Scripture and decided which writings would become our Scriptures. You can’t really argue that the Fathers knew what Scripture is yet didn’t know how the Church should read it.” (Page 3)

“WE SHOULD LEARN FROM THE FATHERS. We should at least adopt their attitude—a disposition of trust in God, a certain knowledge that heaven has a plan, and we’re part of it—that Christ loves everyone in our diocese and longs for a holy communion with all of them—that we ourselves can do all things in Christ who strengthens us for the work of catechesis.” (Page 22)

Product Details

• Title: Faith of Our Fathers: Why the Early Christians Still Matter and Always Will
• Author: Michael J. Aquilina
• Publisher: Emmaus Road
• Print Publication Date: 2012
• Logos Release Date: 2014
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
• Subjects: Church history › Primitive and early church, ca. 30-600; Christian life › History--Early church, ca. 30-600
• ISBNs: 9781937155872, 1937155870
• Resource ID: LLS:FTHRFTHRLWYSWLL
• Resource Type: Monograph
• Metadata Last Updated: 2024-03-25T19:51:20Z

About Michael J. Aquilina

Mike Aquilina is a popular author working in the area of Church history, especially patristics, the study of the early Church Fathers. He is the author or editor of more than thirty books, including The Fathers of the Church (2006); The Mass of the Early Christians (2007); The Resilient Church (2007); Living the Mysteries (2003); and What Catholics Believe (1999). His books have been translated into many languages, from Croatian and Portuguese to German and Braille.