Patristics: Overview

• Branch of theological study
• Also referred to as patrology
• Examines earliest Christian writers/theologians, known as the Church Fathers
• Name derived from the latin and greek words for father: Latin pater and Greek  πατὴρ
• Focuses on historical aspects of what the Fathers did and theological aspects of what they thought, believed and wrote
• Period of interest: Apostolic Age (c. AD 100) to either AD 451 (date of the Council of Chalcedon) or to the 8th century and the Second Council of Nicaea (AD787)

Chronological classification

• Ante-Nicene Fathers (ANCF):  lived and wrote before the first Council of Nicaea in AD 325

• Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers (NPNF): lived and wrote during and after the time of the Nicene Council.

Language classification

• Greek Fathers

• Latin Fathers

• Ambrose of Milan
• Athanasius of Alexandria
• Augustine of Hippo
• Basil of Caesarea
• Clement of Alexandria
• Cyprian of Carthage
• Gregory of Nyssa
• Ignatius of Antioch
• Jerome
• John Chrysostom
• Justin Martyr
• Origen
• Priscillian of Avila
• The Acts of the Council of Gangra
• Tertullian