Why Evangelicals are Turning to the Church Fathers
2009 November 10
David Neff, editor of Christianity Today, wrote a blog post last week about the opening of the Wheaton Center for Early Christian Studies. He highlights several points from the inaugural lecture by Robert Louis Wilken, professor emeritus of UVA. It is worth the read. Here is one answer to the question of why evangelicals should be interested in the early church:
Precisely because evangelical theology and spirituality are built around Scripture, and so were those of the patristic writers. You cannot read them without an open Bible in your hand. Their writings are shot through with Scripture. Evangelicals and the church fathers thus have a natural affinity.
Didn’t Newman & co. turn to the Fathers because they were sick of evangelical influences in the Anglican church?
Adam, I’m not sure because I don’t know too much about Newman and co. The comment stream on the blog post I linked to has some interesting comments about those kinds of issues though. One commenter predicted that there will be many who cross the Tiber through this new interest in the fathers.