Rediscovering the Church Fathers: Who They Were and How They Shaped the Church by Michael A. G. Haykin. Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2011, 172pp., softcover, $16.99
Rediscovering the Church Fathers is the most recent work of Michael A. G. Haykin who serves as professor of church history and biblical spirituality at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He has authored more than twenty-five books, including The Emergence of Evangelicalism: Exploring Historical Continuities.
Haykin writes this book to address the question: “Why should evangelical Christians engage the thought and experience of these early Christian witnesses [the church fathers]?” (p.17). In his assessment, “far too many modern-day evangelicals are either ignorant of or quite uncomfortable with the church fathers” (p. 13). The reasoning he puts forth to study the church fathers is logically sound. These reasons include: “to aid [the church] in her liberation from the Zeitgeist of the twenty-first century; to provide a guide in her walk with Christ; to help her understand the basic witness to her faith, the New Testament; to refute bad histories of the ancient church; and to be a vehicle of spiritual nurture” (pp. 28-29). The manner in which he seeks to promote his assertion is through selected case studies of the men themselves. He dedicates a chapter to each of the following:
Dying for Christ: The Thought of Ignatius of Antioch
Sharing the Truth: The Letter to Diognetus
Interpreting the Scriptures: The Exegesis of Origen
Being Kissed: The Eucharistic Piety of Cyprian and Ambrose
Being Holy and Renouncing the World: The Experience of Basil of Caesarea
Saving the Irish: The Mission of Patrick
One of the main strengths of Rediscovering the Church Fathers is Dr. Haykin’s ability to take us into the church fathers’ world. When we enter their world, we can see life through their eyes. We see the Christian faith through the lens of their era as opposed to the 20th and 21st centuries. They battled many of the same issues we face. They were dedicated to defending the Christian faith against false teachings and beliefs; and they were committed to live out their faith in a practical way during a hostile time.
A second strength of the book arises from Dr. Haykin’s ability to bring us into the church father’s world. Once we see through their perspective, we learn that many of the issues and concerns we might have with them are misplaced. They were not power-hungry men seeking a way to control the church. They were men who tried to legitimately defend the faith and live out the Christian life in a context that constantly challenged solid biblical doctrine. We begin to understand why they reached many of the decisions they made regarding their beliefs and practices, when we see these decisions were brought about as a means to stand against the challenges from their culture. While we learn that they took some of these issues they dealt with to the extreme, we can also see (if we are honest) how evangelicals took many of these same issues to the opposite extreme in the Protestant Reformation.
With all the strengths of the book, I would have preferred for Dr. Haykin to interact more with how each of these issues they dealt with applies to our culture today. This interaction would strengthen his argument that modern evangelicals should spend more time reading the church fathers’ writings. This interaction could involve spending more time wrestling with the questions: How does Ignatius’ willingness to die for Christ overlap with our selfish, prosperity mindset? How does Basil’s piety stand in stark contrast to our worldly-Christian culture? How does the Eucharistic piety of Cyprian and Ambrose directly challenge the often too-low view many evangelicals have of the Lord’s Supper? There is an insinuation throughout the book that perhaps evangelicals overreacted to many of the themes and issues in the Protestant reformation and discarded a wealth of knowledge along with the rejection of the entire Roman Catholic Church. There is a measure of truth to this insinuation which needs to be articulated more clearly. It is my fear that too many people will miss the subtle hint implied throughout the histories of these great men.
I would definitely recommend the book to anyone who is familiar or unfamiliar with the church fathers because it is an easy to read and understand introduction to some of the first men who contended for the Christian faith.
