Early Church Fathers - Ante Nicene Fathers Volume 4-Fathers of the 3rd Century

Ante-Nicene Fathers #4

by Philip Schaff

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Genres: Religion, Church History, Christianity, Theology, Reference

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First published January 1, 1885

About the author

Philip Schaff was educated at the gymnasium of Stuttgart, and at the universities of Tübingen, Halle and Berlin, where he was successively influenced by Baur and Schmid, by Tholuck and Julius Müller, by David Strauss and, above all, Neander. At Berlin, in 1841, he took the degree of B.D., and passed examinations for a professorship. He then traveled through Italy and Sicily as tutor to Baron Krischer. In 1842 he was Privatdozent in the University of Berlin, where he lectured on exegesis and church history. In 1843 he was called to become professor of church history and Biblical literature in the German Reformed Theological Seminary of Mercersburg, Pennsylvania, then the only seminary of that church in America.
On his journey he stayed in England and met Edward Pusey and other Tractarians. His inaugural address on The Principle of Protestantism, delivered in German at Reading, Pennsylvania, in 1844, and published in German with an English version by John Williamson Nevin was a pioneer work in English in the field of symbolics (that is, the authoritative ecclesiastical formulations of religious doctrines in creeds or confessions). This address and the "Mercersburg Theology" which he taught seemed too pro-Catholic to some, and he was charged with heresy. But, at the synod at York in 1845, he was unanimously acquitted.
Schaff's broad views strongly influenced the German Reformed Church, through his teaching at Mercersburg, through his championship of English in German Reformed churches and schools in America, through his hymnal (1859), through his labours as chairman of the committee which prepared a new liturgy, and by his edition (1863) of the Heidelberg Catechism. His History of the Apostolic Church (in German, 1851; in English, 1853) and his History of the Christian Church (7 vols., 1858-1890), opened a new period in American study of ecclesiastical history.
In 1854, he visited Europe, representing the American German churches at the ecclesiastical diet at Frankfort and at the Swiss pastoral conference at Basel. He lectured in Germany on America, and received the degree of D.D. from Berlin.
In consequence of the ravages of the American Civil War the theological seminary at Mercersburg was closed for a while and so in 1863 Dr. Schaff became secretary of the Sabbath Committee (which fought the “continental Sunday”) in New York City, and held the position till 1870. In 1865 he founded the first German Sunday School in Stuttgart. In 1862-1867 he lectured on church history at Andover.

Schaff was a member of the Leipzig Historical Society, the Netherland Historical Society, and other historical and literary societies in Europe and America. He was one of the founders, and honorary secretary, of the American branch of the Evangelical Alliance, and was sent to Europe in 1869, 1872, and 1873 to arrange for the general conference of the Alliance, which, after two postponements on account of the Franco-Prussian War, was held in New York in October 1873. Schaff was also, in 1871, one of the Alliance delegates to the emperor of Russia to plead for the religious liberty of his subjects in the Baltic provinces.

He became a professor at Union Theological Seminary, New York City in 1870 holding first the chair of theological encyclopedia and Christian symbolism till 1873, of Hebrew and the cognate languages till 1874, of sacred literature till 1887, and finally of church history, till his death. He also served as president of the committee that translated the American Standard Version of the Bible, though he died before it was published in 1901.
His History of the Christian Church resembled Neander's work, though less biographical, and was pictorial rather than philosophical. He also wrote biographies, catechisms and hymnals for children, manuals of religious verse, lectures and essays on Dante, etc. He translated Johann Jakob Herzog's Real-Encyklopädie für protestantische Theologie und Kirche into English.

Reviews

[Coyle]

The fourth volume in the classic series edited by Philip Schaff combines the scraps of Tertullian's Montanist period, two short works by Tertullian's fellow North Africans Minucius Felix and Commodian, and the grand pre-Augustinian theologian Origen (also technically a "North African" in that he spent much of his life in Alexandria, but "Alexandria" is generally grouped with Eastern Christianity and, later, Eastern Orthodoxy, while "North Africa" refers to Latin writers in the Carthage area).



Tertullian



Since the entire last volume was devoted to Tertullian (reviewed here), I'll just give a brief note on each of his treatises here. I will say that if I didn't know the back story, I don't know that I would have picked up much of his Montanism from these works. To be sure, some of theme are more extreme than his previous writings; and to be even surer, this is a 19th century translation and much of the nuances may just be getting lost in the old-timey language. (If you haven't read any of these volumes, they often follow the 19th century device of intentionally antiquating their language so that it sounds like a 19th century parody of the 16th century. Which is annoying not just here but in much literature of the time.) I mean, the bits about the prophet Prisca was a bit of a giveaway that something else is going on with Tertullian, but even then he sticks mostly to Scripture and doesn't seem to rely too much on these extra prophecies (though of course any such reliance should make us hesitate). If you want to know more about this, the folks over at The Tertullian Project have got a great bundle of resources all gathered into one place...



I. On the Pallium

Here Tertullian makes the quite reasonable point that since clothing customs change over time, we ought not worry about wearing the pallium, even though such is not commanded in Scripture. He also gives what I hope is good-natured ribbing about even worrying topics like this:

Men of Carthage, ever princes of Africa, ennobled by ancient memories, blest with modern felicities, I rejoice that times are so prosperous with you that you have leisure to spend and pleasure to find in criticising dress. These are the 'piping times of peace' and plenty. Blessings rain from the empire and from the sky. (OTP, Chapter 1)

At least, I hope it's good natured--with Tertullian we can never be completely sure that he's not in full-blown cranky-old-man mode...



II. On the Apparel of Women

While we may in fact be able to wear whatever the local customs dictate, women are still required to be modest (men too, for that matter). Rather than extravagant opulence of the culture, we should remember that we are temples of the Holy Spirit and not to be made gaudy or falsely painted/covered with gold. And while I don't know that I'd go quite as far as Tertullian in condemning all makeup, I'm quite happy to admit that he condemns it with style and quotability:

Whatever is born is the work of God. Whatever, then, is plastered on is the devil's work. (OAW, Chapter 5)

Read the rest at: http://coyleneal.blogspot.com/2014/03...

[Ethan]

The fourth part of Tertullian's works, a tractate by Minucius Felix, Commodian, and a couple of the works of Origen - Against Celsus and De Principiis.

It took me a long time to finish the whole edition; nothing to do with the edition itself, per se, but more about how I would read short amounts over long periods of time...so memory is a bit hazy.

This part of Tertullian's works are definitely in his later, more cantankerous, Montanist-esque stage. He will not go down in history as a feminist...but it is a portrait of Christianity in North Africa in the early third century.

Minucius Felix wrote some good stuff.

Origen can be a challenge anyway, but especially in De Principiis, since it's mostly preserved only in Rufinus' Latin translation, and there's always the question of how much Rufinus would have "adapted" in order to make Origen seem less heretical. Against Celsus has short chapters but many, many of them; Origen's apologetic game is strong.

A good exploration into patristic literature.

[Erik Graff]

Although I find most of the patristics alienating and boring, I have found some amusement in the extreme emotionalism displayed by Tertullian (hardly a Christian "meek and mild") and much to think about in the writings of Origen, perhaps the most intellectually challenging of the 'Fathers of the Church'.

[David]

Here we get some final works by Tertullian. But the highlight of this volume is Origen's work On the Principles which contains his method for interpreting scripture, a method which certainly held sway in a large portion of the ancient church.

[Jeni Enjaian]

Once again I do not have much to say about this book. I suppose it would help if I spent a little more time on comprehension rather than completion as I read. I will note that these texts were much more comprehensible for light reading than some of the earlier texts. I appreciate that.

[Nelson Banuchi]

A good read on what the early church taught. However, more than in the previous volumes, I felt it unnecessary to read about 122 pages regarding, "On the Apparel of Women" (p.18-101) and and appendix of poems doubtfully attributed to Tertulian (p.127-166). I just read a page or two and found them quite uninteresting.

[Catherine]

Some good stuff, some head-scratching stuff, and a lot of repetitive stuff. The Greek philosopher debate/logic style (which influenced the early patristic writers rather heavily, since they were at least engaged by its proponents, if not schooled in it themselves) is lamentably voluminous. Great, that it shoots down every possible counter-argument before it can be spoken...but a heavy, at times monotonous read for laypersons almost two millennia later. Bonus coffee for this one.

[CJ Bowen]

Origen is fantastically intelligent, sometimes a little too much so. This volume is dominated by his apologetic treatise against Celsus, in which is demonstrated the glory of Christ, the foolishness of Celsus, and the pressing need for God-fearing editors.

[David Withun]

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