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Patristic  Course Home Popes on Patristics Resources |
PATRISTIC CHURCH -- HOME & SYLLABUSPurpose, Goals, and MethodThis course is an introduction to the two inseparable fields of patrology and patristics, as defined by the Congregation for Catholic Education [CCE] in its Instruction on the Study of the Fathers of the Church in the Formation of Priests. Patrology studies the life and writings of the fathers of the Church, whereas patristics focuses on the theological thought of the fathers. The goal of the course is threefold. First, students will be introduced to the lives and thought of major fathers, along with the setting and message of key texts from the early Church. Second, students will become familiar with the wider corpus of writings that have survived from the early Church, and the resources for studying them today, as a springboard for life-long learning. The third goal is articulated by the CCE: "The real crowing of the formative task is reached ... only when the student comes to make some friends among the fathers and assimilates their spirit." The CCE also provides the method of the course: "It is in fact through the professor's and the student's direct contact with the sources, particularly at an academic level and in special courses, that patristics must be taught and learned." Thus students will read primary texts from the early Church, which will be contextualized and explored through lectures and discussions in class and on Blackboard. Of the four possible organizational models for presenting this material (analytical, panoramic, monographic, and thematic), this course mainly follows the thematic, "which emphasizes some of the more representative fathers." Global Vision Goals What role does this course play in the wider task of forming seminarians to serve the Church as priests of God? In other words, why study the fathers? First, the fathers are a key source for theological knowledge; their unanimous consent is a definitive norm, and they are privileged witnesses to apostolic tradition. Second, the fathers provide models and methods for evangelizing the culture (inculturation) without compromising what is unique to Christian identity. They also constitute, alongside scripture, a key source for ecumenical dialogue, since they are a common object of study of the Latin Rite, Eastern Orthodoxy, and many Protestants. Finally, sincerely studying the lives and writings of the fathers contributes dramatically to authentic human development, particularly on the part of seminarians who will follow in the footsteps of the fathers as pastors of Christ's Church. Required Texts
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COURSE CALENDAR
_______________________________________________________________________________ Why Study the Fathers?
Recommended
Congregation for Catholic Education, Instruction on
the Study of the Fathers of the Church in the Formation of Priests (
Class 1,
Monday 23 August
Class 2,
Wednesday 25 August, S. Ludovici
Vincent
of Lerins,
Commonitorium [OLE]
_______________________________________________________________________________ Apostolic Fathers
Class 3,
Monday 30 August
The
First Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians [ECW 23-51]
The
Didache [ECW 190-99]
Class 4,
Wednesday 1 September
Ignatius, Epistles to the Ephesians, to the Romans, and to the Smyrnaeans [ECW
59-68, 83-89, 100-105]
The
Epistle of Polycarp and The Martyrdom of Polycarp [ECW 119-35]
Recommended:
John Chrysostom, Homily on Ignatius of
Antioch
_______________________________________________________________________________ Apologists and Martyrs
Class 5,
Wednesday 8 September
Justin
Martyr,
First Apology, chapters 1-32 [OLE]
The Passion of
Saints Perpetua and Felicity [OLE]
_______________________________________________________________________________ Battling
the Gnostics
Class 6,
Monday 13 September, S. Ioannis
Chrysostomi, episcopi et Ecclesiae doctoris
Selections from gnostic texts [BB]
Irenaeus,
Against Heresies,
Book III, chapters 1-5; Book IV, preface and chapters 1-2, 26 [OLE]
Class 7,
Wednesday 15 September, Beatae Mariae
Virginis perdolentis
Tertullian,
On
the Flesh of Christ [OLE]
_______________________________________________________________________________ Origen and Prayer
Class 8,
Monday 20 September
Origen,
Treatise on Prayer [BB]
Recommended:
Gregory
Thaumaturgus, Panegyric for Origen
_______________________________________________________________________________ St Athanasius and the Trinitarian
Controversy of the 4th Century
Class 9,
Wednesday 22 September
TC pp.
29-56
Class 10,
Monday 27 September
Athanasius, Orations against the Arians
[TC pp. 63-129]
Recommended:
Gregory
of Nazianzus, Panegyric for Athanasius
(Or. 21)
_______________________________________________________________________________ The Cappadocian Fathers
Class 11,
Wednesday 29 September, Michaelmas/Ss.
Michaelis, Gabrielis et Raphaelis, archangelorum
TC pp.
131-161
Class
12, Monday 4 October
Basil of
Caesarea,
On the Holy Spirit
[OLE]
Recommended:
Gregory
of Nyssa, Panegyric/Eulogy for Basil The
Great
_______________________________________________________________________________ St John Chrysostom
Class 13,
Wednesday 6 October
John Chrysostom,
On the Priesthood,
III.4-IV.2 [BB]
Recommended:
Palladius of Helenopolis/Aspuna, Dialogue on the
Life of St John Chrysostom
MID-SEMESTER EXAMINATION
Class 14
Monday 11 October
_______________________________________________________________________________ St Ambrose of Milan
Class
15, Wednesday 13 October
Ambrose,
Prologue to Homilies on Luke [BB]
Ambrosian Hymns:
Aeterne rerum conditor
and Splendor
paternae gloriae [OLE]
Ambrose,
On the Duties of the Clergy
(De officiis), II, 21, 102 II, 30,
156 [OLE]
Recommended:
o
Paulinus, Life of Ambrose
o
Pope John Paul II, Apostolic Letter on the Sixteenth
Centenary of the Death of St Ambrose, Bishop and Doctor of the Church
Operosam diem (1 December 1996)
_______________________________________________________________________________ St Augustine
Class
16, Wednesday 20 October
Augustine, Confessions, I-II
Recommended:
o
Possidius, Life of Augustine
o
Pope John Paul II, Apostolic Letter on the
Occasion of the 16th Centenary of the Conversion of St Augustine, Bishop and
Doctor Augustinum Hipponensem (28 August 1986)
Class 17,
Monday 25 October
Augustine, Confessions, III-IV
Class 18,
Wednesday 27 October
Augustine, Confessions, V-VI
Class 19,
Wednesday 3 November
Augustine, Confessions, VII-VIII
Class 20,
Monday 8 November
Augustine, Confessions, IX-X
_______________________________________________________________________________ St Jerome
Class 21,
Monday 15 November
Jerome,
The Perpetual Virginity of
Blessed Mary [OLE]
Jerome,
Letter XXII [OLE]
Recommended:
Pope
Benedict XV, Encyclical on St Jerome Spiritus Paraclitus (15 September
1920)
_______________________________________________________________________________ St Leo the Great and the Christological
Controversy of the 5th Century
Class 22,
Wednesday 17 November
Nestorius, First Sermon Against the
Theotokos [BB]
Nestorius,
Second Epistle to Cyril of
Cyril of
Cyril of
Cyril of
Council
of Chalcedon,
Definition of Faith [OLE]
Class 23,
Monday 22 November
Leo the
Great, Letter 28 (the Tome of Leo) [BB]
Leo the
Great, Sermons 26-27, 82-84 [BB]
Recommended:
o
Pope Pius XII, Encyclical
Letter Sempiternus Rex (8 September 1951)
o
Pope John XXIII, Encyclical Commemorating the
Fifteenth Centenary of the Death of St Leo the Great, Pope and Doctor of the
Church Aeterna Dei sapientia (11 November 1961)
_______________________________________________________________________________ St Gregory the Great
Class 24,
Monday 29 November
Gregory the Great,
Pastoral Care, Part I (entire),
II.1-5, III.1-5, IV (entire) [BB]
Gregory the Great,
Homily 17 [BB]
Recommended:
o
Pope Pius X, Encyclical on Pope Gregory the Great Iucunda sane (12 March
1904)
o
Pope John Paul II, Message to the President of the Pontifical Committee for
Historical Sciences for the 14th Centenary of the Death of Pope St
Gregory the Great (22 October 2003)
_______________________________________________________________________________ St Maximus the Confessor
Class 25,
Wednesday 1 December
The Trial of
Maximus [BB]
Maximus the
Confessor, Opusculum 6: On the Two Wills
of Christ in the Agony of Gethsemane [BB]
FINAL EXAM: to be held on the last day of class, Monday 6 December, S. Nicolai, episcopi
Dies irae, dies
illa,
Solvet saeculum in
favilla, Teste David cum Sybilla.
Quantus tremor est
futurus,
Quando judex est
venturus
Cuncta stricte discussurus
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