4 2 S p i r i t ua l i t y S t u d i e s 6 - 2 Fa l l 2 0 2 0 2 Rediscovery of the Church Fathers in Theology Patrology is an autonomous scholarly discipline dealing with early Christian literature that appeard in the 17th century as derived from the Latin pater , “father”, and logos , “word”. It was a Lutheran theologian Johannes Gerhard who introduced the term into the theological discourse. Traditionally, Western culture considers the origins of patrology to be associated with the death of Isidore of Seville in 636, while Eastern Christianity considers its origins to be associated with the death of John of Damascus in 749. The Eastern and Oriental churches do not acknowledge this Latin classification (Brown 1997); however, we will stick to it as it is generally accepted. The teachings of the early Church Fathers became more significant during the early Church theological disputes, when Vincent of Lérins introduced the theological term argument of the Church Fathers ( Commonitorium1978, 28; Pigula 2008, 167–179). Medieval theology is based on the systematic commentary of selected excerpts from the works of early Church authors, with an emphasis on their common agreement on certain topics. At the time the first universities were being estab - lished and the educational process was being transferred from monasteries to the secular environment, the use of the works of the Church Fathers continued in both the monastic spiritual context and the newly born university world. In the post-Tridentine era, the first critical editions of the early Church Fathers’ texts appeared because of the Catholic-Protestant controversy. They were used as confirmation of scholastic theological definitions, while some of the Church Fathers’ spiritual thoughts served as a kind of adornment of the rational theological process. Although patrologyappearedalready in the 17th century, it took almost three centuries until the beginning of the 20th century when the awareness of the importance of patristic texts arised along with their implemantation into theological work. This preparatory period culminated in the documents of the Second Vatican Council, which were significantly influ - enced by the topics and formulations of the Church Fathers (Gianotti 2010; Dolinský 2013, 5–27). 3 Contemporary Importance of Reading of Early Church Texts Early Church authors were able to aptly implant the Christian message in the cultural field of the Greco-Roman environ - ment without damaging the identity of the issue, and thus they adopted and applied several stimuli from which our Christianity lives today. The inculturation of the ancient Biblical texts as well as the Church Fathers’ texts is nowadays deeply rooted in Christianity and can help us identify new impulses for life, especially in the current multi-cultural, multi-religious and multi-spiritual environment. Confronting one’s own life with a different environment means refus - ing to form a spiritual ghetto and instead making dogmatic progress called intellectus fidei. Reading patristic texts is also at help in the ecumenical dialogue with Christian churches around the world. In particular, it helps with uncovering the resources, roots and formation factors of our European civilization due to substantial contributions of secular or inter-re - ligious origin. Emphasizing the importance of humanitarian education is rooted, willingly or unwillingly, in the study of the sacred texts that help in combating fundamentalist currents in society (Lichner 2013, 135–156). Many early Church authors were witnesses to and creators of the fixation of the biblical can - on, as well as the formation of the confession of faith, regula fidei , that decided how the sacred texts were interpreted. These writers wrote in Latin, Greek, Syrian, Coptic, Armenian and other languages and thus enriched not only the literary and cultural heritage of the nations but also became the true founders of Christian culture. They knew each other’s works in their original languages and, therefore, in addition to accepting the national culture expressing and forming the spirit of a particular nation, their works represent the true and original Catholicism, which means true universality. An important part of the spiritual-cultural dialogue is the fact that these authors were educated in the disciplines of the ancient Greek and Roman cultures, from which they drew knowledge to enrich the spiritual life of Christians. Many of them were philosophers, historians, mathematicians, physicists, astronomers or physicians. In this way, they influenced the spiritual, intellectual and social life of people in the Middle Ages.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MzgxMzI=