– 6 min read
Introduction
Church history is important because it belongs to God. To ignore and belittle church history, in many ways, is to ignore or belittle God and his work in building the church. As Michael A. G. Haykin shows in Rediscovering the Church Fathers, there are great insights and encouragement contained in the history of Christ’s church. We have access to some of these things through the preserved copies of the writings of men whom we call “the church fathers.” Haykin takes the reader on a brief, but not shallow, journey in time to the early church. This is not a church history textbook, but a helpful introductory guide to the early church era. The book shows us how we ought to read the leaders of that time and how we can learn from them as well.
Summary
In this book, Haykin seeks to have the reader become more acquainted with the church fathers and understand how to engage with them. As he mentions, most modern-day evangelicals are either ignorant of the church fathers or uncomfortable with them.[1] This could largely be the case because of bad history or bad press surrounding the church fathers.[2] He explains how the church fathers are not on the same authoritative level as the Holy Scriptures but are “senior conversation partners about the Scriptures and its meaning.” Haykin adds that it is okay to disagree when they are wrong.[3] This dispels any worries that there will be any romanticizing or unfair criticism in the book; instead, there will be a balanced approach.
He takes on the task of giving the reader a small but very informative introduction to a select few: Ignatius of Antioch, the author of The Letter to Diognetus, Origen, Cyprian, Ambrose, Basil of Caesarea, and Patrick, the missionary to the Irish. His reason for this selection is that they are church fathers whom he has “listened to and walked with now for more than three decades.”[4] Haykin provides logical and convincing reasons for reading the church fathers that only make sense. He points out that whenever there is any historical study, it frees us from the present, which challenges us to move outside of ourselves and our current context in history and to then think more critically.[5] Another reason is that when we read of the Christians who went before us, we are given multiple examples of the Christian life and how it has been lived out.[6] A last reason given by Haykin is that reading the church fathers will, “in some cases, help us to understand the New Testament.”[7]
Haykin does not waste time but gives enough context needed to understand the historical figure and the issues he faced and dealt with. He then offers explanation and insightful commentary on the church fathers after quoting much from them. Haykin will offer a variety of opinions from other historians with charity, but then will guide the reader through the presented options by interacting with either the views themselves or the words of the church father in question. Overall, Haykin provides an excellent summary of these church fathers in under 150 pages.
Critical Evaluation
Haykin does a great job of balancing the length of his chapters on each church father. He gives an appropriate summary of the historical figures while not taking time away from the issues he wishes to highlight in them. The inverse is also true. The amount of time spent on the chosen fathers’ background and context is indeed necessary for the agenda of the chapter. Haykin does prove how important it is to understand the context of the church fathers before handling the subject matter they wrote on, especially if it is controversial. Haykin’s chapter on Ignatius of Antioch is a great example, where Haykin notes that some deem Ignatius a suicidal, mentally ill person because of his writings on martyrdom.[8] However, Haykin provides a history of the Jewish persecution of Christians from the book of Acts and the Roman persecution led by Nero that would follow,[9] as helpful background to Ignatius. As Trevin Wax wrote in his article on The Gospel Coalition, there is “a good mixture of biographical information and theological reflection” in this book.[10]
Haykin’s chapters end with a note of application. For example, in Chapter 4, on Origen, Haykin highlights Origen’s method of interpretation and gives the reader many examples of it. At the conclusion, he exhorts the reader to a spiritually filled exegesis of the Scriptures, as seen in Origen.[11] This is seen more subtly at the end of chapter 3, about The Letter to Diognetus. While Haykin shows some failure in the author’s apologetics,[12] he then recaps the positive things done by the author, which can apply to the Christian apologist today.[13] Haykin’s first two reasons why we should read the church fathers are supported in these conclusions at the end of the chapters. Though not explicit at the end of his chapter on Patrick, one cannot help but be inspired towards sharing the gospel by all the quotations of Patrick that Haykin shares from him.[14]
It is unlikely that there is a Patristic church father who is not controversial; however, it is not as if Haykin only selected the “easy” ones to introduce. Haykin could have chosen Justin Martyr or Athanasius, but instead he chose church fathers like Origen. Origen, as Haykin mentions, is surrounded by controversy, especially regarding his writings on the Holy Spirit and the “subordination” of the Son to the Father. It may be this reason why Haykin’s chapter on Origen is the second longest in the book. Some have remarked that this was a “puzzling inclusion” by Haykin “because [Origen] was an errorist.”[15] But Haykin does provide a fair reading of Origen by introducing multiple passages from his writings so that we may be equipped to understand what he was thinking when he was writing.[16] Haykin also shows where Origen was wrong and even how his theology was “the soil out of which Arianism sprang in the following century.”[17] Yet, Haykin goes on to highlight how even the Cappadocian Fathers, who were very pro-Nicene in their theology, didn’t completely refuse Origen, but still used him where they could.[18] This is a helpful insight for the reader who may struggle with reading church fathers with whom they have serious disagreements, and reveals how it is possible and even fruitful to do so.
Haykin’s eighth and final chapter in the book is important because it provides a real testimony to what can happen to the reader if he or she continues in their study of the church fathers. He makes the case for which the book was written by giving his own personal history in discovering and reading the church fathers. Haykin, like the reader, is on a journey to learn the vast data of church history. He describes his journey in learning with delight, even explaining how studying the eschatology of Irenaeus provided comfort to him after the death of his mother.[19]
Conclusion
Haykin does indeed provide an easy but scholarly introduction to the church fathers in this book. He convincingly shows how helpful they are to the modern Christian reader and how practical they can be. Many of the issues these historical church leaders faced can be challenges for the Christian today. Haykin neither defies these church fathers nor puts them to shame, but elegantly informs the reader of who they were, what they did, how they did it, and what we should think about it all. Like with any relationship, it takes effort; so Haykin labored to introduce a few men in history to the reader and how they can begin to know them better. If one reads this book, their ignorance of the church fathers will not completely go away, for this book does not contain every church father, though it will be greatly helped. If they read it, their discomfort with the church fathers may not totally be reversed, though it will be mitigated. This book is the starting point for one’s journey into early church history and will be a great resource for the church.
Works Cited
[1] Michael A. G. Haykin, Rediscovering the Church Fathers: Who They Were and How They Shaped the Church, (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2011), 13.
[2] Ibid. 21.
[3-4] Ibid. 29.
[5] Ibid. 17.
[6] Ibid. 18.
[7] Ibid. 19.
[8] Ibid. 32.
[9] Ibid. 35-37.
[10] Trevin Wax, Book Notes: Rediscovering the Church Fathers / Heaven Revealed in The Gospel Coalition, August 17, 2011.
[11] Haykin, Rediscovering the Church Fathers, (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2011), 90.
[12] Ibid. 59.
[13] Ibid. 66.
[14] Ibid. 142-146.
[15] Thomas Meissner, Review: Rediscovering the Church Fathers in Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary, https://www.wisluthsem.org/review-rediscovering-the-church-fathers/
[16] Haykin, Rediscovering the Church Fathers, (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2011), 71-73.
[17] Ibid. 75.
[18] Ibid. 76.
[19] Ibid. 152.