patristics

Patristics is the scholarly study of the Church Fathers, the early Christian writers whose theological, exegetical, and pastoral works shaped the development of Christian doctrine and practice. The term, from Latin patristicus and Greek patristikos, means “of a father” and refers to the figures of the early church. The field covers writings from roughly the 1st to the 8th century and encompasses biblical interpretation, apologetics, liturgy, doctrine, and ecclesiastical history. It includes not only Latin and Greek authors but also writers from Syriac, Coptic, Armenian, and other Christian traditions.

Historically, patristics is often divided into the Apostolic Fathers (late 1st to mid-2nd century), the Ante-Nicene Fathers (to 325), and the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers (from 325 onward). Major concerns include polemics against heresies, the formulation of doctrines such as the Trinity and Christology, and the transmission and interpretation of Scripture. The discipline uses textual criticism, scholarly edition and translation of patristic texts, and historical-theological analysis to place these works in their social and doctrinal contexts.

Prominent figures commonly studied in patristics include Augustine, Origen, Tertullian, Cyprian, Athanasius, Basil the Great, Gregory of Nyssa, John Chrysostom, Jerome, and Cyril of Alexandria; in the Latin West, Ambrose, and later Cassiodorus and Bede. The influence of patristics persists in theology, liturgy, canon law, and the history of the early church, and patristic scholarship remains active in contemporary ecumenical dialogue and biblical studies.