The Free Church and the Early Church: Bridging the Historical and Theological Divide

by D.H. Williams

This is a fantastic book and I recommend it highly, especially for Protestants and even more so for those who are of the Free Church variety- Baptists, Church of Christ, Disciples of Christ, etc. Topics covered include the canon of Scripture and the notions behind it, tradition and the nature and role of authority in the Church.

My critique of this book, along with others that Williams has written, is that it does not go far enough, and bear in mind this is coming from an ex-Protestant (Lutheran CMS). You see, it is true that there are many commonalities between the free church movement and the early church, and this book shows that and helps other "free churchers" lose their suspicion of tradition and recover from some of their typical historical amnesia. However, it reminds me of something that Frank Schaeffer said in a lecture about 16 years ago, and I think it is worth at least considering in relation to historically-minded Protestants of both the magisterial and non-magisterial traditions. In response to someone who said that they have decided that they agree with the Church Fathers and personally believe their doctrines, and thus are in continuity with them, Schaeffer replied, "That is like saying that since you enjoy things about French culture and have studied the language you are therefore French." And that is my other point about this book. Suspiciously lacking (and something I have noticed in such works) is a full discussion of baptism, eucharist, ordination and grace. This is more of a litmus test to continuity with the past than free church historians usually give due, and at the root of patristic ecclesiology.

Some books to consider reading in this regard are Werner Elert's Eucharist and Church Fellowship in the First Four Centuries, Common Ground: An Introduction to Eastern Christianity for the American Christian by Jordan Bajis and The Fathers of the Church, Expanded Edition.

On Pascha: With the Fragments of Melito and Other Material Related to the Quartodecimans (St. Vladimir's Seminary Press "Popular Patristics" Series)

On Pascha: With the Fragments of Melito and...
Translated with notes by Alistair Stewart-Sykes

 As lent began, I thought it would be a good time to read On Pascha, with its liturgical reflections on the deliverance of humanity from the bondage of sin, death and evil through the life, death and resurrection of Christ. It is certainly very much worth the brief amount of time it takes to read, and I am left with a deeper appreciation of the early Asian church's understanding of the interplay between the Passion of Jesus Christ and the "deliverance history" of the Old Testament. Nothing is random in salvation history, and Melito's typological approach is beautiful to read and reflect upon.

The actual translation is euphonic, and I actually found it more powerful when I read it aloud. This is connected to Melito's oratory power, and the superb introduction to the text gives a detailed account of how Melito's style fits into the oratory context of the second century. And speaking of the introduction, readers who have more than a devotional interest will be highly impressed with the succinct and detailed overview of the following themes: the role of Judaism in Christianity in the second century in Asia and the West; liturgical rites of Paschal (Easter) celebrations in use at the time, including the resulting controversies (namely, the Quartrodeciman); rhetorical traditions of the time; the Asian church's eschatology, Christology, liturgical rites, and much more. An extensive bibliography and index are included. Please also check out the translator's detailed The Lamb's High Feast: Melito, Peri Pascha, and the Quartodeciman Paschal Liturgy at Sardis (Supplements to Vigiliae Christianae).

Evangelicals and Tradition: The Formative Influence of the Early Church (Evangelical Ressourcement: Ancient Sources for the Church's Future)

Evangelicals and Tradition: The Formative Influence of the Early Church
By D. H. Williams

For those Protestants who have their reservations about the Christian tradition (largely quite "unProtestant") this book is for them. The author is himself a Baptist and very well-versed in both Church history and the Church Fathers. His goal is fourfold: 1) Demonstrate that Scripture and early tradition go hand in hand and that Scripture is part of tradition, given by the Church to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ correctly., 2) theology exists as a part of the worshipping community, and not as an abstraction. Without right worship, there is no right doctrine 3) our personal liberty in the Holy Spirit is a corporate liberty. That is, we exist as "members one of another" who cannot go off and "do our own thing" 4) the Protestant tradition must be reintegrated into the greater catholic tradition to properly understand itself and the Gospel. In short, the author doesn't try to make a Protestant into a Catholic, but to dispel the myths surrounding the Tradition to show the Protestant what it means to be a Christian in context.

I would recommend the author's other book, Retrieving the Tradition and Renewing Evangelicalism: A Primer for Suspicious Protestants, more than this book, good as it is.

How to Read the Church Fathers

How to Read the Church Fathers
By A. G. Hammon

This is the first book I ever read on the Fathers and it served me very well. Anyone interested in learning about the pioneering figures of Christianity should start here. Tracing the story from the beginnings in Jerusalem, Hammon blends large sections of primary sources, maps, charts and concise and detailed background information to take you by the hand through what can be a rather confusing story. You'll learn all about the philosophical backgrounds that the Fathers worked in and among, the nature of martyrdom (so different form what we think now with the rise of militant Islam), early eucharistic worship and creeds, eastern vs. western theological trends, the role of bishops and the canon of scripture. The attractive layout helps you stay connected to the main points and gives you some entertainment, too. Very well done and highly recommended.

See also Evangelicals and Tradition: The Formative Influence of the Early Church (Evangelical Ressourcement: Ancient Sources for the Churchs Future), Tradition, Scripture, and Interpretation: A Sourcebook of the Ancient Church (Evangelical Ressourcement: Ancient Sources for the Churchs Future), By What Authority?: An Evangelical Discovers Catholic Tradition and Early Christian Writings: The Apostolic Fathers (Penguin Classics).

Common Ground: An Introduction to Eastern Christianity for the American Christian

By Jordan Bajis

Eastern Orthodoxy is not just another version of what you heard in Sunday school or saw on tv. It is the ancient faith of the apostles and their followers handed down through the centuries, rooted in the worship and experience of the God who has revealed Himself to us in Jesus Christ. If I had one book to give to someone interested in Eastern Christianity who was coming out of a Roman or Protestant background, this would be it! After rereading the book a few times over the past 15 years, I am more convinced than ever that this is the best book to give to friends who are interested in the Eastern Church, or to read for yourself if you are looking eastward!

Why read this book? He's done his homework! If you read this book several things will happen. You'll get a great introduction to Eastern Orthodoxy, geared to the Protestant and Catholic mindset. You'll get an incredible reading list by reading the very extensive endnotes (almost another book). In addition, you will most likely learn more about your own history, whether you're Protestant or Catholic. It will challenge your assumptions and sterotypes as well as help you rethink what the New Testament actually is for and about. You cannot go wrong with this book. Please buy it. Light and Life publishers sells it currently as a 2006 reissue.

Other books of interest: "Not by Scripture Alone" by Sungenis, "The Orthodox Way", "The Orthodox Church", and "How are We Saved?" by Bishop Kallistos Ware. Congar's "Tradition and Traditions" is a great work of Catholic scholarship by one of the masters. "The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church" by Vladimir Lossky will reshape your brain (and your nous)! For those of you who are more daring and looking to bite into something more meaty: "Being As Communion" by John Zizioulas; "Energies of the Spirit" by Duncan Reid; "The Ground of Union" by Williams. They deal with east/west theologies of the Trinity and the Holy Spirit, but they touch on everything else in between! Very deep stuff, takes time to read, but highly recommended!

The Formation of the Christian Bible

The Formation of the Christian Bible
By Freiherr von Hans Campenhausen

This book, along with Metzger's classic, is very useful for students of the early Christian traditions, or just Christian armchair enthusiasts who are a little curious how their scriptures came about, since we are not Muslim's with a book coming down from heaven, so to speak, nor are we JWs or Mormons with what appears to be an open canon until their so-called prophets came along not too long ago. There were definitive boundaries for what we term the rule, or canon, by the year 200 for sure, as the author demonstrates. He also details that the early church had a particularly "sweeping confidence in oral tradition" and that "the Bible was never regarded as the sole source of Christian faith." This in no way discounts or weakens the revelation of God in Christ Jesus, only places it in the historical context of the life of the Church, not a book. Such a thesis will come as no surprise to Roman Catholics or Eastern Orthodox, or even some historically-minded Protestants (of which the author was a leading exponent from the Lutheran tradition in Germany). So it's true that the Church came before the NT, but not before the events recorded in the Gospels (obviously, I hope), so in this way the authority of the scriptures is normative and absolute. Even so, there was a process of canonical determination based upon oral tradition that resonated exactly with the written accounts (form which they were produced), and it would be a little too simplistic to maintain that the outcome was "a given". There was a debate. Of course they (we) believe that the Holy Spirit guided them in this process, but our faith should not be based upon fairy tales like sola scriptura of the type that says everything we need to believe is clearly expounded in the bible. It just isn't like that. If God had intended the bible alone to be the rule of faith, outside of the Tradition that produced it, then we can be left wondering why it is not clearer on central issues like baptism, worship, eucharist, ministry among many others. If you doubt this, just put a Baptist, a Lutheran and a Methodist in a room together with their bibles. They will disagree on these central aspects, or one will become non-denominational and say that these are only superficial differences and let's all love Jesus. But which Jesus? It wasn't solved by sola scriptura in the fourth century. It was the tradition, of which scripture is central.The bible has a context and that context is the worshipping community of the Church, expounded upon by the episcopacy (here Campenhausen disagrees, claiming an egalitarian exegetical authority. But I would argue that this is true only to the extent that one reads/prays the scripture with the mind of the worshipping community.)

If you are looking for a letter by letter introduction, use Metzger, but if you are looking for a detailed overview that explains the theological context of the canon in a more sitz im leben approach, I would find this very useful. Other books of interest may include: New Testament: Its Background, Growth and Content, Retrieving the Tradition and Renewing Evangelicalism: A Primer for Suspicious Protestants, A High View of Scripture? The Authority of the Bible and the Formation of the New Testament Canon (Evangelical Ressourcement: Ancient Sources for the Church's Future), Tradition, Scripture, and Interpretation: A Sourcebook of the Ancient Church (Evangelical Ressourcement: Ancient Sources for the Church's Future) and Evangelicals and Tradition: The Formative Influence of the Early Church (Evangelical Ressourcement: Ancient Sources for the Church's Future). With regard to the influence that Bart Erhman has had in making people question the legitimacy of the New Testament, please see The New Testament Documents: Are They Reliable? and Misquoting Truth: A Guide to the Fallacies of Bart Ehrman's "Misquoting Jesus" and, lastly, Fabricating Jesus: How Modern Scholars Distort the Gospels. What Ehrman does demonstrate, however, is that the modern evangleical (and synodical Lutheran) veiw of the bible as being whispered into the ears of the authors is untrue. It was based upon an oral tradition and variances are not to be afraid of. But the Traditon is not based upon such a myth as verbal inspiration. On this count, see Common Ground: An Introduction to Eastern Christianity for the American Christian and By What Authority?: An Evangelical Discovers Catholic Tradition. "The Church is the pillar and ground of truth."