Reading Scripture with the Church Fathers Book

This is the last in a series of re-reads for me. In fact, this particular book has been rather formational for me; a fact that I couldn't have anticipated when I bought it around 1997-1998 on a whim (I was at loose ends in a book store and this caught my attention, in the days when I still impulse bought books). It sat on my shelf for two or three years, but I picked it up after I left my PhD program in 2000. I'm sure the fact that I had been pursuing a Classics degree set me up for an interest in patristics, but this book started me off on was, for a time, one of my typical scholarly obsessions. I retain an interest now, of course, but patristics is no longer the only thing I read these days.

Christopher Hall's book is a kind of companion volume to Intervarsity Press' Patristic commentaries to the books of the Bible. It is meant to make the case for reading the Church Fathers, especially for Evangelicals. It was part of a Evangelical resourcement, parallel to the Catholic resourcement around the time of Vatican II, but even more unlikely given Protestant hostility to reading the Church Fathers, especially in the modern period. Hall makes the case for reading these early Christian writers, based on their attitude to Scripture. It is a convincing case, especially for the history nerd who has a strong respect for tradition. I won't go into the details of Hall's case, but it makes a strong case that we need to reconnect to the traditional authors of Christianity, if only to counteract our own post-modern theological predilections. Hall is a convert to this view, so he has the zeal of the convert, but he is rigorous and persuasive.

This is, in my opinion, the best of the introductions to the Fathers produced in the Evangelical resourcement. It is also the introductory volume to a trilogy which also address theology and worship. The last I heard is that there is plans for a fourth one, dealing with social justice, but still no word on release for that. Meanwhile, if you are interested in the Church Fathers, this is a must read introduction.