Regnum Caelorum

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gregbed

gregbed

Puritan Board Freshman
I started reading Regnum Caelorum by Charles E. Hill following Dr. Clark's recommendation in another thread. I am about a third of the way through and am altering my concept of the place of the Ante-Nicean Fathers (ANF).
Previously, I assumed that since they were so fewer handshakes away from the Apostles than we are their words would be a closer reflection of Apostolic teaching.
However reading what many of the ANF believed about the intermediate state between death and resurrection has challenged that idea.
It seems to me that they were every bit as much a product of their culture as we are and had a tendency to view Christian teachings through the lens of previous Greek or nonscriptural Jewish understandings about such things. Someone even sitting at the feet of an Apostle has a natural inclination to remember words and teachings according to preconcieved notions rather than according to their true meaning. How much more so after passing through 2 or 3 generations.
Is there any point in making an appeal to the ANF as the basis for establishing the truthfulness of a doctrine?
I would really appreciate any input I could get on this.
 
Originally posted by gregbed
Is there any point in making an appeal to the ANF as the basis for establishing the truthfulness of a doctrine?
I would really appreciate any input I could get on this.
Click to expand...

A book I thoroughly recommend is Daille's Use of the Fathers, published in the 19th cent. by Presbyterian Board of Publication.

It doesn't really matter how close a father was to the apostolic period, seeing there were so many errors already addressed within the church by the apostles themselves. In fact, we know that the apostle Peter himself required the withstanding of the apostle Paul.

Not that I usually recommend Thomas Torrance, but his earlier work on the Doctrine of Grace in the Apostolic Fathers is valuable. He shows how "grace" was regarded somewhat as a sacramental power. Many subsequent abuses can be traced to this initial fault.

The fathers have the same historical usefulness as the Apocrypha.
 
Thanks I will try to track down a copy of Daille's book, which looks like it might be tough to find.
 
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