The Fathers of The Church

Fathers of the Church

1. Justin Martyr - (©. 110-165). Probably lived in Rome. Wrote Defenses of Christianity (called apologetics).

2. Irenaeus (©. 130-202). From Leone (France). Most famous book is Against the Heracy (the heracy of Gnosticism).

3. Clement of Alexandria (©. ?-215). From Egypt.

4. Tertulliam (©. 152-223). Wrote Against Marcian. From northern Africa. Very conservative. Said that Christians should remove themselves from society - seclusion.

5. Origen - (©. 182-251). From Egypt. Very interesting. Weirdest of the five. His father was a martyr and he hoped to be one too.

These five are important because they wrote so much and it has survived for so long and the time in church that they represent.

Irenaeus argued for purity of church tradition. He said that when the apostles died that they passed the traditions down to others and them to others - God did it that way. That is the regula fides (rule of tradition). It is not human, but rather inspired ...