Rediscovering the Church Fathers, by Michael A. G. Haykin

Rediscovering the Church Fathers by Michael A. G. Haykin Crossway Books

First of all I would like to thank Crossway books and especially Angie Chetham for sending me this advanced review copy so that I could give an opinion on Michael Haykins new book.


Rediscovering the Church Fathers is a very well written book intended to reacquaint the Christian Church with the early exegetes of Scripture. We pastors and laypeople have a tendency to pick up commentaries that are written by modern day theologians (modern being from the 1800 to present day) to help us better understand scripture.

But we have a tendency to ignore those writers from the early 1st century through the 8th century. These works have been translated and made available in several volumes that make up the larger work known as the Nicene Fathers and the Anti-Nicene Fathers.

One of the Haykin's premises is that when we have ignored the early church Fathers even though they "can provide us with a map for the Christian life." He uses the illustration that we would not try to sail from New York to London across the Atlantic without some navigational guides. We often use guides that were written by the early explorers and take them as "gospel." So, why don't we take the early writings of the Church Fathers and give them the weight of value that they deserve?

Most likely we don't read them because we believe that they will be hard to read, hard to understand and that they won't understand our culture because they wrote at a time when life was totally different.

But as Haykin points out these early writers were giving us insight into the scriptures during a time of great persecution of the church. They personally knew the men and women that were being martyred for the faith. Many of the martyrs were their students. So, who better to give us insight into scripture knowing that their stand against the Greeks and the Romans could very much cost them their lives.

An interesting fact that Haykin points out is that many of these writers were having to answer the questions of other scholars as to why this "New Teaching" of Christians should be listened to. The Greeks and Roman scholars believe that if the writing or thoughts were ancient they must be true, but if they were new they must be suspect.

So, given the fact that today we have people who question the validity of the Scriptures and their relevancy we will find a common bond with the Early Church Fathers because they were wrestling with that same issue even in the 1st and 2nd century after Christ death.

The early Church Fathers looked as Martyrdom as a Gift of the Spirit. Ignatius wrote as he awaited death for espousing the Gospel, "Earthly longings have been crucified and in me there is left no spark of desire for mundane things, but only a murmur of living water that whispers within me, 'Come to the Father.' He truly understood that the things of this world are worthless when put into the perspective of what Christ suffered and what He calls his followers to do.

After an introductory chapter regarding why we should read the early Church Fathers Haykin goes on in the next chapters to introduce us to some very key writers. Chapters include background and details about;
Ignatius of Antioch
Origen, nicknamed Adamantius "Man of Steel"
Cyprian and Ambrose of Alexandria
Basil of Caesarea
and the Mission of Patrick

If these names don't sound familiar that's because we have neglected to read about the early history of the church.

This work is a great primer for the early Church Fathers. It ignited in me a desire to dig deeper into the writings of these early Church Fathers, The Patristics as they are known.

So, how do I start? Well Haykin answers that question. In Appendix #1 he gives you "A Beginners Guide to Reading the Fathers." This short appendix is a great summation of the book and gives you the tools to start into a deeper study.

If you are unfamiliar with the early Patristics this book will wet your appetite. If you are familiar with them but have been ignoring them because you want to read works from modern commentators, this book will wet your appetite to get back into reading the early writings.

The year is early, but this book is right now my #1 recommendation for the year. It might not stay there, but it will take a pretty good book coming in the future to knock it from the top slot for this year.

Enjoy!