Guides to the Early Church Fathers

From a National Catholic Register review by John Grondelski,  of Jimmy Akin's most recent book, The Fathers Know Best: Your Essential Guide to the Teachings of the Early Church:

The Orthodox and Eastern Catholics know the Fathers well, but Western Christians are largely unaware of the rich heritage of Patrology..

Jimmy Akin, a Protestant convert, Register blogger and devoted apologist with Catholic Answers, set out to remedy this deficiency.  Akin even sees the ecumenical potential of this project: If classical Protestantism sees itself as recovering pure, unadulterated Christianity free of Catholic dross, then how does one discover what primitive Christianity looked like and believed?  How does one begin to probe “the many other things” that Jesus did and taught, for which the whole world might not suffice to keep the record (John 21:25)? 

“A large majority of Christians today believe that all one needs to know about the early Church can be gleaned from the Book of Acts,” Akin writes. “But if the inspired words of the New Testament do not contain all that the apostles taught the early Christians, then how does one discover the rest of what these early Christians believed?  The answer to this — at least for hundreds of modern Protestant ministers who have found their way home to the Catholic Church — is in the writings of the early Church Fathers.”

The author calls his work a “handbook — you do not have to read it from beginning to end.”  As in: Pick it up and see what interests you.

Read the entire review. Akin's book is available through Ignatius Press.

Here are some Ignatius Press books on patristics that might also be of interest:

• The Teachings of the Church Fathers, by John Willis, is a topical collection of numerous selections from the writings of early Church Fathers.
• Four Witnesses: The Early Church in Her Own Words, by Rod Bennett, is an guide to the writings of Clement of Rome, Ignatius of Antioch, Justin Martyr, and Irenaeus of Lyons.
• Church Fathers From Clement of Rome to Augustine, by Pope Benedict XVI, contains general audiences that reflect on the lives and work of the Apostolic Fathers, the Cappadocian Fathers, John Chrysostom, Jerome, Augustine, and others.
• Church Fathers and Teachers From Leo The Great to Peter Lombard, by Pope Benedict XVI, looks at the lives and writings of fathers and theologians living in the fifth to twelfth centuries.
• Sunday Sermons of the Great Fathers: A Manual of Preaching, Spiritual Reading, and Meditation, compiled by Fr. M.F. Toal, D.D. An extensive, four-volume collection of sermons from Church Fathers for each Sunday and Feast Day of the year.