Hans von Campenhausen (1903–1989)

The combined edition of the author's biographies of the Fathers of the Greek and Latin Churches.

On the Greek side the author writes on Justin, Irenaeus, Clement of Alexandria, Origen, Eusebius, Athanasius, Basil, Gregory Nazianzus, Gregory of Nyssa, Synesius, John Chrysostom, and Cyril of Alexandria; on the Latin side, he writes on Tertullian, Cyprian, Lactantius, Ambrose, Jerome, Augustine, and Boethius.

The author cannot be accused of hiding his bias. One does not walk away wondering what he thinks of, say, Augustine, or Jerome, for good or ill. While the "judgmentalism" might be jarring for the contemporary reader not used to such style, at least he's out with it. The author sees the Greek period as more intellectually robust, more prominent in the earlier centuries, and philosophical, but decries the political machinations which brought down John Chrysostom and perpetrated by Cyril. It was good to see someone else with far more scholarship behind him see the Christological controversy in the middle of the fifth century as more politically than ideologically motivated, that Nestorius would probably not have had much difficulty with the Chalcedonian conclusion, and how Chalcedon tries to have it both ways, honoring Cyril but in substance varying from his premises. He is a good Westerner in terms of his assessment of medieval Orthodoxy. Then again, his Western slant is evident with the comparably far longer biographies given of the fourth century Western divines rather than the Easterners. He is quite open with his views on Jerome's failings (but cannot deny his philological brilliance); even in his fawning portrayal of Augustine the author recognizes the former's dependence on Neoplatonism and the extremes taken in his discussions of divine grace and human freedom. His conclusion regarding Augustine and Boethius, that the medieval church was given an open, unresolved question regarding faith and philosophy, is a bit startling; the Judeo-Christian-Platonist synthesis, while not perfect, is generally seen as fairly robust in early medieval times.

Regardless, a good work to explore a certain perspective on the "church fathers" and their writings.… (mehr)

There is a reason why this book is a classic. He looks at this topic of leadership from a sociological AND a historical aspect. What a great combination. He even leads into the seeds of hierarchy and how some people abuse certain facts of the late 1st century, such as the catholic philosophy, to justify the idea of succession and top down leadership. It is most valuable to me because it exposed me to new horizons which have to considered when engaging questions like "What should leadership look like for todays church?"… (mehr)