Assessment

Essay 35% Class Participation 15% End of Semester Exam 50%

Module Aims

• To introduce students to some of the most important Patristic texts in the early Church.
• To enable students to engage critically with some key Patristic texts, seen in their cultural and historical context.
• To familiarise students with the emergence of Christian theology, with a specific focus on the Church, developing ministerial structures, liturgical life.

Indicative Syllabus:

The Development of the Liturgy: Ritual Practices in Early Christianity

• The Didache Justin:
• First Apology
• The Apostolic Tradition
• St. Cyril of Jerusalem’s Mystagogical Catechesis

The Structure of Early Christianity: the Development of Church Offices

• First Clement
• The Didache
• The Letters of Ignatius to the Ephesians, Magnesians and Smyrneans
• The Apostolic Tradition
• The Didascalia
• Cyprian: On the Unity of the Catholic Church

The Defence of Christianity: the Early Christian Apologists

• Minucius Felix: Octavius
• Justin: First Apology
• Athenagoras: Plea regarding the Christians

The Proclamation of the Word: Homilies in Early Christianity

• Second Clement
• Origin: Homilies on Genesis

Persecution and Martyrdom in the Early Church

• The Letter of Ignatius to the Romans
• The Martyrdom of Polycarp
• The Letters of the Churches of Vienne and Lyons
• The Martyrdom of Perpetua and Felicitas

Canons and Creeds

• Canons of Elvira
• Creed and Canons of Nicaea
• Creed and Canons of Constantinople

Irish Texts

• St. Patrick’s Works
• Penitentials
• St. Columbanus
• Early material on St. Brigid

Learning Outcomes

• — At the end of the course students should: • Appreciate the contribution of some major Fathers of the Church to the -understanding. • Become familiar with reading and interpreting Patristic texts, attentive to their use of sources and Scripture, and their historical, cultural and theological context. • Know how to access critical editions of Patristic texts, reputable translations and relevant secondary materials and commentaries.

Bibliography

• — Boniface Ramsey, Beginning to Read the Fathers Revised Edition (Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 2012).
• — Michael W. Holmes, The Apostolic Fathers: Greek Texts and English Translations. 3rd ed. (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2007)