Module Level
8 (Undergraduate)
Time Allowance
Lectures 24 hours Private Study 24 hours Assignment 12 hours
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)