Reading the Early Church Fathers always gives me a sense that the Church was not very Lutheran, but more Catholic or Orthodox. They believed things that would make us shudder. How do Lutherans reconcile the Early Church Fathers with Lutheranism?
Note: This thread is specifically for Lutherans who have knowledge of the Early Church Fathers.
PS: How do feel about people like Jaroslav Pelikan, who was a famous Lutheran pastor and writer that turned Orthodox in 1998?
1. It should be remembered that there is no objective corpus of "fathers" OR their writings. Each denominations (often only for its own time) "names" them, cherrypicks the quotes - and interprets them.
2. In my Catholic days, I often heard OF the RCC "Fathers" and generic comments about what "they" said. As I began to study "them," what I found is that MUCH - very, very MUCH - is given to how the denomination INTERPRETS the words it picked from the author it picked. When you read what was actually penned (even assuming the RCC's translation of which is unbiased) - it often fell FAR short of saying what was claimed, I often found. But yes - what the RCC TAKES from the snippet it chose from the "fathers" it chose CAN "sound" pretty "Catholic." But, IMO - that shouldn't be TOO surprising.
3. Lutherans, I've found, have a particularly high esteem for the RCC's "Father" (to be blunt, more than I think I have). Luther quoted from them extensively, as do the Lutheran Confessions. Sometimes the very same "fathers" and "snippets" the RCC does (see # 2 above).
4. MY personal perspective is this: Christians have NEVER all agreed on everything. Not EVERYTHING is clearly and unmistakenly taught and or addressed in Scripture. Questions arose.... Problems arose.... A consensus and resolution wasn't ALWAYS quick or easy or simple (just as it at times is not in our own time). I think that people prayed, studied, listened, argued, discussed, worked, listened, worshipped, prayed, discussed, read, worked, debated, worshipped, argued, listened, prayed, argued - perhaps for CENTURIES. Sometimes, in all the this, WISE men arose and said things that proved VERY helpful..... perhaps even a consensus began to form around that. AT TIMES, I'd be apt to say GOD'S providence may well have been at work there? I am apt to give thanks for such wise, pious and HELPFUL men. Call them what you like. I don't regard them as infallible Vicars of God or divine Prophets yeilding new revelation from God, and I don't regard their words as God's Scriptures and thus not on an equal plain to such - but I AM thankful for their wisdom and for the role they played in helping the church come to some resolution. That's it. that's a LOT but that's it.
5. Jaroslav Pelikan, a beloved and esteemed LCMS clergymen, ALWAYS had "one foot" in Orthodoxy (one of his parents was Orthodox - I don't remember which) and, knowing the language, ALWAYS read much from that perspective. A little study of his life and his writings makes this not too suprising (and none were at the time); it was a rather natural, unsurprising and "friendly" move on his part. Protestantism PERMITS examination and rather insists on accountability - so moves such as this are never too shocking (a Catholic or Orthodox moving to Protestantism is FAR more interesting, from an epistemology standpoint - as is about 50% of the people in my Lutheran congregation, including the pastor).
Just speaking for ME - and ain't saying that's saying such.
Pax
- Josiah
ps There are Lutheran Church Fathers, too. And Calvinist and Anglican and Pentecostal and LDS......
pps I currently think it "unfortunate" that Orthodox TEND to "huddle" quietly behind the Catholics.... It reinforces very common misconception that the RC and EO's are same/same, that Orthodox are just Catholics who speak Greek (or Russian) and have some weird, old customs they won't disgard. I think that misconception is both wrong and unhealthy for the EO AND FOR US PROTESTANTS. But we'll need to leave that to another thread and day...
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