Patrology

Patrology is the study of the lives, writings, and teachings of the early Christian Church Fathers. It examines their historical settings and role in the development of Christian doctrine.

Church Fathers: Early Christian writers whose teachings became authoritative in major Christian traditions. They are the people whose lives, writings, and teachings define patrology’s subject.
Textual criticism: The comparison of manuscript witnesses to establish or reconstruct the wording of a text. Many patristic works survive in variant manuscripts that require critical editing.
Eusebius of Caesarea: A fourth-century Christian bishop and historian who wrote the Ecclesiastical History. His accounts preserve evidence about early Christian authors and their writings.
Athanasius of Alexandria: A fourth-century bishop and theologian who defended the full divinity of the Son. His writings illuminate the controversies surrounding the Council of Nicaea.
Patristics: The academic study of early Christian literature, thought, and history. Patrology overlaps with patristics, though the terms can emphasize different aspects of the field.
Historical criticism: Methods for interpreting texts in relation to their historical contexts and composition. It helps distinguish a Father’s original argument from later circumstances surrounding a text.
Jerome: A fourth-century Christian scholar best known for translating the Bible into Latin. His De viris illustribus offered an influential catalogue of Christian authors.
Augustine of Hippo: A late fourth- and early fifth-century bishop whose works shaped Western Christian theology. His large, varied corpus exemplifies the theological and historical breadth of patrology.
Apostolic Fathers: Early Christian authors who wrote in the generations immediately after the apostles. Their writings represent some of the earliest material examined in patrology.
Paleography: The study of historical handwriting and the dating and localization of manuscripts. Dating patristic manuscripts can clarify how and where their works circulated.

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