John Chrysostom shows how sexual immorality is unloving
There is great confusion over what love is. Love is nearly synonymous with sexual immorality. We should expect this as society …
Category Archives: What the early church thought about
Clement of Alexandria on the “otherness” of God
The theology of the Alexandrian school sometimes leave you scratching your head, but here’s a good observation on the mercy …
Athanasius on singing the Psalms
Athanasius of Alexandria, writing Marcellinus,* a deacon in his church, explains how suitable the psalms are for the different states …
Wretched insanity
I was looking at an edition of Augustine’s Confessions, and happened upon this brief note: The early Fathers …
John Gill on the Jewish custom of three times of prayer
Baptist pastor and theologian John Gill has this to say about the Jewish observance of three times of prayer (cf. …
A gem in a letter from Basil to Athanasius
What is more venerated in the entire West than the white hair of your majestic head? Letter 66, Basil to …
The Public Reading of Scripture in the Early Church
In 1 Timothy 4:13, Paul explicitly tells Timothy to read the Scripture publically in the early church: Until I come, …
Some notes on spiritual gifts and the church fathers
A friend of mine recently asked what the early church believed about spiritual gifts, and I put together the following …
Clement of Alexandria, the first fundamentalist
This is priceless. From The Instructor [Pædagogus] (2.11) “Neither is it seemly for the clothes to be above the knee, …
What the early church thought about dancing
Because I like to beat dead horses, I will continue the theme of the past few days with a few …
What the early church thought about movies
I know, I know. You're all sick of the movie discussion. There are movie discussions all over the web, and …
What the early church thought about beards
Okay, this post is for fun. You will have to pardon my limiting my recent posting to merely quotations. I …
