|
St. Theophilus of Antioch: His Life and Writings
Bishop and Early Church Father
St. Theophilus, bishop of Antioch in the late second century, lived during the age when it was a capital crime in the Roman Empire to be a Christian. Of his many reported writings, only his three-book "Apology" or Defense of Christianity, addressed to Autolycus, has survived. The general purpose of his work was to explain to the pagan world the Christian understanding of God and make clear the superiority of the biblical doctrine of creation over the absurd religious myths of the Greco-Roman world. Probably the most notable distinction of St. Theophilus is that his book is the earliest writing to contain the Greek term "triados" which is the equivalent of the English word Trinity. It was a decade or two afterwards that we find in the North African writer Tertullian the Latin equivalent "Trinitas" for the first time. The date of St. Theolophilus' death is not known, but his birth into eternal life presumably occured before the end of the second century.
|
The Fathers of the Church - Who They Are and Why They Matter
In a single, upbeat talk, full of examples and fascinating stories about St. Ambrose and other intriguing personalities, Marcellino D'Ambrosio explains who people are talking about when they refer to the "Fathers of the Church" or "Early Church Fathers. Though the ranks of the fathers include a tremendous variety of cultures, locales, and personalities, there is surprising consensus that emerges from them on a variety of the most pressing questions of our day. In this dynamic talk, Marcellino makes clear just how much these figures have to teach us. |
|
