It is safe to say that conservative evangelical Christians have, for the most part, ignored the writings of the church fathers in recent generations. For much of my Christian life I have been no different than my fellow evangelicals in this respect.

I vividly recall my experience 30 years ago this fall when I entered Emmaus Bible School in Oak Park, Illinois (it’s now Emmaus Bible College in Dubuque, Iowa) and encountered its library’s complete set (38 large hardbound volumes) of the Philip and David Schaff edition of the Ante-Nicene (i.e., before the writing of the Nicene Creed in A.D. 325) Nicene, and Post-Nicene Fathers. I remember thinking something like, “Who’s ever gonna read all that?” I also remember thinking something along the lines of, “Aren’t those the dudes that got us into all the trouble in the first place, and forced us to have a Reformation and everything?” (more…)