Through the Church Fathers

Through the Church Fathers

di C. Michael Patton

Storia Cristianità

Stagione 2

Through the Church Fathers: July 30

Today’s readings press us toward evidence, attention, and wise action. Tertullian continues Against Marcion by arguing that a god with nothing to show for himself is no god at all; the Creator is known through His works, while Marcion’s supposed higher god has no creation, no witness, and no worthy ground for faith. Augustine then reflects on learning as a gathering of the mind, showing that thought is not merely receiving images through the senses, but collecting, ordering, and bringing forward truths already held within the memory. Aquinas closes by beginning the section on prudence, teaching that virtue needs more than good desire: it needs right reason applied to action, so that courage, mercy, correction, and generosity are carried out in the right way, at the right time, and for the right end. Together, these readings remind us that the true God is not without witness, the mind must be trained to gather truth carefully, and the good life requires wisdom in action. Today’s Readings: Tertullian — Against Marcion, Book 1, Chapters 11–12 Augustine — The Confessions, Book 10, Chapter 11 (Section 18) Thomas Aquinas — Summa Theologica, Part 2–2, Questions 47–48 (Prudence and Its Parts Combined) Explore the Project: Through the Church Fathers – https://www.throughthechurchfathers.com Patreon – https://www.patreon.com/cmichaelpatton Credo Courses – https://www.credocourses.com Credo Ministries – https://www.credoministries.org #ChurchFathers #Tertullian #Augustine #Aquinas #Marcion #Memory #Prudence #Theology #ThroughTheChurchFathers

Through the Church Fathers: October 12

Fear of God is the first step; wisdom is the last. Between them Augustine sets a climb that ends in a single eye—one that will not put neighbor, or self, before the truth. Then he comes back down to the third step and names the books: the canon judged by the churches, forty-four of the Old, and the New from the four Gospels to John’s Revelation. The Confessions still cannot say what time is, only that we measure it—long verse by short syllable—until even that measure slips, and he wonders whether the protraction is of the mind itself. Aquinas sorts the prophets the same way Augustine sorts signs: the image is one gift; the light that understands it is a greater one. ### Today’s Readings: Augustine of Hippo — On Christian Doctrine, Book 2, Chapters 7–8 (Sections 11–13) Augustine of Hippo — The Confessions, Book 11, Chapters 25–26 (Sections 32–33) Thomas Aquinas — Summa Theologica, Part 2–2, Questions 173–174 (The Reception and Degrees of Prophecy) --- ### Explore the Project: Through the Church Fathers – https://www.throughthechurchfathers.com Patreon – https://www.patreon.com/cmichaelpatton Credo Courses – https://www.credocourses.com Credo Ministries – https://www.credoministries.org #ThroughTheChurchFathers #ChurchFathers #Augustine #OnChristianDoctrine #Confessions #ThomasAquinas #SummaTheologica #Canon #Wisdom #Time #Prophecy #Theology #EarlyChurch

Through the Church Fathers: October 11

Today’s Readings Podcast Description Scripture left one language so that it could enter every language. Readers hunt the mind of the writers only to find the will of God. Then the dark places arrive. Augustine will not call them accidents. Pride is worn down by toil; the mind that finds too easily grows dull. The plain texts feed hunger. The obscure ones wake appetite. Almost nothing buried in figure is not said elsewhere without figure. Fear of God is the first step toward wisdom; piety the second, so that we do not correct the book we do not yet understand; knowledge the third—and knowledge of a good hope makes a man sorrowful, not proud. Strength follows, hungering after righteousness, turning from what passes to the unchangeable Trinity. Is time the motion of a body? No body moves except in time. That is not the same as saying motion is time. We measure both movement and standing still. Time is the measure, not the thing measured. Then Aquinas asks what prophecy is. A physician may forecast an illness. That is not prophecy. Prophecy begins where natural causes run out and God himself lights the mind. It is not only the future. It is not a gift the prophet switches on at will. Angels may carry the message. Only God is its source. Zach could guess from schedules and clues. Kylee told him what had actually happened. Inference is one kind of knowing. Revelation is another. ### Today’s Readings: Augustine of Hippo — On Christian Doctrine, Book 2, Chapters 5–7 (Sections 6–10) Augustine of Hippo — The Confessions, Book 11, Chapter 24 (Section 31) Thomas Aquinas — Summa Theologica, Part 2–2, Questions 171–172 --- ### Explore the Project: Through the Church Fathers – https://www.throughthechurchfathers.com Patreon – https://www.patreon.com/cmichaelpatton Credo Courses – https://www.credocourses.com Credo Ministries – https://www.credoministries.org Donate toward publishing Through the Church Fathers in a Year – https://www.credoministries.org (click “Donate”) #ThroughTheChurchFathers #Augustine #Aquinas #Confessions #OnChristianDoctrine #Prophecy #Scripture #Time #Wisdom

Through the Church Fathers: October 10

Smoke means fire whether anyone meant it to. A word means fire only because someone meant to say so. Augustine opens Book 2 of On Christian Doctrine by turning from things to signs: natural and conventional, nod and trumpet, sacrament and speech—and then writing, born because sound dies on the air, divided at Babel because men would not share the chief place. The Confessions will not let the sun own time. Joshua’s sun stood still, and the battle still took time. Time is a certain extension. Whether he sees that, or only seems to, he leaves to the Light. Aquinas asks how anyone knows what reason cannot reach. Prophecy is not a good guess. It is a light given for what would otherwise stay hidden—and the light to judge it. Today’s Readings: Augustine of Hippo — On Christian Doctrine, Book 2, Chapters 1–4 (Sections 1–5) Augustine of Hippo — The Confessions, Book 11, Chapter 23 (Section 30) Thomas Aquinas — Summa Theologica, Part 2–2, Question 171 (Prophecy) Explore the Project: Through the Church Fathers – https://www.throughthechurchfathers.com Patreon – https://www.patreon.com/cmichaelpatton Credo Courses – https://www.credocourses.com Credo Ministries – https://www.credoministries.org #ThroughTheChurchFathers #ChurchFathers #Augustine #OnChristianDoctrine #Confessions #ThomasAquinas #SummaTheologica #Signs #Time #Prophecy #Theology #EarlyChurch

Through the Church Fathers: October 9

If the reading builds up love of God and neighbor, Augustine will not call the mistake a lie—but he still wants the man back on the road. Love of one’s own opinion can turn the reader against Scripture; and if faith totters, love grows cold. Faith and hope will one day give way to sight. Love will not. The Confessions then prays over the ordinary mystery we all speak without understanding: how long, how short, a double syllable, a potter’s wheel if the stars went out. Time is not simply the circuit of heaven. Aquinas brings the same measure to what we put on. Modesty is neither display nor the performance of looking unimpressed. Today’s Readings: Augustine of Hippo — On Christian Doctrine, Book 1, Chapters 36–38 (Sections 40–42) Augustine of Hippo — The Confessions, Book 11, Chapters 22–23 (Sections 28–29) Thomas Aquinas — Summa Theologica, Part 2–2, Question 169 (Modesty in Outward Apparel) Explore the Project: Through the Church Fathers – https://www.throughthechurchfathers.com Patreon – https://www.patreon.com/cmichaelpatton Credo Courses – https://www.credocourses.com Credo Ministries – https://www.credoministries.org #ThroughTheChurchFathers #ChurchFathers #Augustine #OnChristianDoctrine #Confessions #ThomasAquinas #SummaTheologica #Love #FaithHopeLove #Time #Modesty #Theology #EarlyChurch

Through the Church Fathers: October 8

God does not use us the way we use a road. He uses us for our good, because He is good—and the holy man, like the holy angel, will not let us make camp in him. On Christian Doctrine sums the whole discussion of things: Scripture ends in love of the Good to be enjoyed, and love of the neighbor who can enjoy that Good with us. Christ is the way; He will not detain us on the way. The Confessions then asks how we measure time at all, if it runs from what is not, through what has no space, into what is not. Aquinas names the vice on the other side of studiousness. Curiosity is not the love of truth. It is the appetite that will not stop at the thing it came to find. ### Today’s Readings: Augustine of Hippo — On Christian Doctrine, Book 1, Chapters 32–35 (Sections 35–39) Augustine of Hippo — The Confessions, Book 11, Chapter 21 (Section 27) Thomas Aquinas — Summa Theologica, Part 2–2, Question 167 (Curiosity) --- ### Explore the Project: Through the Church Fathers – https://www.throughthechurchfathers.com Patreon – https://www.patreon.com/cmichaelpatton Credo Courses – https://www.credocourses.com Credo Ministries – https://www.credoministries.org #ThroughTheChurchFathers #ChurchFathers #Augustine #OnChristianDoctrine #Confessions #ThomasAquinas #SummaTheologica #LoveOfGod #ChristTheWay #Time #Curiosity #Theology #EarlyChurch

Through the Church Fathers: October 7

Who is my neighbor? Augustine will not let the word shrink. Enemy, stranger, even the holy angels who have shown us mercy—and Christ Himself under the figure of the man who stopped on the road. God does not enjoy us as if He needed our glitter. He uses us for our good, that we may enjoy Him, and one another in Him. The Confessions then corrects our speech about time: there are not past and future standing somewhere out of reach, but a present of memory, a present of sight, and a present of expectation. Aquinas names the virtue that keeps curiosity from running the day. Studiousness seeks truth—but not every tab at once. Today’s Readings: Augustine of Hippo — On Christian Doctrine, Book 1, Chapters 30–32 (Sections 31–34) Augustine of Hippo — The Confessions, Book 11, Chapter 20 (Section 26) Thomas Aquinas — Summa Theologica, Part 2–2, Question 166 (Studiousness) Explore the Project: Through the Church Fathers – https://www.throughthechurchfathers.com Patreon – https://www.patreon.com/cmichaelpatton Credo Courses – https://www.credocourses.com Credo Ministries – https://www.credoministries.org #ThroughTheChurchFathers #ChurchFathers #Augustine #OnChristianDoctrine #Confessions #ThomasAquinas #SummaTheologica #Neighbor #Angels #Time #Studiousness #Theology #EarlyChurch

Through the Church Fathers: October 6

The two great commandments do not forget the self. Augustine says we already love our own life the way the beasts do; what had to be commanded is God above us and the neighbor beside us—and then the whole current of that love, even love of enemies, is to run toward the one Good no one who finds Him will regret. The Confessions leaves the prophets in God’s hand: He to whom nothing is future somehow teaches what is not yet, and Augustine cannot see the way. Aquinas takes us to the first hearing of a better-sounding word. The serpent did not create the possibility of sin. It offered wisdom and greatness on new terms, and the will chose that appearance over the command already given. ### Today’s Readings: Augustine of Hippo — On Christian Doctrine, Book 1, Chapters 26–29 (Sections 27–30) Augustine of Hippo — The Confessions, Book 11, Chapter 19 (Section 25) Thomas Aquinas — Summa Theologica, Part 2–2, Question 165 (The Temptation of Our First Parents) --- ### Explore the Project: Through the Church Fathers – https://www.throughthechurchfathers.com Patreon – https://www.patreon.com/cmichaelpatton Credo Courses – https://www.credocourses.com Credo Ministries – https://www.credoministries.org #ThroughTheChurchFathers #ChurchFathers #Augustine #OnChristianDoctrine #Confessions #ThomasAquinas #SummaTheologica #LoveOfGod #OrderOfLove #Temptation #Theology #EarlyChurch

Through the Church Fathers: October 5

No one hates his own flesh—not even the man who starves it. Augustine says the war is not against the body, but against a habit that has grown into it; the spirit wants a better peace, not a missing limb. Then he turns from the body to the morning sky. Dawn is present. Sunrise is not. We do not see future things. We see what already is, and from those signs we speak of what is not yet. ### Today’s Readings: Augustine of Hippo — On Christian Doctrine, Book 1, Chapters 24–25 (Sections 24–26) Augustine of Hippo — The Confessions, Book 11, Chapter 18 (Section 24) --- ### Explore the Project: Through the Church Fathers – https://www.throughthechurchfathers.com Patreon – https://www.patreon.com/cmichaelpatton Credo Courses – https://www.credocourses.com Credo Ministries – https://www.credoministries.org #ThroughTheChurchFathers #ChurchFathers #Augustine #OnChristianDoctrine #Confessions #BodyAndSoul #Time #Memory #Theology #EarlyChurch

Through the Church Fathers: October 4

Augustine will not let us enjoy one another as if a human life were the happy ending. In On Christian Doctrine God alone is to be enjoyed; neighbor, self, and even the body are to be loved for His sake, and the soul that lords it over its equals has already begun to hate itself. Then in The Confessions he hunts the past and the future and finds them only as present: childhood is gone, yet its image is here in memory; tomorrow’s deed is not yet, yet the thought of it is now. ### Today’s Readings: Augustine of Hippo — On Christian Doctrine, Book 1, Chapters 20–23 (Sections 19–23) Augustine of Hippo — The Confessions, Book 11, Chapter 18 (Section 23) --- ### Explore the Project: Through the Church Fathers – https://www.throughthechurchfathers.com Patreon – https://www.patreon.com/cmichaelpatton Credo Courses – https://www.credocourses.com Credo Ministries – https://www.credoministries.org #ThroughTheChurchFathers #ChurchFathers #Augustine #OnChristianDoctrine #Confessions #LoveOfGod #Time #Memory #Theology #EarlyChurch

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