Feature: Patristic Ponderings
An informal yet delightful young adult seminar on the Church Fathers, hosted at Via coffee house every month
Coffee with the Church Fathers
Via coffee house is still going strong (and has been thanks to the Spirit, obviously delicious coffee, and all of you in the young adult community!), and we’re adding a new feature, to occur on a monthly basis.
Welcome to Patristic Ponderings, a young adult seminar exploring the Church Fathers. The first occurrence is scheduled for Saturday, 25 September 2021 at 11:00a during Via coffee house hours at the Panther Catholic Newman Center at 3001 N. Downer.
Patristics: essential to the Catholic faith
The study of the Church Fathers, known as "patristics" (from the Greek word for "father"), is absolutely essential to the Catholic faith, insofar as these early leaders and saints of the Church helped to establish the theological foundation and trajectory of our tradition, in all its manifold richness.
So what are these Patristic Ponderings?
These monthly ~1.5 hour-long seminars are intended to help young people mine some of the riches from this early period of our Catholic tradition by a focused reading and discussion of key texts from the Fathers.
Our very own JPII House resident and Historical Theology & Patristics PhD candidate Josh Miller explains more:
We will begin with Irenaeus of Lyons, a bishop and saint (and purported martyr) from the second century, and his magnum opus Against Heresies. This is a wide-ranging work responding to various heretical groups which had arisen in the Church by Irenaeus' time, generally referred to as "Gnostics." In the process of refuting their views, Irenaeus provides the first comprehensive theological presentation of the Christian faith, and for this reason has been called the father of Christian theology. While learning about various and strange heretical mythologies, we will be nourished by Irenaeus' beautiful and learned defense of the "canon of truth"—the essentials of Christian faith, as understood in the second century.
Indeed, the Church largely has Irenaeus to thank for her unified profession of faith in one God who created all things, with humanity in a preeminent place after the image and likeness of the one Lord Jesus Christ through whom God restores us by virtue of our union with Jesus into the fullness of that image and likeness.
If this excites you, come learn more about what Irenaeus has to say about it.
Interested in participating? Email Josh at joshrmiller11@gmail.com to find out the readings and what to expect for the first meeting, as well as his favorite coffee roast.
Patristic Ponderings: Session #1
Intro to Irenaeus & Against Heresies, Book 1
To all Potential Patristic Ponderers:
Our first meeting—11am next Saturday, September 25th at the UWM Newman Center—will begin with a brief introduction to Irenaeus' life and works so as to provide some context for our reading of Against Heresies (“AH”). But then we'll jump right in and spend the majority of our time discussing passages from AH book 1. Our focus will be on chapters 1-10 (including the preface), 22-23.1, 25.5-28.1, 31.3-4. (Note: all of these chapters are from book 1. But don't worry, each one is relatively short.) You can find the text here: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0103.htm.
It would be beneficial to you and our discussion if you would read at least all of these chapters ahead of time, though feel free to tackle the entirety of book 1 should you have the time and interest. (If you find the presentation of the strange Ptolemaean mythology in chapters 1-8 dull or inscrutable, feel free to skim over that part.) I will try to touch on all of these sections at some point during the seminar, but we will (re)read select passages together and focus our attention on those. Please bring the text with you in some form (printed out, on a computer/tablet, or in one of a number of bound volumes for sale online).
Feel free to be in touch with any questions ahead of time (joshrmiller11@gmail.com), and to spread the word to others. No prior training in theology is required to participate—only the ability to read and think, and the desire to learn from/about one of the great Fathers of the Church. Hope to see you next Saturday!
—Josh
Patristic Ponderings: Session #2
Irenaeus & Against Heresies
10:30-12:00p on Saturday, 9 October at the UWM Newman Center following Via coffee house.
For those with a bit more time and ambition, here is an alternative reading list for book 2 of Against Heresies with everything:
Preface.1-1.3, 2.5, 5.4, 6.2, 7.5, 9.1-10.1, 11.1, 13.3-4, 13.8, 14.1-6, 16.3, 18.5-7, 19.8, 22.4-5, 24.1, 24.3-5, 25.1-28.6, 29.1-2, 30.1-5, 30.9-31.3, 32.4-5, 34.1-4, 35.2-4
Here again is the link to a free online version of Against Heresies.