A HANDBOOK OF PATROLOGY (ePub)

Patrology is the study of the life and works of the men designated by that name. As a science, then, it is part of the History of Ancient Christian Literature, since it excludes from the field of its labors both the canonical writings of the New Testament and all writings that are strictly and entirely heretical. On this latter point, however, most authors exercise a certain tolerance. As knowledge of heretical works is very often useful, nay even necessary, for understanding the refutations written by the Fathers, most Patrologies do not hesitate to mention and describe at least the principal ones. We will follow this method: not mentioning the New Testament writings, but describing, in part at least, and very briefly, the heterodox writings best known in the early centuries.
"Apostolic Fathers" is the name given to a certain number of writers or writings (several of which are anonymous) dating from the end of the first or from the first half of the second century. The name has been selected because the authors are supposed to have known the Apostles and also because their works represent a teaching derived immediately, or almost immediately, from the Apostles. These writings are, indeed, a continuation of the Gospels and of Apostolic literature.
On the other hand, these works have neither the intense vividness of the canonical books nor the fullness of theological thought found in the literature of a later period. With the exception of St. Ignatius, their authors do not show much intellectual power or ability, which goes to prove that, in the beginning, the Church recruited her members chiefly from among the illiterate. Nevertheless, the writings of these men are of great value to us, both on account of their antiquity and because they show how the Christians of the second and third generations understood the work of Christ and of his Apostles.