Join us at 7 pm on October 17 for a lecture with Fr. Andrew Hofer, O.P.
The Significance of the First Centuries after the New Testament for the Christian Faith
What do the first few centuries after the New Testament matter for the Christian faith today? This talk considers that question by considering first of all the formation of the biblical canon. There is no biblical book that lists the books of Scripture. The arguments of what books belong in the Bible show the necessity of the Church for understanding how God is revealed. Creeds and liturgies, expressive of the Word entrusted to the Church, were formulated and fixed in the Tradition that grew from what Christ gave the apostles in the Spirit. Finally, we consider the group called "The Fathers of the Church," who give witness to the Church's Tradition in a way that is still important today, by considering their four defining characteristics, all of which are open to some debate: antiquity, holiness, orthodox teaching, and ecclesiastical approval
Fr. Andrew Hofer, O.P.
Fr. Andrew Hofer, O.P., is Associate Professor of Patri
stics and Ancient Languages and Director of the Doctoral Program at the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception, Dominican House of Studies, in Washington, DC. His research appears in such journals as Augustinianum, International Journal of Systematic Theology, Journal of the History of Ideas, Pro Ecclesia, The Thomist, and Vigiliae Christianae. He is the author of Christ in the Life and Teaching of Gregory of Nazianzus (Oxford Early Christian Studies), and of essays in volumes published by Catholic University of America Press, Ignatius Press, Oxford University Press, and Sapientia Press. He is the editor of Divinization: Becoming Icons of Christ through the Liturgy, Hillenbrand Books, 2015, and co-editor of the forthcoming Thomas Aquinas and the Greek Fathers, Sapientia Press.