More on patristics

I have been really encouraged by the positive response to the postings about the importance of reading the early church fathers.  Two further comments on this.

First, for all of the talk about the negative impact of scholasticism on Reformed theology, my own discovery of the importance of the fathers came precisely through my careful reading of the seventeenth century Reformed Orthodox such as John Owen, Gisbertus Voetius and company, for whom patristic testimony was crucial, who quoted the fathers more than any other non-biblical source, whose libraries were heaving with early church texts, and whose theology was grounded in an ongoing dialogue with a full range of authors from times past -- from the Apostolic Fathers to post-Reformation Catholicism.  The absence of patristics in modern Reformed theology is strange and certainly, in part, the result of neglecting this great tradition of patristic (and, indeed, medival) learning of the Reformed scholastics.  I love the fathers and the medievals because I am Reformed and love the scholastic authors too, not despite the fact.

Second, well worth reading are the volumes in the IVP Ancient Commentary on Scripture series, edited by Thomas Oden, who has probably done more to make the fathers useful and accessible than anyone else.  I note too that he has just edited a devotional (which I am reviewing for Modern Reformation) based on patristic readings.  I have not seen it yet, but it may well provide interested readers with a great opportunity to sample the riches of the patristic heritage in a convenient and manageable way.  You can link to the book via http://www.ivpress.com/cgi-ivpress/book.pl/code=3431