Book Review: When the Church Was Young by Marcellino D'Ambrosio

When the Church Was Young: Voices of the Early Fathers by Marcellino D'Ambrosio

This review of the great teachers of the early church spans from Pope Saint Clement in the Apostolic era to Pope Saint Gregory the Great in the 800s. But the list is not limited to popes. Most of the early Church Fathers were monks, priests, and bishops (sometimes, all three at different points in their lives). They wrote dealing with controversies of their day, clarifying the Faith that was handed down to them from the Apostles, before the books of the New Testament were officially chosen at the Council of Carthage in 397. The early Fathers strove for greater clarity about the Eucharist, about how Jesus is true God and true man, and the nature of and relationships in the Holy Trinity. Plenty of wrong notions sprang up (Arians, Nestorians, Pelagians, Gnostics, etc.) and needed clarification and correction.

This book describes the lives of the early Fathers one by one, giving a bit of biography (if any is available) and describing their writings and dealings with their fellow Christians and with their contemporary pagan world. The narrative style makes the information easy to absorb and presents enough information about each one's writings to let readers know if they want to delve deeper into that Father's life or read that Father's writings. An appendix provides a list of primary and secondary sources for further reading.

I liked this book a lot. The style is very engaging while presenting the through line of orthodox teaching based on the reading of Scriptures (both Old and New Testament) and the education received from previous Fathers. Often, they interacted--the most famous example is Saint Ambrose of Milan, who was an influential figure in converting Saint Augustine to the true faith (though Augustine's mom was clearly more influential). The chapters are easy to read and the use of Greek and Latin is minimal, only emphasized when dealing with controversies like the homoousos vs. homoiousos controversy.

Highly recommended--this is a great way to step into learning from the ancient teachers of the Christian church.