Series Intro: Authority in the Apostolic Fathers

As I mentioned in a recent post on Ignatius, I am beginning a new series. This series discusses how the Apostolic Fathers viewed viewed authority, revelation, the New and Old Testament documents, tradition, and other related important things. This is ultimately to bring this data, along with the witness of the New and Old Testament writings, in for a discussion of church authority and Scripture in modern Christianity.

I do not consider the writings of the Apostolic Fathers to be as authoritative as those of the apostles, and this is in line with their thinking as well. Ignatius, for example, would be appalled at taking his teaching over that of an apostle. However, as the generation immediately following that of the apostles, they can shed some very important light on the earliest of Christian thought. So stay tuned. If you have never read any of their writings, I think you will be in for some interesting material.

Discussions of some authors will be very brief. Others will take several posts. View the footer of this post, or any post in the series, for links to other posts.