Peter CostelloThe Beauty of God’s Presence in the Fathers of the Church.
The International Patristic Conferences at Maynooth have been held since 1992, now with increasing frequency. Though this collection of papers present at the conference in 2012 is aimed at an academic audience, it is nevertheless of some general interest.
Having recently organised a small exhibition on the theme of the Greek and Latin fathers in the Central Catholic Library, I am conscious of how small a part they play in the thinking of ordinary Christians. This is a pity. For the early fathers of the Church, as is emphasised throughout this book, are a heritage shared with the Orthodox traditions. In the writings of the fathers we can see the universal doctrines of the Church being elaborated and explored.
Yet, as Dr Rutherford remarks in her introduction, the Maynooth conference is no mere academic occasion. The participants all share the ideal that what they are concerned with is part of a living tradition, a tradition that informs the lives of all Christians – or ought to.
New insights
These papers are filled not only with new insights; they present aspects of the past worth pondering. The role of Charlemagne, for instance, in attempting to overthrow, largely for political reasons, the decisions of the Seventh Ecumenical Council in 787, by misrepresenting what it had actually decided about icons, suggests that theology is not always a purely intellectual or spiritual activity.
Other aspects of this collection will strike other general readers, and it presents an excellent example of the development of Irish academic research.