How To Read The Church Fathers,Fr. Joseph Lucas

About This Book

If you’ve always wanted to read the Holy Fathers but don’t know how to do it or where to start, How to Read the Holy Fathers: A Guide for Orthodox Christians is the perfect book for you!

In this book, Fr. Joseph Lucas introduces readers to the beauty and complexity of the Church Fathers’ writings, and he provides guidelines and tools for reading them with wisdom and discernment. He also offers advice on how to apply their works to your own spiritual life.

The book includes an examination of the various genres of patristic writings, using concrete examples to illustrate a proper approach to reading these texts.

My Personal Review and Thoughts:

I’m an Orthodox Convert of almost 6 years now and have a desire to dig into the writings of the Church Fathers, but I wasn’t sure where to start or if there was a method I should use when doing so.

Fr. Joseph Lucas’ book has really helped me understand more about how to read the complex writings of those who lived this faith before us. In this book, the author breaks the sections down for us, like introducing us to the fathers and how we should be using the context of their times to help us better understand and discern their writings.

The book covers different types of writings like letters, Hymnography, Liturgical Commentaries to name a few of them.

In each of these chapters, where he covers the different types of writings, Father Lucas helps us look at two fathers and some context for each. I really enjoyed using this book as my first dip into these historical writings that are important to our church.

To me, it was a great outline that was so helpful for those of us needing some guidance when we are starting with these types of writings. I’m thankful I was given the chance to read this insightful book in return for a fair and honest review.

About the Author:

Father Joseph Lucas received his PhD in Theology at Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen (Netherlands) and his MDiv with Distinction in Church History and Patristics at St Tikhon’s Orthodox Theological Seminary (Pennsylvania). He specializes in research pertaining to patristic exegesis and historical theology. He is also a founder and senior editor of “Rule of Faith Journal” and blogs at “Prudence & Piety.”

About the author: Keri Bucci

I'm an Orthodox Christain that converted in 2020. I have attended SS George and Alexandra Orthodox Church in Fort Smith, AR the conversion. I'm married to my husband, Anthony, and we have one son, Nathanael. Anthony and I are the creators of the Let Us Attend Website as well as the Orthodox Christian Table over on YouTube. I have also had a food blog for 12 years called My Table of Three, where I share healthy recipes that include fasting recipes, low-carb & sugar-free recipes, and whole food recipes.