Monday, June 16, 2025

Robert A. Sungenis on the Importance of the Patristics

The following comes from Robert A. Sungenis, who has written a lot in favor of Catholic theology (e.g., Not By Bread Alone: The Biblical and Historical Evidence of the Eucharistic Sacrifice) and against Protestantism (e.g., Not By Faith Alone: The Biblical Evidence for the Catholic Doctrine of Justification). What stood out is how Sungenis downplays the significance of the patristics and their witness (at least in comparison to many pop-level Catholic apologists who often [falsely] appeal to the unanimous consent of the fathers for various doctrines):

 

Often we are tempted to think that support for a doctrinal truth can be garnered simply by finding a representative sample of Fathers of the early Church who held the same opinion. Often the Catholic interpreter will quote one, two, or perhaps even a dozen Fathers on a matter of doctrine and consider the case closed. Unfortunately, it is simply not that easy. Unless the Fathers had a consensus wherein all of them agreed on a certain matter of Christian doctrine, the doctrine is neither established nor required for belief. The Catholic should consider the testimony of the Fathers influential and valuable, but certainly not final. The reason is that the Catholic Church does not regard the Fathers as possessing an inspired gift for deciding matters of doctrine, nor does the Church regard the Fathers as superior interpreters of Scripture compared to exegetes of a later time. Truth be told, some of the Fathers were poor at exegeting Scripture. Some of them did not even know the languages of the Bible, Greek and Hebrew. At other times the Fathers not only contradicted one another, but a Father would sometimes contradict himself, or give two or more opinions on a certain passage of Scripture. In fact, some of the Fathers held beliefs that were later regarded as dubious or even heretical by the Church. (Robert A. Sungenis, “Should We Expect a Mass Conversion of Jews Just Before the Return of Christ?,” in Catholic/Jewish Dialogue: Controversies & Corrections [State Line, Pa.: Catholic Apologetics International Publishing, Inc., 2010], 634)

 

 

The main reason the Church invests the Fathers with a certain degree of influence or authority regarding Catholic doctrine is that their consensus on a certain belief is a strong sign that the doctrine originates from Christ and the Apostles. [272] If their teaching is unanimous, such that they all interpret a text of the Bible precisely the same, then it can be assumed, barring some intervention by the magisterium, that the teaching was inspired by the Holy Spirit, either by written revelation (2Tm 3:16) or oral revelation (1Th 2:13), which were both commanded to be preserved in Tradition (2Th 2:15). It is the divine origin of a particular doctrine that makes the doctrine a requirement of belief for salvation, not the majority or common opinion of the Fathers, the medieval or theologians and prelates of today. (Robert A. Sungenis, “Should We Expect a Mass Conversion of Jews Just Before the Return of Christ?,” in Catholic/Jewish Dialogue: Controversies & Corrections [State Line, Pa.: Catholic Apologetics International Publishing, Inc., 2010], 634-35)

 

[272] “We say [the Fathers] are of supreme authority whenever they all interpret in one and the same manner any text of the Bible as pertaining to the doctrine of faith or morals; for their unanimity clearly evinces that such interpretation has come down form the Apostles as a matter of Catholic faith” (Encyclical, Providentissimus Deus, II, 1893).

 

 

There are instances in which the Fathers held to a consensus on various points of doctrine, but the Church, who is the final authority, has not chosen to dogmatize the consensus into a requirement for personal belief and salvation (e.g., geocentrism, the sons of God in Gn 6:1-2 were fallen angels, etc). There are other instances in which there exists very little testimony from the Fathers on a given doctrine, yet the Church has chosen to dogmatize the doctrine and make it a requirement for salvation (e.g., the Assumption of Mary). Sometimes there is a germ of doctrine in the Fathers which is enhanced by the medieval theologians, but which the Church eventually rejects (e.g., limbo). [273] Additionally, there are cases in which an absolute consensus exists very early among the Fathers on a given doctrine and which the Church dogmatizes early in her history (e.g., baptismal regeneration), yet other times there is a developing consensus which the Church dogmatizes rather later in her history (e.g., transubstantiation, justification, canon of Scripture). Hence, when we enter into a study of the patristics, we must tread lightly. As reliable as they often were, the Fathers were fallible men just like theologians of today. In fact, the tools of biblical exegesis we have today, as well as the exegetical knowledge and easy access of Greek and Hebrew not available to some Fathers, contemporary exegetes of Scripture have a distinct advantage in discovering the truths of Holy Writ that there not always available to the Fathers. What the Fathers had to their distinct advantage is their close proximity to the Apostles, and thus we would expect that, if and when there was a bridge from the Apostles to the Fathers on a certain point of doctrine, the Fathers would most likely provide us with consensus testimony to that divine source, yet even then, they may not do so in very case. (Robert A. Sungenis, “Should We Expect a Mass Conversion of Jews Just Before the Return of Christ?,” in Catholic/Jewish Dialogue: Controversies & Corrections [State Line, Pa.: Catholic Apologetics International Publishing, Inc., 2010], 635)

 

The case of Limbo is especially significant since Pope Benedict XVI recently approved a papal commission document that essentially removed Limbo from the teaching of the Church. This shows that even cherished theological ideas from tradition, if not officially accepted and dogmatized by the Church, can be eliminated by a future pope or council. (Ibid., 635 n. 275)

 

 

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