Church Fathers chart

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I just thought of what might be a great apologetics tool, and wanted to write it down before I forgot or in case someone knows of something similar that already exists:

What if there was some sort of “family tree” type of chart that traced the Church Fathers back to the Apostle from whom they derived their teachings and authority? The visuals would indicate some sort of timeline to get a sense of when they lived in relation to other church fathers or earlier apostles.

It would also highlight which important Catholic doctrine they taught about in their writings (the Eucharist, etc) and perhaps a list of their writings for reference and to facilitate more in depth research. Most importantly, a list of scripture verses related to the Fathers’ teachings.

This came to mind for a few reasons:
  1. I’d really like to know more about the Church fathers, but names and dates have a tendency to blur together unless I have some visual reference to attach them too (I’m an artist and a visual learner)
  2. From my own experience I know that evangelicals want so badly to practice a simple and pure Christianity, like the kind practiced by the Early church. Every reform, every church split is an honest attempt to get back to the genuine Christianity of the Bible. They view the items that they don’t have in common with the Catholic church as “extras” or “corruptions” that happened after Constantine because no one has taught them the real history of the Church. It also means that they are open to what the Church Fathers have to teach because they lived in that “in-between” period from the birth of Christianity until what they think of as the “creation” of the Catholic Church.
  3. I’ve heard so many examples on EWTN’s “The Journey Home” of Protestant pastors studying church history who realize that the Church fathers were teaching Catholic doctrine, and this plays a role in their conversion to Catholicism. I really believe that a resource like this could be a simple and effective tool to help lay Catholics learn and explain these historical facts.
Since I don’t have an in depth knowledge of the Church fathers or know how long the research would take (or even where to start) I’d encourage others to have at it and see if they can come up with something before me 🙂 What do you guys think? Any advice?
 
That sounds like a fabulous idea! I would be willing to give this a try as long as I have some ideas about how to lay it out, and also if there is something like this that is already done to keep me from trying to re-invent the wheel. I will ponder on this and try to come up with some ideas myself, I have a website that I can use to create this, and I have lots of study of the ECF’s under my belt and plenty of resources to work with.

iona_scribe, if you want to be involved in this in any way then feel free to contact me, or anyone else who feels compelled to it.
 
COPLAND_3 said:
I will ponder on this and try to come up with some ideas myself, I have a website that I can use to create this, and I have lots of study of the ECF’s under my belt and plenty of resources to work with.

iona_scribe, if you want to be involved in this in any way then feel free to contact me, or anyone else who feels compelled to it.
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Hey - what’s up with the CCC search tool? I needed it this morning! 🙂
 
Thanks for the enthusiastic responses 🙂

Wow, Copland, you really do have a wealth of resources. I got a chance to browse your website briefly during lunch, and I can’t wait to go back and read more!

I spent a little more time searching the web and could only come up with this for a pre-existing chart: religionfacts.com/christianity/charts/church_fathers.htm
But that’s not really the format or info I had envisioned.

I’m a graphic designer, so I thought maybe a concise, 1-page printable reference pdf would be handy. If you make a web version, it would have the added bonus of links to more information. If it would help you come up with a layout, I can think about it more and post a sketch some time next week.
 
I would think it should be something like a pedigree chart, starting with the Apostles the ECFs looked to.

I’ll post more later - gotta go!

Ruthie
 
iona_scribe

Thanks for the compliments!

I also ran onto that site too and also had something different in mind. I think what I may try to shoot for is to attempt to start with the Apostles and then trace their successors and try to provide a chain of succession up to a certain point or limit it to about 1000AD. Right now I am going to focus on the Apostles and do some research to find out who they appointed as successors and/or who they took under their wing and trained. Then I plan on having each name with a link to their biography and/or writings, and try to provide some kind of chart of some sort that will hopefully show an unbroken chain of continuity.

As I begin please feel free to provide information that may be helpful. I am going to sift through many ancient documents in order to find connections. I am very open for suggestions!

Thanks for this terrific idea!!
 
Here’s a tiny contribution.

Clement was a disciple of Peter and Paul.

Ignatius of Antioch was a disciple of Peter and John.

Polycarp was a disciple of John.

Irenaeus was a disciple of Polycarp.

Hippolytus was a disciple of Irenaeus.
 
I have a strong distaste for that word, apologetics. If a person is right then they have nothing to apologize for.
 
I am racking my brain trying to figure out the layout, once I get that then I can gain some good momentum. It is like trying to create a chart to connect the dots, I know where my dots connect but I am trying to figure out how to make the chart itself. If anyone can make the chart layout then I can fill in the blanks. I have tables that I have been experimenting with, but I have yet to have any success.
 
iona_scribe;:
What if there was some sort of “family tree” type of chart that traced the Church Fathers back to the Apostle from whom they derived their teachings and authority?
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If you mean something laid out like a typical genealogy chart, a member of Eclesiatica Gnosis Catholica created one years ago. I don’t have a copy. (I have no idea why they constructed it.)

xan

jonathon
 
Here’s a sample pedigree chart. You’d have to modify it for your own use, if a given Apostle had more than two ECFs who were disciples.

The Apostle’s name would go in the left slot, of course.

I know there are free downloadable ones where you can fill in the blanks, but the one I’ve used couldn’t repeat itself. (I.e. you had to fill out a new chart to begin the 6th generation, and you couldn’t copy and paste names from the first chart.) You have to pay money to get one that can extrapolate itself, so to speak.

Of course, one problem is that, if it goes past 5 “generations” of Bishops, it gets too big for a standard page.

But I’d be happy to get a big one that I could unroll and look at!

God bless you,

Ruthie
 
jblake said:
If you mean something laid out like a typical genealogy chart, a member of Eclesiatica Gnosis Catholica created one years ago. I don’t have a copy. (I have no idea why they constructed it.)

xan

jonathon
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Why would anyone care what they did. The Gnostic Catholic Church has nothing to do with the Catholic Church. It is a false church and heretic group.
 
thistle;:
Why would anyone care what they did.
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a) Considering the theology of Eclesiatica Gnosis Catholica, there is neither a logical, nor rational reason for them to construct such a chart.

b) Such charts will always contain a theological bias. Unless one knows the theology of the individual/organization that constructed the chart, determining the theological bias can be very difficult.
It is a false church and heretic group.
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That irony is more commonly associated with The Church of the Sub-Genius.

It is too tempting to ask whether it was written out of Gnosis, or out of Avidyā.

xan

jonathon
 
I have found a site that allows you to create flow charts, which is what I have in mind. I am in the process of learning how to use it, but once I get the feel for it I think it will be what the doctor ordered. Here is the site if anyone wants to check out the options mindomo.com/index.htm
 
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