A VISION OF HISTORY.1 MAKING SENSE OF HISTORY.1 THE PAST UNDERSTOOD IN CHRIST.5 IN SEARCH OF ORIGINS.13 THE SPIRITUAL AUTHORITY OF THE FATHERS.17 CONTEXT AND CULTURE.20 THE AGE OF THE FATHERS.23 THE AUTHORITY OF ANTIQUITY.23 THE CHRONOLOGICAL LIMITS OF THE PATRISTIC AGE.26 THE AUTHENTICITY OF SPIRITUAL KNOWLEDGE.29 THE MAKING OF PATRISTIC THEOLOGY.35 CHURCH AND STATE.36 THE RISE OF MONASTICISM.41 HOLY FATHERS AND HOLY MOTHERS.45 THEOLOGY IN BYZANTIUM.54 THE LITURGY OF THE CHURCH.59 SCRIPTURE AND TRADITION.63 THEOLOGY: POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE.70 METHODOLOGY OF THE FATHERS.77 CHURCH FATHERS AND SPIRITUAL ELDERS.78 THE ASCETICAL AND MYSTICAL DIMENSION.82 THEOLOGICAL LANGUAGE AND HISTORICAL CRITICISM.96 THE CHURCH OF THE FATHERS.102 DEPENDENCE NA DIVORCE.107 HELLENISTIC PHILOSOPHY.108 SCHOLASTIC THOUGHT.116 THE CHURCH FATHERS: YESTERDAY AND TODAY.127 THE STUDY OF THE CHRISTIAN CLASSICS.127 THE FATHERS IN THE CONSCIENCE OF THE CHURCH.1130 THE SCOPE OF PATRISTIC THEOLOGY.135 PATRISTIC LANGUAGE. TRADITION AND PERSONAL EXPERIENCE.138 WE AND THE FATHER.146 LISTENING TO THE FATHERS.149 READING THE FATHERS.153 BIBLIOGRAPHY.193