Introduction to the Latin Fathers (PATR 6075)

Term: Academic Year 2025-2026 Summer 1

Faculty

	Samuel PomeroyShow MyInfo popup for Samuel Pomeroy
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Description

From the second century onward, Latin-speaking Christian authors played a decisive role in shaping the theological, exegetical, and institutional life of the early Church. This course offers an introduction to the major Latin Fathers, with particular attention to figures such as Tertullian, Cyprian of Carthage, and Augustine of Hippo, whose works emerged from the vibrant Christian cultures of North Africa and the wider Latin West.
Reading these authors in translation, students will explore the distinctive features of Latin Christianity as it developed within the Roman imperial world, while also examining its prpfound and dynamic relationship with Greek-speaking Christian traditions. Particular attention will be given to points of convergence and divergence between Latin and Greek theological idioms, exegetical practices, and ecclesial concerns, as well as to the reception and circulation of texts across these linguistic and cultural boundaries.
By situating the Latin Fathers within their social and regional contexts (e.g. North Africa, Italy), the course invites students to reconsider well-known figures as participants in a complex, interconnected Christian world whose intellectual and theological legacy shaped the Church of the first millennium.