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There is much to say about each of these points, which either proceed from protestant assumptions nowhere in Church history, and/or misrepresent the Catholic position.
But one thing that is absolutely false is the first point. As someone blessed to be in their writings almost every day for almost 9 years now, I have found astounding unanimity among the Fathers on many different subjects, and even small details of Scriptural interpretation (to say nothing of their unanimity on the Church—more below).
But even on this, when one Father observes something different than another in Scripture, virtually every time, this isn’t a contradiction, but equally Catholic, and in accordance with the “Rule of Faith.” Protestants often automatically present this as a contradiction, but Catholics don’t, and have never seen it that way. For example, our answer to the question “Was the Rock Christ, St. Peter, or Peter’s Confession?” is simply “Yes,” because each aspect symphonically reinforces the others.
And beyond even that, all the Fathers agreed that the Catholic Church had authority from God to issue binding definitions on the faith, and that such definitions could only issue from the successors of the Apostles, the bishops (with virtual unanimity about a superior authority of some kind in the bishop of Rome). They believed this because they knew they were not inspired, or infallible, as individual men. But they knew the Church was indeed infallible, and had authority from Christ to teach the whole world ONE and the SAME faith.
They always and everywhere speak of the Church as having ONE teaching, ONE government, ONE worship, ONE canon law, ONE faith, etc. Protestants cannot make this claim for themselves, and have never been able to.
So even if they got things wrong—which many of them admitted they could—the Fathers knew the Church would not. They knew that when a theological issue was resolved, it would ONLY be resolved within THAT Church. Not by a heretical sect who had long since left it; or by a schismatic group that stood aloof from it.
I hope this shows why attempts such as those below by this protestant fellow are superficial at best, if not outright false.
Josh Barzon@JoshuaBarzon
Very good points here. I love and respect many of the early church fathers. But their teachings and writings must always be viewed as below scripture. Not equal with it.
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