The Ancient Witnesses

Epilogue: Life after Nicaea

Father Greg is not the only professor ever to have left a faculty position while leading a study abroad course. But, as far as I know, he is the first to have done so in order to accept a position at the Athenaeum! Before we left him in the reading room that night, he assured us that all would be well: he was single man with no living family members; he was adjunct faculty at the seminary living in a campus apartment, whose contract ended when the summer was over. He deputized the four of us to help our fellow students finish the course, and gave us a note of permission as the professor of record. “How can we teach a class we have not taken?” asked Joseph. “You’ve seen Ancient Christianity in the flesh!” declared Father Greg, finally accepting the miracle of our discovery. This inspired me to share what we had learned. But how could I hope to motivate students who knew nothing about the fathers and mothers of the ancient Church, including at what cost they had purchased historic Christian doctrine? When it comes to our Christian forebears, the ministers of my generation are

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