Reading Scripture with the Church Fathers

Abstract

This chapter opens by emphasizing that for the Orthodox, reading Scripture without the church fathers on at least some level would be unthinkable. The issue of looking at specific patristic exegesis of one or another text is distinguished from coming to terms with an overarching approach to the doctrine of Scripture as such in the church fathers. It is the latter that the chapter attempts to delineate, taking in turn the understanding of Origen (via the Cappadocian Philokalia), that of St. Maximus the Confessor, and that of St. Gregory Palamas. Each provides important and often unexpected insights that help shape a vision for reading Scripture that is centered on Christ, that insists on the import of the text for ethical or spiritual life, and that is attuned to the complexities and polyvalence of the text without losing sight of its crucial historical dimension.