Church Fathers and Traditions (Essay Sample)

Church Fathers And Traditions
By, Henry Nabea
Abstract
This paper answers three main questions on Church Fathers and Traditions. The first question deals with how the Epistle of Barnabas handles the problem, in the early Church, on whether or not the new Christian converts should first become Jews and follow Jewish law before becoming Christians. The second question is based on an excerpt of Apostolic Tradition letter, while the third question is based on an excerpt of St. Augustine’s Confessions.
Church Fathers and Traditions
1 The following are four instances found in the Epistle of Barnabas on the problem of whether or not the new converts to Christianity, in the early church, should first become Jews and follow Jewish Law before becoming Christians.
The first problem is the problem of whether or not circumcision is a prerequisite for becoming a Christian. On this problem, Barnabas advised that circumcision is not a precondition for becoming a Christian, Barnabas advised that bodily circumcision has no importance on religious matters, but circumcision of the heart is what matters (Barnabas, 9: 1). The second problem that Barnabas dealt with in his Epistle is the problem of whether or not the new Christian converts should eat meat of the animals that the Israelites were prohibited from eating in the Old Testament. In reply to this problem, Barnabas advised that the prohibitions in the Old Testament had a spiritual meaning, and it should never be interpreted literally as God’s prohibitions against eating some animal (Barnabas, 1012). The third problem that Barnabas dealt with was the problem of whether being a Jew was, actually, a prerequisite for becoming a Christian. On this problem, Barnabas advised that Abraham was called to be a father of all people, including the Gentiles or the uncircumcised (Barnabas, 13:7). The fourth problem that Barnabas dealt with was the problem on offering Sacrifices to God, i.e., should the new Christian converts offer sacrifices to God in accordance with the Jewish custom/culture? Barnabas advised that the most befitting sacrifice that one can offer to God is a contrite heart but not burnt offerings that the Jews offered to God (Barnabas, 2: 10).
The letter of Barnabas was written in the early Second century by Barnabas, one of the apostolic fathers, and therefore the letter falls in the post-apostolic period.
2 The segment on Apostolic Tradition (Laurance’s book, chapter 14, pp. 91-96) is a spiritual treatise composed to guide Christians of the early Church on prayers and other spiritual matters. For instance, the letter gives guidelines on ordination prayers and Eucharistic prayers (Laurance, 2008, p.92). Also, the letter gives guidelines on the Sacrament of Baptism, i.e. the process that one ought to undergo before being baptised as a Christian. So, this letter covers category three, among the three categories noted in the Study Notes.
Laurance has decided to include the Eucharist prayers of other denominations in this segment of Apostolic Tradition to show the similarities between various Christian Eucharistic prayers and to emphasise the point that the Apostolic Tradition letter is the basis of Christian Eucharistic prayers. For instance, a comparison between the Apostolic Tradition letter and the Eucharistic prayer 11 in the Roman Missal that is currently being used in the Catholic Li...