A Problem with New Advent’s ‘Church Fathers’ Section
- Christian B. Wagner
- Mar 12, 2025
- 2 min read
I love New Advent as much as the next guy, but there are some small issues that one needs to keep an eye out for in using their 'Church Fathers' collection.
This is NOT to criticize the authors of the website as somehow lazy or ill-equipped for the task (far be it from me!); rather, many of the issues come down to problems of formatting, many of which are received from the Schaff set upon which the translations of the Church Fathers are based. Further, many of these issues occur only in certain works and not in others.
A few issues to keep an eye on,
In quoting many fathers, we don't simply quote "book, number" (e.g., lib. 3, n. 4), rather, we quote "book, chapter, number" (e.g., lib. 3, cap. 2, n. 4) or "book, chapter, section, number," etc. This is sometimes reflected in the Schaff (and, therefore, New Advent) and, at other times, it is not. This is especially evident in genres like letters, homilies, etc. To leave out these chapter/section numbers often makes it harder to do a divisio textus of the work and understand how the different parts of a larger work relate to each other.
In a similar way to how we have section/chapter headings in our bibles, many of the editions of the Fathers also have these section/chapter headings. Sometimes, these are included on New Advent, other times they are not.
There are MANY footnotes and parenthetical citations (especially from scripture) that are left out in the New Advent edition.
None of these three issues is grievous enough (or universal enough) to give a hard judgement against using New Advent, but certainly reduce the readability of the Fathers and, therefore, should be understood. If you are having a hard time reading a certain work from a Father, it may have more to do with the mode of presentation than it does with the content of the work.
One of the works that all three of these problems occur in is St. Augustine's On Continence. If you go to the Latin edition of his works (readily available on Augustinus.it) then you can easily gather the chapter titles and footnotes, along with proper numbering, so I incorporated these into a PDF since I find the work to be especially valuable (especially in this Holy Season of Lent!).
I attached the PDF below.
Ite ad Thomam,
Christian B. Wagner
I found the discussion about historical sources and careful research very interesting. While working on a class paper, I used edit my assignment to make my ideas easier to understand before submitting it. Reading posts like this shows how important it is to check information carefully and keep learning from different viewpoints. It really shows how clarity in structure can change how well an argument comes together. nice post makes me smile
This was an interesting read. I hadn’t really considered how formatting choices could affect the way people understand early Christian writings. The point about missing chapter references and footnotes makes a lot of sense. It reminds me how small details can have a big impact on research, much like when searching for an economics essay writing agency and trying to compare reliable sources. Thanks for highlighting an issue that many readers would probably overlook.
Reading the post about issues in the New Advent Church Fathers section, I found the discussion quite detailed and thoughtful, especially around accuracy and presentation of historical texts. While working on my coursework, I once used College Assignment help online when I struggled to structure a long essay on similar academic topics. It helped me break down my ideas more clearly and stay focused. It really shows how clarity in structure can change how well an argument comes together.
I found this post interesting because it explains how hard it can be to study old Church writings when parts are missing or not organized clearly. Last semester, I had trouble understanding long reading material for theology class, so I used uk assignment help to stay on track with my notes and deadlines. It made studying less stressful while I focused on understanding the main ideas better. Careful research really matters when reading historical texts.