Q+A with Warren Smith on his Early Christian Theology

Last updated on: September 9, 2026 at 1:52 am by Ben Witherington

Q+A with Warren Smith on his Early Christian Theology 2026-09-05T07:59:46-04:00 Ben Witherington

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Q. What was the motivation for writing this kind of detailed study of early Christian theology from the 2nd to the 8th centuries?

When I was in seminary, the classic text book for patristic theology was J.N.D. Kelly’s Early Christian Doctrine. But that was written back in the 70’s. Much scholarship has been published and new insights have been gained by that research. So it was time to update the larger picture of early Christian thought that this books tries to prove.

Q. This book appears to be a summary of what you’ve been teaching for many years at Duke (and elsewhere?), so in a sense it is a summary of your life’s work in your field. Were there predecessor volumes by other scholars that you modeled this on, or was this real sort of de novo? I was thinking of the 2 volumes by Brian Daley, but his thrust is advocating for a return to the patristic way of interpreting the Bible, and a critique of the historical critical contextual approach. This doesn’t seem to be your agenda in this book. Right? You are just trying to familiarize the reader with what these early theologians actually said and taught with enough historical context to help us understand a figure like Ambrose, for instance.

Right. There is not a grand, all-encompassing punchline about Christianity between the second and eighth centuries at the end of this book. I am certainly indebted to Kelly but there were others— even if my judgments differ from some of theirs, for instance Jaroslav Pelikan, Rowan Greer, Robert Wilken. Among scholars still writing who have influenced me, there are many and I try to tip my hat to them throughout the book and point readers to their works that are so helpful and important if one wants to dive deeply into the subject. You mentioned the two volume collection of Brian Daley’s essays. They are excellent. Anyone interested in a deep dive into early Christian exegesis and Christology should read those volumes.

Q. In your estimate which of the church fathers were the most influential prior to Augustine and then Aquinas?

In the Eastern Orthodox tradition, the three doctors of the Church are Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian (of Nazianzus), and John Chrysostom. But also Origen, Athanasius, Gregory of Nyssa (to a lesser degree because of some controversial universalist ideas), Cyril of Alexandria, and Maximus the Confessor. In the West before Augustine, figures like Jerome and Ambrose appealed to eastern figures such as Didymus the Blind, Basil, and Nazianzen. In the fifth century and beyond, Augustine overshadows his predecessors. They are acknowledged but none has the standing of Augustine. That is really true into the 13th and 14th centuries. Bonaventure and Scotus and Ockham saw themselves as defending Augustine against Thomas Aquinas. Then again Thomas saw himself as Augustinian. Martin Luther was originally an Augustinian and never seems to have read Thomas. It is really in the 19th c that Rome made Thomas Aquinas, or a certain type of Thomism, normative for Catholic doctrine. This changed with the emergence of the Resourcement movement that sought to return to other voices before and other than Thomas.

Q. I once had an unusual experience at Georgetown University at the Catholic study center there. I was asked to give lectures on the historical Jesus, but all the rest of the scholars were Aquinas scholars and they all gave Aquinas readings of this or that part of the Gospels. It was interesting but I was the odd man out. Being a patristics scholar I imagine you’ve had some experiences like this?

I am surprised that that happened at a Jesuit institution like Georgetown. But the Dominicans are strong promoters of Thomas. I go to an annual meeting of historical theologians. Thomas has a certain pride of place but there is a nice balance of Patristic and Medieval, Thomistic and non-Thomistic thought represented.

Q. You are a good Methodist, and it made me wonder, how many patristics scholars out there are even Protestants, never mind Methodists?

A. I still regard myself as a Wesleyan whose piety is especially influenced by the hymns of Charles. After all, being Wesleyan is no more tied exclusively to one denomination than that to be a Thomists one must be a Dominican. I am no longer a United Methodist but have been attending a Roman Catholic Church in Durham for about the past three years. You are right; there are not many Methodists who are patrologists in the narrow sense. There are certainly some: Austin Rivera at Wake Forest, Jackson Lashier at Southwestern College, Samantha Miller at Whitworth University. But I am glad that they remain Wesleyan theologians whose commitment to holiness and a robust doctrine of Sanctification find common ground and theological resources in patristic writings. And so it is my pleasure to be in conversation with my students and colleagues who are in Wesleyan and other Protestant denominations.

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