What influenced the Early Church Fathers

The early church existed in a place and time that had many influences surrounding the early Christians, such as Greek Philosophy, as well as Roman impacts.  I thought it would be interesting to find out how some of the early Church Fathers handled these influences and so while looking, I came across a website called The History Guide that had a lecture on the subject, although the information is a bit spare.  It can be found at this link:  http://www.historyguide.org/ancient/lecture16b.html.  This is what I gathered from this lecture:

                The first Christians regarded Greek thought as merely something for Pagans only to give any esteem to—there was no reason for the faithful to be concerned with such things because they had their faith and the teachings of the Church.  But then Clement of Alexandria, who lived from around 150 to 220 A. D., stated that Greek philosophy was a preparation for Greeks in the same way that the Jewish scriptures prepared the Jewish people for Jesus.  Also, some theologians looked at Jesus as being the Logos and, under the influence of Roman stoicism; people were viewed as having unity in Christ. 

                The lecture goes on to tell us of St. Jerome, who wrote the Latin Vulgate translation of the Bible around 400 A. D., which could be considered a reflection of Roman influence since the very language of the Empire was used.  But of course the real significance would be that Christianity was made the Roman Empire’s state religion just ten years earlier. 

                 There is also discussion about St. Augustine of Hippo, who although at first was attracted to Manichaeism heresy and led a sinful life, converted to a Christian in 387 A. D. as influenced by his mother, St. Monica.  St. Augustine used a number of ideas from Roman and Greek thinkers, including Plato, to write his City of God. 

                It seems most fascinating to see that there are these influences from many sources that give Christians such a multidimensional way of expressing the faith.  I had recently studied in a course that used all sorts of American literature to find truths of the Catholic faith—mostly from non-Catholic authors.  The work of Clement of Alexandria, St. Jerome and St. Augustine as well as the course that I took all inspire me to look around and see what kind of influences can take me deeper into understanding the faith, while still being true to it. 

Work Cited:

The Church Fathers:  St. Augustine and St. Jerome.  The History Guide, 2006.  Web.  26 October 2012.