S5E15 – AH – Mike Aquilina (“Friendship & the Fathers”)

Patristic scholar, Mike Aquilina, joined David to talk about friendship in the Early Church.

S5E15: “Friendship & The Fathers” – After Hours with Mike Aquilina (Download)

Show Notes

Introduction

Quote-of-the-week

Let your acquaintances be many, but one in a thousand your confidant.
When you gain a friend, first test him, and be not too ready to trust him.
For one sort is a friend when it suits him, but he will not be with you in time of distress…
A faithful friend is a sturdy shelter; he who finds one finds a treasure.
A faithful friend is beyond price, no sum can balance his worth.
A faithful friend is a life-saving remedy, such as he who fears God finds;
For he who fears God behaves accordingly, and his friend will be like himself.

Sirach 6:6-17

Biographical Information

Mike Aquilina lives with his wife Terri in the Pittsburgh area with their six children.

He is the Executive Vice President and Trustee of The St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology.

He has hosted eleven television series and several documentary films and is a frequent guest on Catholic radio. He is the award-winning author of more than fifty books on Catholic history, doctrine, and devotion… and he’s here today to talk about his newly-released book, Friendship and the Fathers: How the Early Church Evangelized.

Biographical details of Mike Aquilina

Discussion

Chit-Chat

Mike hosts the “Way Of The Fathers” Podcast

A friend is more to be longed for than the light… A friend is sweeter than the present life.

St. John Chrysostom, Homily 2 on First Thessalonians

1. “Mike’s Background”

I gave a few pieces of biographical information about you in the introduction, but would you mind giving us a five-minute potted history of yourself?

Back in July I was rather excited recently to hear Lewis mentioned on your podcast, on your episode about Prudentius and his poetry… but before we proceed, what has been your exposure to Lewis?

2. “Friendship and the Fathers”

You’re a well-known speaker and writer about the Early Church Fathers. We had Dr. Marcellino D’Ambrosio on the show last season to talk about them, but for newcomers to Pints With Jack, can you please explain who the Fathers are, as well as how it is that you came to write so many books about them?

So you’ve written lots of books about the Fathers. What was the motivation for this latest book?

What will readers discover if they pick up a copy of your book?

3. Friendship in Antiquity

At the beginning of his chapter on Friendship, Lewis says that while Friendship is very much maligned by moderns, it was prized by the ancients. Has that also been your impression?

In the Early Church, did the Christian conception of Friendship differ at all to that of their Pagan neighbours?

4. “What? You Too?”

In The Four Loves, Jack talks about how friendships come about. He says that, first of all, there is companionship which comes from shared activities or interests, and that then Friendship grows out of this…

…when two or more of the companions discover that they have in common some insight or interest or even taste which the others do not share… The typical expression of opening Friendship would be something like, “What? You too? I thought I was the only one.”

C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves (Chapter 4)

Do you see anything like this in the Fathers? 

5. Disagreements

One thing which Lewis says that surprises many people is that, contrary to modern thinking, friends don’t have to agree on everything. For Lewis, this was Owen Barfield – they argued often, but they were friends because they thought the same questions and issues were important. Were there any “warring friends” in the Church Fathers?

Lewis goes on to talk about how friendships can go wrong. Were there any particular friendships in the Early Church which soured?

6. The Value of Friendship

In The Four Loves, Lewis spends some time addressing the value of friendship, whether it is beneficial to society or the individual, whether it has survival value, or simply adds value to survival. Given your recent study of the Fathers, what’s your take on this?

7. Friendship between the Sexes

In The Four Loves, Lewis also spends some time talking about friendship between the sexes… This firstly prompts the question as to whether or not there are Church Mothers as well as Church Fathers…and then secondly, about those friendships, both between the Early Church Mothers and then between some of the Early Church Mothers and Early Church Fathers.

8. Relationship to Outsiders

In the last part of his chapter on Friendship, Lewis explains how friendships strengthen the friends against outsiders. He even gives an example from the Early Church:

The little pockets of early Christians survived because they cared exclusively for the love of “the brethren” and stopped their ears to the opinion of the Pagan society all round them.

C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves (Chapter 4)

I was hoping you could fill this out a little bit. Given your knowledge in this area, how did the Early Christians relate to Pagan society and how did the early Christians organise themselves and strengthen each other?

9. Final Thoughts

I wanted to just give you a few minutes as we wrap-up to talk about whatever you’d like or to share some of your key take-aways. As a little bit of inspiration, here’s how Lewis ends the chapter…

[Friendship] is the instrument by which God reveals to each the beauties of all the others. At this feast it is He who has spread the board and it is He who has chosen the guests. It is He, we may dare to hope, who sometimes does, and always should, preside. Let us not reckon without our Host.

C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves (Chapter 4)

10. “More Information”

• FathersOfTheChurch.com
• “Way Of The Fathers” Podcast
• Friendship and the Fathers: How the Early Church Evangelized
• Others books…

Wrap-Up

• Please follow us on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter.
• We would be grateful if new listeners would rate and review us on their preferred podcast platform.
• If you would like to be part of our video tribute to William O’Flaherty, please go to PintsWithJack.com/misquote.