The Early Church and Our Faith Today – Msgr. Frank Lane

Msgr. Frank Lane uses early Christian documents and historical context to understand how the first Christians interpreted Scripture.

“If in fact Jesus Christ was truly human and truly divine, and if in fact he enters into us as persons, then our full humanity must be engaged in our response to the Lord” – Msgr. Frank Lane

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Study Questions:

-Have you ever been asked, “Why don’t Catholics take the Bible literally?”

-According to Msgr. Lane, what does it mean to be a “spiritual person” in modern culture?

-What problem does divorcing context (Hebrew culture) from Jesus’ teachings cause in our modern understanding of
Christianity?

-According to the Early Church Fathers, how does it happen that Jesus Christ’s blood is flowing through our veins?

-How does Platonism help interpret Scripture?

-What important point does Msgr. Lane make about the Old Testament’s understanding of graven images and the creation of man in the image of God? Why is that important to understanding Catholic practices today?

-How do we in modern society define “symbol”? How did the Early Church Fathers define “symbol,” especially pertaining to the Eucharist?

-How do we get back to the understanding of the early Church, according to Msgr. Lane?

Vocabulary:

Inculturation: Understanding Jesus’ words in light of the Hebrew culture and then interpreting His teachings to the Greco-Roman culture.

Early Church Fathers: A title that gradually came to be applied to Christianity’s earliest teachers, who in the period of the Church’s infancy and first growth, instructed her members in the teaching of Jesus Christ and that teaching which He very specifically had given to His Apostles. An Early Church Father must be of orthodox doctrine and learning,
living a saintly life, and having a certain antiquity (usually, prior to the Council of Chalcedon, 451).