To the faithful Roman Catholic, as to the dissenting Protestant, authority is an important issue.  From whence may our duties in doctrine and practice be in infallibly drawn?  The Protestant answers, “From Scripture alone.”  The Romanist, on the other hand, answers, “From Scripture as it is interpreted by the infallible testimony of the Church, from the time of the Apostles to the present.”

To the defense of this latter position, the writings of the ante-Nicene, Nicene, and post-Nicene fathers are recruited, with the assumption that they all held to a harmonious system of doctrine and that an appeal to such a system should put to rest all controversies.

The truth of the matter is, however, that the fathers often contradicted one another, while many changed their opinions as they judgment matured with study or age.  Some of the extant writings are also of doubtful origin, the traditionally accepted authorship at times a matter of dispute. The author of this volume discusses these and other problems that arise from substituting the unreliable testimony of the fathers for the sure word of the enscripturated Word of God.