Journal: Southern Baptist Journal of Theology
Volume: SBJT 27:2 (Summer 2023)
Article: The Cappadocian Fathers: A Brief Introduction
Author: Michael A. G. Azad Haykin

The Cappadocian Fathers: A Brief Introduction

Michael A. G. Azad Haykin

Michael A. G. Azad Haykin is Professor and Chair of Church History at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, Kentucky, and Director of the Andrew Fuller Center for Baptist Studies, located at Southern Seminary. Dr. Haykin is the author of many books, including “At the Pure Fountain of Thy Word”: Andrew Fuller As an Apologist (Paternoster Press, 2004), Jonathan Edwards: The Holy Spirit in Revival (Evangelical Press, 2005), The God Who Draws Near: An Introduction to Biblical Spirituality (Evangelical Press, 2007), Rediscovering the Church Fathers: Who They Were and How They Shaped the Church (Crossway, 2011), Patrick of Ireland: His Life and Impact (Christian Focus, 2014), Kiffen, Knollys, and Keach: Rediscovering our English Baptist Heritage (H&E, 2019), Reading Andrew Fuller (H&E, 2020), Iron Sharpens Iron: Friendship and the Grace of God (Union Publishing, 2022), and Amidst Us Our Beloved Saints: Recovering Sacrament in the Baptist Tradition (Lexham, 2022).

One of the most important body of theologians in the history of the church are the Cappadocian Fathers—Basil of Caesarea (c.330‒379) and his brother Gregory of Nyssa (c.335‒c.395), their close friend Gregory of Nazianzus (c.329‒c.389) and Nazianzen’s first cousin, Amphilochius of Iconium (c.340‒c.395). And today, given the emphasis on women in the history of the church, Basil’s elder sister Macrina the Younger (c.327‒c.380) is often included in this remarkable cadre of Christian thinkers. And rightly so, for Macrina was instrumental in the conversion of Basil, she mentored Gregory of Nyssa as a young boy—he calls her “the teacher” of their family—and Nyssen’s life of his sister is one of the great classics of the Christian spirituality of the Ancient Church.

Cappadocia, the homeland of these theological authors, was not renowned for producing great thinkers. In fact, there was a saying in the ancient world that it was easier to teach turtles to fly than to teach Cappadocians to think!

SBJT 27:2 (Summer 2023) 11

Cappadocia was a buffer state of the Roman Empire, on the edge of the Graeco-Roman world, and lacking in great educational institutions. But the best theology in any era does not always come from the leading educational centers.

All of the so-called Cappadocian Fathers (and Mother, if you include Macrina) grew up in Christian homes and came to faith as adult believers. Basil and Gregory of Nazianzus went away to study—the former first in Constantinople and then in Athens, and the latter at Caesarea in Palestine (where Origen [185‒254] had established a major seminary), then Alexandria, and finally in Athens. ...