Reviewed by: The Fathers of the Church: A Comprehensive Introduction Michael Heintz Hubertus R. Drobner. The Fathers of the Church: A Comprehensive Introduction. Translated by S. Schatzmann. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 2007. Pp. lvi + 632. $ 44.95 Cloth. Hubertus Drobner, professor in the Theology Faculty at the University of Paderborn, is a prolific scholar. In addition to a number of substantial works on Augustine and Gregory of Nyssa, he produced in 1994 a Lehrbuch der Patrologie, published by Herder. The author now, in collaboration with William Harmless, has updated and expanded the bibliographies for this first English edition. The translation is based on the 1994 (first) German edition, but also includes a number of emendations and several additional sections of text. In the tradition of O. Bardenhewer (1901) and J. Quasten (begun in 1950 and continued by A. Di Berardino 1978–2008), Drobner offers in a single volume a wealth of information, sound judgment, and extensive bibliographical guidance. Despite his humble claims about the nature and scope of what he provides (xvi), Drobner has put into the hands of students and scholars an extraordinarily valuable tool for research. The book begins with a lengthy bibliographical orientation, including (as one would expect) reference works, series of editions and translations, and journals. Drobner also shrewdly includes, however, the ever-expanding field of microfiche, internet, and electronic database resources. The book is then divided into five large sections treating the literature according to the following periods: (I) Apostolic and post-Apostolic; (II) Persecution and the Apologetic response; (III) the Imperial Church—unsurprisingly the lengthiest section; (IV) the transition to the Early Middle Ages; and (V) a section added to this English edition on the non-Greek literature of the Christian East. In this last, Drobner addresses Syriac, Coptic, Ethiopic, Armenian, Georgian, Arabic, and early Slavic literature, roughly the same body of literature Di Berardino treats much more extensively in his 2008 completion of Quasten's project with a volume devoted to the post Chalcedonian Eastern literature. Since the days of Bardenhewer and Quasten, the field known variously as the Patristic Period, Early Christianity, and Late Antiquity has experienced an expansion in its scholarly methods and perspectives. In particular, literary and social theory have become prominent modes of analysis and discourse in understanding the first several centuries of the Common Era. These approaches can be very helpful in elucidating the texts and contexts of these early centuries. There are occasions, however, when scholars rely almost exclusively upon social (e.g., who has the power, how they use it, and to what end) or literary (e.g., intertextualities and meta-narratives) analysis and too often as a result, the hard facts of history or the theological issues at stake (and not infrequently, both) get lost in the shuffle. Drobner's work is historical theology at its best: a profound understanding of history and ancient culture and a genuine sensitivity to theological concerns and their philosophical background. While his work is largely descriptive, outlining for the reader in an orderly and historical fashion particular writers, texts, and [End Page 613] their significance, Drobner nonetheless offers the reader in his analysis, and in the individual bibliographies he provides, a solid foundation on which to begin more specific research and study. Hendrickson has produced an attractive volume that includes an index of subjects (including references to modern authors found in the text and footnotes) as well as an index of ancient sources. This volume—now available in English—should be not only a library acquisition, but also on the shelf of every serious student and scholar of early Christianity. Michael Heintz University of Notre Dame Copyright © 2008 Johns Hopkins University Press and the North American Patristics Society