Retrospections for a New Patristics

"Writing the History of Early Christianity" is a quite generic title for a book, but probably the best way to captivate potential readers looking for a general history of the subject. In fact, what Markus Vinzent is offering in his last book is, exactly, a sample of a general history of Christianity in antiquity, according to a specific approach: retrospection. In this respect, the title actually assumes that, until now, a proper history of early Christianity has never been written. The reason for this absence is “hidden” in the subtitle: "From Reception to Retrospection". The expression can be rephrased in this way: reception history (just like postmodernism) has missed its target, so it is necessary to change the approach to the documents currently at the disposal of historians, and especially in the case of those scholars working on religion. The consequences of embarking on such a radical change are quite evident at the end of the reading. However, in this book Vinzent also wanted to focus on the new method, with a much more theoretical and programmatic aim. This effort may be interpreted as part of a broader project, which we could tentatively call a new Patristics, grounded in the hermeneutical movement suggested by the subtitle.