Forgotten Lighthouse seeks to bring the mind of the Church Fathers to bear on the pressing issues of our time in order to strengthen the upcoming generation. In a world of false teachings, false pleasures, and false gods, the mind of the Fathers stands as a forgotten lighthouse. Yet, their wisdom continues to bear the light of Christ to a world in darkness.
The Foundations Series
Upon first glance, one might think that The Foundations Series is designed only for a theology class. Such an assumption shows how far Christian education has drifted from traditional Christian education. We compartmentalize theology to a discipline rather than recognizing the permeation of the beliefs, ideas, and assumptions we hold dear in our faith into every aspect of our lives. These foundational ideas are not merely an intellectual exercise but are rooted in and born out of a culture, that is, the life of the Church. From within this culture, i.e., the Church, is the well-spring of life given to us by our Lord Jesus Christ. We do not teach virtue as Christians. We cultivate virtue. As such, these volumes provide an introduction into a worldview largely forgotten, even among Christians today, which is necessary in order to not just study the Church Fathers, but understand how Christians ought to understand and engage the world around them – marriage, family, education, work, technology, and so on. The Foundation Series seeks to articulate the foundational assumptions of the Christian faith that have been given to us through the saints who have preserved the great inheritance of our faith up until today, so that we also may become partakers of Christ to His glory.
Volume I: Fundamental Assumptions of the Christian Faith (Coming this Winter!)
Description: Living in the ruins of modernity and in the age of post-modernity leaves many people skeptical and confused – filled with internal contradictions. But how did traditional Christians conceive of the world? What were the basic assumptions they held that we have forgotten or misunderstood? Written as a series of letters and in an accessible style, this volume provides a critical foundation needed for anyone including our youth to better navigate a world of contradiction and delusion.
Volume II: The Centrality of Christ (Coming this Winter!)
Description: The Lord asks, “But who do you say that I am?” (Matt. 16: 15). One only has to spend a little time with the first eight hundred years of Christian history to understand that the most pressing question for Christians at this time was the person of Jesus Christ. Today, we live in an individualistic, moralistic, and legalistic society that has difficulty understanding why the teachings on the person of Christ have anything to do with our lives as Christians. The Centrality of Christ re-centers our thinking with the mind of the Church Fathers on how the entire creation is centered in the person of Christ who is “the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14: 6). Who is Christ, and why does it matter? This question is the most basic question for the Christian faith that the Church has always concerned itself with in order to preserve and protect the faith so a life of holiness can be pursued in all aspects of our lives.
Introduction to the Church Fathers Series
Beginning to read the Church Fathers can prove difficult for a number of reasons. One common challenge is people often do not know where to begin. They may pick up a volume of homilies or a theological discourse and begin reading, which is similar to starting to read the Bible beginning with Deuteronomy, quickly feeling overwhelmed and disinterested. Another reason is that the Church Fathers can be perceived as difficult to understand. The texts can be dense and represent a worldview radically different from the Western world today. The Introduction to the Church Father Series seeks to address these types of common problems. Based on years of experience teaching the Church Fathers to youth and young adults, Dr. Tarpley has curated a selection of texts that are accessible to the reader. More importantly, each selected reading offers guiding questions to support the reader and concludes with thoughtful commentary on those guiding questions to deepen the readers understanding of the text and build important connections with the mind of the Church Fathers.
Volume I: Beginning to Read the Church Fathers (Coming this Fall!)
Description: Beginning to Read the Church Fathers offers a first step into reading the actual writings of the Church Fathers. Each of the ten reading selections open with five key questions to help guide the reader through the text. At the end of each selection, explanations are provided to the questions, bringing insights and connections to the reader in relationship to the text. These texts have been carefully selected in terms of their accessibility to the reader and cover a wide range of topics in the writings of the Church Fathers including prayer, fasting, worship, friendship, marriage, and wealth and poverty. This volume is ideal for those hoping to deepen their study of history and the Christian faith.
Volume II: The Lives of the Saints (Forthcoming)
The Lives of the Saints offers a unique set of readings in that each selection is a life of a saint written by a saint from the relatively same time period. For example, one of the selections is the life of St. Gorgonia, the sister of St. Gregory the Theologian. Her life is written by St. Gregory the Theologian himself, providing a unique perspective in that one of the greatest theologians provides us the narrative of another saint, namely, his sister who was a wife and mother. By reading the lives of the saints, the reader is not only edified by the examples presented but also challenged in the ways in which we understand and approach the world today. Each selection begins with a series of guiding questions to orientate the reader in knowing what are key ideas and themes and concludes with a commentary provided for each of the guiding questions to enrich and support the reader.
The Life in Christ Series
How are we as Christians to understand and approach marriage, family, education, technology, work, etc. in our daily living? In a post-Christian world, the subtle workings of the culture can quickly undermine, redefine, and reorient our lives, despite our best of intentions. This series takes a serious look at how the mind of the Church Fathers calls us to live as Christians within these various domains of our lives. Each volume will challenge the underlying assumptions of a post-Christian culture and articulate the Christian vision for how we ought to pursue each of these areas of our lives. The goal of each volume is to call us as Christians to live faithfully in this world such that we may strive to not be conformed to this world: but be transformed by the renewing of our minds, that we may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God (Roman 12: 2).
Volume I: The Christian Life in the Shadow of Technology: Why Technology Reaches Deeper Then We Think (Forthcoming)
The shadow of technology looms large in our society, permeating every element of our lives. Yet, many people still believe that technology is merely a tool in which its purpose and function rest in the hands of the user. Such an idea is naïve at best. This book takes the reader into the deeper assumptions that undergird our techno-driven society that oppose our Christian faith and undermine our pursuit of Christ. This book is a must read for youth, young adults, and adults who desire to make sense of a world that is consumed with technology and want to understand how we got here and what we must do in order to stabilize ourselves in a world of ever-increasing speed, volume, efficiency, and manipulation.