III
The Fathers of the Church
From the 2nd to the 7th century AD, the Fathers of the Church commented the writings of the Bible. By doing so, they developed the first basis of Christian theological reflection. Others, such as the Gnostics which are not considered as forming the Christian tradition, also took these books as the starting point of their reflection. Even nowadays the monks read extracts of the Fathers’ teachings during the night prayer.
