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Course 23 · Lesson 2.1

Primary and secondary sources in theology and church history

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Lessons in this course

Course 23 outline

Module 1: How Research Works

  1. What research is and what a scholarly paper is for
  2. From topic to question: writing a research question that can be answered
  3. The working thesis and how it changes as research develops
  4. Taking notes, recording sources and organizing a project
  5. Academic integrity: quotation, paraphrase and plagiarism

Module 2: Primary and Secondary Sources

  1. Primary and secondary sources in theology and church history
  2. Source criticism: author, date, audience, purpose and transmission
  3. Translations, editions and the problem of reading ancient texts in English
  4. Judging the reliability of a source, including websites and popular books

Module 3: Finding and Reading Scholarship

  1. How peer review works and what it does not guarantee
  2. Finding articles, books and reference works with free and library tools
  3. Reading a scholarly work efficiently and critically
  4. Writing a literature review: summarizing a debate

Module 4: Citation

  1. Chicago notes and bibliography: books, articles and chapters
  2. Citing the Fathers, councils, creeds and online sources
  3. Biblical citation conventions: books, abbreviations, versions and numbering
  4. Managing a bibliography and checking citations

Module 5: Evaluating Arguments and Bias

  1. The anatomy of an argument: claim, evidence, assumption and conclusion
  2. Common fallacies and weak arguments in theological writing
  3. Identifying bias in sources: confessional, ideological and commercial
  4. Confirmation bias in your own work, and ways to reduce it

Module 6: Constructing Arguments and Writing

  1. Building a theological argument from Scripture, tradition and reason
  2. Outlining and drafting a research paper
  3. Clear analytical prose: paragraphs, transitions and plain language
  4. Revising, editing and checking quotations and facts

All courses

Program / Course 23: Research Methodology / Lesson 2.1

What you will learn

  • Define primary, secondary and tertiary sources and give examples of each from theology and church history.
  • Explain why the same text can be primary for one question and secondary for another.
  • Describe what each kind of source is good for and where it falls short.
  • Plan a balanced set of sources for a research question.

The big idea

A primary source comes from the time, person or event you are studying: a letter of Ignatius, the decrees of a council, a creed, a sermon, a manuscript. A secondary source is a later work that interprets or describes primary sources, such as a scholar’s book on Ignatius. Tertiary sources, like encyclopedias and textbooks, gather the results of secondary work. Whether a text is primary or secondary depends on your question. A sound project uses primary sources for evidence and secondary sources for guidance and debate.

Key terms

Primary source
A source produced at the time under study, or by a participant or witness, which serves as direct evidence.
Secondary source
A later work that analyzes, interprets or reports on primary sources or events.
Tertiary source
A work that summarizes secondary scholarship for general readers, such as an encyclopedia, textbook or dictionary.
Patristic
Relating to the Fathers of the church, the Christian writers of the early centuries who shaped doctrine.
Conciliar
Relating to a council of bishops, such as the decrees and creeds issued at Nicaea or Chalcedon.
Critical edition
A scholarly edition of a text that compares manuscripts and notes the variant readings.
Archival material
Original records such as letters, registers and minutes, kept in libraries and archives.

Background

The distinction between primary and secondary sources is basic to historical work. A historian of the early church wants, as far as possible, to see what people of the time wrote and did. Those writings, along with inscriptions, buildings, art and manuscripts, are primary evidence. Modern books and articles explain, organize and argue about that evidence. They are secondary. A well-made project looks at both and keeps them apart in the writing.

The labels depend on the question. Eusebius’s Church History, written in the early fourth century, is a secondary source about the second century, because he reports events from before his time, often by citing earlier writers. It is a primary source for how a fourth century bishop understood the history of his church. In the same way, a twentieth century book on Augustine is secondary for Augustine but primary for the study of twentieth century theology. Always ask: primary for what?

Theology adds its own range of materials. Scripture is a primary source for the beliefs of the communities that produced it. The creeds, conciliar decrees, liturgies, sermons, letters and theological treatises of the church are primary for the periods in which they were written. Commentaries by later theologians are primary for those theologians and secondary for the text they explain. Confessions of faith, church orders and catechisms are primary for particular churches at particular times.

Step-by-step explanation

Step 1: Identify the question and the period

Decide what time, people and events your question concerns. Primary sources are those from that setting. Everything later is secondary, even if it is old.

A medieval commentary on Romans is secondary for Paul but primary for a study of how medieval teachers read Paul. If your question is about reception, the commentary is your evidence.

Step 2: Know what primary sources give you

Primary sources give direct evidence of what people said, believed or did, in their own words and on their own terms. They let you check what later writers claim. They also surprise you, because real documents are messier than summaries.

They have limits. They survive by chance, they were written for purposes of their own, they may be one-sided, and they are often in languages you read only in translation. A single letter may tell you what one bishop wanted others to believe, not what everyone thought.

Step 3: Know what secondary sources give you

Secondary sources supply context, language skills, expertise in manuscripts and the results of long discussion. A good scholar can show you what you would miss and where the field disagrees. Reading secondary works first saves time, and reading them last lets you test them against the evidence.

Their limits are that they reflect the writer’s period, assumptions and commitments, that they may repeat earlier errors, and that they are only as good as their use of primary sources. Never cite a claim from a secondary source as though you had seen the primary text, unless you have.

Step 4: Use tertiary sources for orientation only

Encyclopedias, dictionaries, textbooks and surveys are good places to start: they give names, dates, vocabulary and a list of further reading. They are rarely suitable as the main evidence in a scholarly paper because they summarize, and often simplify, the work of others.

Use their bibliographies. Follow the references back to the books and articles that the summaries rest on.

Step 5: Build a balanced source list

For a paper of ordinary length, aim for a small number of primary sources read closely and a larger number of secondary sources that cover different views. The assignment of this course, for example, asks for at least four primary and six secondary sources.

Check that your secondary sources do not all come from one tradition or school. Include scholars who disagree with each other.

  1. Is this source from the time I am studying, or from later?
  2. Primary for which question, and secondary for which?
  3. Who is the author, and what did he or she have access to?
  4. Does this secondary work rest on primary sources, and are they named?
  5. Have I read the primary text myself, or only what others say about it?
  6. Do my secondary sources represent more than one view?

Examples

A primary source

The letters of Ignatius of Antioch, written early in the second century on his way to Rome, are primary sources for the thought of an early bishop and the practice of churches in Asia Minor. The surviving texts raise questions of transmission that scholars discuss, so even primary sources need critical reading.

A secondary source

J. N. D. Kelly’s Early Christian Doctrines is a scholarly overview that cites primary texts for each claim. It is secondary for the early church and shows how a scholar organizes the evidence.

A source that is both

Eusebius’s Church History preserves quotations from lost second century writers, so it is a main route to texts that no longer exist. It is secondary for those events and primary for Eusebius’s own time and outlook.

A tertiary source

A general encyclopedia article on the Council of Nicaea gives a quick summary and a reading list. It is helpful at the start, but a paper should rest on the council’s own documents and on scholarly studies.

Different perspectives

Catholic

The Catholic tradition gives the Fathers and the councils a special authority, which Catholic scholars also study historically. The Second Vatican Council’s constitution Dei Verbum describes Scripture and Tradition as bound together. In research, Catholic scholars use the same primary and secondary distinction, and many edit and translate patristic texts.

Orthodox

Orthodox theology values the Fathers, the councils and the liturgy as primary sources of the Church’s life. Orthodox scholars have produced modern translations and studies of them. They tend to caution that a single patristic text should be read within the whole tradition, not isolated and used as a proof-text.

Protestant

Protestants hold Scripture as the primary norm, and many value the Fathers and the Reformers as witnesses to be tested by Scripture. Protestant scholars helped to develop modern critical editions of Greek and Hebrew texts. They also stress reading the biblical text itself before commentary.

Secular historians

Historians apply the primary and secondary distinction to all periods and treat every source as evidence to be tested. They also use archaeology, inscriptions, coins and documents from non-Christian writers, which help to check what Christian authors say about themselves.

Why it matters

Much confusion in popular religious writing comes from treating a secondary claim as though it were a primary one, or quoting an old author through an unreliable summary. Learning the distinction allows you to see how far a claim stands from the evidence, and to go back to the evidence yourself. It also allows you to credit the right people, whether the ancient writer or the modern scholar who found and explained the passage.

Common misunderstandings

Misunderstanding: Primary sources are always more reliable than secondary ones.

Correction: Primary sources are closer to the events but can be biased, mistaken or one-sided. A careful modern scholar may judge a source better than its own author did. Both kinds need testing.

Misunderstanding: A source is primary if it is old, and secondary if it is new.

Correction: Age does not decide. What counts is the relation to the question. A medieval commentary on a Gospel is secondary for the Gospel and primary for the Middle Ages.

Misunderstanding: A translation of an ancient text is a secondary source.

Correction: A translation is a version of a primary source. It is not a scholar’s interpretation, though translators make choices. Cite the translation you used and be careful about conclusions that rest on a single word.

Misunderstanding: Encyclopedias and textbooks are enough for a research paper.

Correction: They are good for orientation. A paper should rest on primary texts and on specialized scholarship.

Knowledge check

What is the difference between a primary and a secondary source?

A primary source comes from the time and people under study, such as a letter of Ignatius, a council’s decrees or a creed. A secondary source is a later work that interprets or explains such material, such as a scholar’s book. The same work can be primary for one question and secondary for another.

Why is Eusebius’s Church History both secondary and primary?

For the events of earlier centuries it is secondary, since Eusebius wrote about them later and often through earlier authors. It is primary for the views and methods of a bishop-historian of the early fourth century. Its quotations from lost writers also make it an important route to older texts.

What are two limits of primary sources?

They survive by chance, so the record is incomplete. They were written for particular purposes and from particular viewpoints, so they may be one-sided or inaccurate. They may also be hard to read, because of language, damage or later changes in the text. Any two of these answers are correct.

What is a good use for a tertiary source?

A tertiary source such as an encyclopedia article gives orientation: names, dates, vocabulary and a reading list. It helps in choosing a question and finding better sources. A paper should not rest on it as its main evidence.

Think it through

  1. Choose a doctrine you know. What primary sources show its early history, and which of your own beliefs about it come from secondary or tertiary sources?
  2. Have you ever relied on a quotation from a Father that you later found misleading?
  3. Why might a tradition’s own teachers resist reading a Father in isolation?
  4. What would be primary and what secondary if your question were how modern Americans read the Psalms?

Independent assignment

Sorting sources

In your own notebook, write about 300 words. Choose a research question you wrote earlier. List at least ten possible sources for it (real works you can look up) and label each primary, secondary or tertiary for your question. Explain two cases where the label depends on the question. Then choose the four you would read first and say why. Do not send this to anyone.

Further study