Anyone accustomed to reading early Christian theological texts would notice, on turning to those of modern Christian writers, a large and far-reaching difference. This difference concerns, not a single locus, or a culturally conditioned ideational supposition, or even a means or form of argumentation, but the broad temper of this theology, characterised by the ease with which early Christian writings move between discussion of technical theological matters and spiritual or ascetical ones. Even to describe this linkage as a movement perhaps overstates the matter, for these concerns weave in and out of each other with a seamlessness suggesting their authors did not regard them as distinct. Patristic writers reason from forms of prayer or liturgical practice to theological positions, and from theological data to principles of ascetical life, with a smoothness betokening the unstated presumption that these areas, far from being remote from each other – or indeed, even quite distinct – belong to the same sphere of discourse and concern.

Modern theology makes no such assumption. Although one may find some appeal to liturgical or sacramental practice, academic theology rarely mentions prayer or worship, much less ascetical disciplines such as fasting or control of anger. Conversely, contemporary works on spirituality are as bare of theological insight as theological ones are uninterested in spirituality: they float free of explicit theological grounding, some even actively discouraging intellectual engagement (though admittedly, few evince interest in ascetical disciplines, either).