Abstract Charles Kannengiesser's presidential address to the North American Patristics Society in 1990 was a lament originally titled ‘Bye, Bye Patristics’. Most of the classically educated French scholars who had revitalized patristics as part of what Kannengiesser termed ‘the spiritual and humanistic revival in Europe after World War II’ were dead, and educational support for these studies in Europe was dwindling. This article describes the passage from ‘patristics’ to ‘early Christian studies’. It also examines how patristics emerged as a discipline by looking at France, Germany, and Great Britain.
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