patristics means the study of the works of the early Christian Church Fathers. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 88 out of 100.
Why “patristics” is a great word
PATRISTICS — [Noun] The branch of Christian theology dedicated to the systematic study of the writings, thought, and historical context of the early Church Fathers. Learned borrowing from Medieval Latin patristica, from Latin pater ("father"), first recorded in English use in 1840–50. Unlike "patrology," which can narrow to denote the collected corpus itself, or "systematic theology," which builds an architectonic framework of belief, patristics is the meticulous, historical archaeology of foundational thought. It is the careful scraping of vellum in a scriptorium's half-light, the tactile wear on the edge of a well-thumbed codex, and the reconstruction of a fierce doctrinal controversy from fragments of homilies—a quiet acknowledgment that every settled creed was once a live and precarious thought.
Etymology
Learned borrowing from Medieval Latin patristica, from Latin pater (“father”).
noun
- The study of the works of the early Christian Church Fathers.