Laurie Guy provides an illuminating, broad-brush survey of the early church in its first four centuries. Readers get to witness the emergence of Great Tradition Christianity as themes unfold over time regarding women, persecution and martyrdom, asceticism and monasticism, eucharist and baptism, doctrine and the ecumenical councils.
A Trusted Introduction to the Church Fathers This concise introduction to the church fathers connects evangelical students and readers to twelve key figures from the early church. Bryan Litfin engages readers with actual people, not just abstract doctrines or impersonal events, to help them understand the fathers as spiritual ancestors in the faith. The first edition has been well received and widely used. This updated and revised edition adds chapters on Ephrem of Syria and Patrick of Ireland. The book requires no previous knowledge of the patristic period and includes original, easy-to-read translations that give a brief taste of each writer's thought.
A lucid and concise account of the peole, places, institutions, events, and ideas that made a difference in the development of the Christian faith. Discussion questions following each chapter aid the reader in reflection and rview.
As an introduction to early church history, this book is not intended to cover any subject exhaustively. Its goal is to provide an overview of the most significant leaders of the church while adding stories of ordinary Christians who remained faithful to the Lord in the face of persecution. It will introduce readers to how the church, in its first five centuries, sought to answer the primary theological questions of the day. This book is meant to whet the appetite of those who have never read early church history and refresh the minds of those who have. For some, the reading of this book will be the beginning of a journey that will lead to a deep and abiding love for the history of God’s sovereign working in the church and in the world.
We hear the voices of the early Church Fathers even today. Their teachings, their guidance, their insights, and their sacrifice shaped the Catholic Church. They defined the canon of Scripture. They developed our creeds and forms of worship. They defined Christianity's distinctive moral sense. But who were they? What can we learn from their ancient teachings? What can the Fathers teach us in the 21st century - about holiness, culture, faith, and the Gospel? This is the definitive resource for anyone interested in learning about the Church Fathers and their legacy. Ideal for RCIA, catechists, and clergy as well as lay Catholics who want to learn more about the great teachers of early Christianity. In this new and extensively updated The Fathers of the Church, 3rd Edition, you will find: New: twenty Church Fathers never before covered in this series, New: many poets of ancient Christianity, whose hymns we still sing today, An extensively revised introduction, Nearly seventy-five more pages of information on the early Church, The Mothers of the Church and their impact, Research-friendly references and citations, topical index, timeline, and detailed bibliography Book jacket.
A major new introduction to the global history of Christianity, written by one of the world’s leading theologians and author of numerous bestselling textbooks. Provides a truly global review by exploring the development of Christianity and related issues in Asia, Latin America and Africa, and not just focusing on Western concerns Spanning more than two millennia and combining elements of theology, history, and culture, it traces the development of all three branches of Christianity – Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox – providing context to Christianity’s origins and its links to Judaism Looks beyond denominational history at Christianity’s impact on individuals, society, politics, and intellectual thought, as well as on art, architecture, and the natural sciences Combines McGrath’s acute historical sensibility with formidable organizational skill, breaking the material down into accessible, self-contained historical periods Offers an accessible and student-oriented text, assuming little or no advance theological or historical knowledge on the part of the reader
This fascinating and lively book provides the first comprehensive discussion of the production, circulation, and use of books in early Christianity. It explores the extent of literacy in early Christian communities; the relation in the early church between oral tradition and written materials; the physical form of early Christian books; how books were produced, transcribed, published, duplicated, and disseminated; how Christian libraries were formed; who read the books, in what circumstances, and to what purposes. Harry Y. Gamble interweaves practical and technological dimensions of the production and use of early Christian books with the social and institutional history of the period. Drawing on evidence from papyrology, codicology, textual criticism, and early church history, as well as on knowledge about the bibliographical practices that characterized Jewish and Greco-Roman culture, he offers a new perspective on the role of books in the first five centuries of the early church.