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Early Christian Writings: The Apostolic Fathers Paperback – September 1, 1987

by Andrew Louth (Editor), Maxwell Staniforth (Translator)
4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 524 ratings
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The writings in this volume cast a glimmer of light upon the emerging traditions and organization of the infant church, during an otherwise little-known period of its development. A selection of letters and small-scale theological treatises from a group known as the Apostolic Fathers, several of whom were probably disciples of the Apostles, they provide a first-hand account of the early Church and outline a form of early Christianity still drawing on the theology and traditions of its parent religion, Judaism. Included here are the first Epistle of Bishop Clement of Rome, an impassioned plea for harmony; The Epistle of Polycarp; The Epistle of Barnabas; The Didache; and the Seven Epistles written by Ignatius of Antioch—among them his moving appeal to the Romans that they grant him a martyr's death.

For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
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Previous page
  1. Print length
    208 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Penguin Classics
  4. Publication date
    September 1, 1987
  5. Grade level
    12 and up
  6. Reading age
    18 years and up
  7. Dimensions
    7.74 x 5.04 x 0.54 inches
  8. ISBN-10
    9780140444759
  9. ISBN-13
    978-0140444759
  10. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Andrew Louth, born in Lincolnshire and brought up in the north of England, studied Theology at the universities of Cambridge and Edinburgh. From 1970 to 1985 he was Fellow and Chaplain of Worcester College, Oxford, and University Lecturer in Theology, teaching prinipally Patristics. In 1985 he became Reader in History at Goldsmith's College, London. He is the author of The Origins of the Christian Mystical Tradition (1981), Discerning the Mystery: An Essay on the Nature of Theology (1983) and Denys the Areopagite (1989). He has also edited Early Christian Writings for the Penguin Classics.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ 0140444750
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Penguin Classics; Revised edition (September 1, 1987)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 208 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9780140444759
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0140444759
  • Reading age ‏ : ‎ 18 years and up
  • Grade level ‏ : ‎ 12 and up
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 5.6 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7.74 x 5.04 x 0.54 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 524 ratings

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4.7 out of 5 stars
4.7 out of 5
524 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Deteis
5.0 out of 5 stars What Christianity Really Was
Reviewed in the United States on August 25, 2017
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Excellent translation of very important early texts. Nice, brief introductions to each text, as well as a few explanatory notes on obscure sayings or references. There were quite a few typos, obviously indicating that whatever software was used to convert the original written form into electronic text needs to be checked. I noted and sent in about 20 such errors as I read the book.

As far as the content is concerned, these are must read texts for Christians, especially in the West. They provide a peek into what Christianity originally was...not what it has become as reflected in modern Evangelicalism. I think that there is no true Christan who can read these works and not be convicted and challenged.

After reading this I'm moving on to Eusebius's 'Ecclesiastical History' in the hope of more completely filling in the picture of Christ's Church in its earliest days. I'm finding that there is a profundity and treasure in the old that simply has been lost in most quarters of the Church today. I'm also beginning to wonder if the reason that there are not many martyrs in the West, is because there is not much actual Christianity. Surely the residual peace from a now waining Christian culture is partly the reason (and something to be thankful for!), but deep down, I think many professing Christians struggle with the thought of actually living and rendering this kind of ultimate witness to Christ. And, I think that this is because so many haven't actually found the living Christ or are not sure about their own individual faith (another matter for another time).

Reading the writings of these first post-Apostolic Fathers is to enter a world of belief and confidence of faith that speaks of truly knowing Christ as the resurrected Lord of all the earth. These men--these martyrs--knew Him and the power of His resurrection, thus desiring to be conformed to Him even in His death. There is nothing here that resembles the "your best life now", "Blessed!" type religion that passes for Christianity in today's affluent West.

This is a raw look at the true Church of the Savior of the world. Read it and be ready to be rocked. Read it and be ready to be edified and roused and surprised by a depth of faith that you (or at least some of us) have not yet experienced.
80 people found this helpful
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Aran Joseph Canes
5.0 out of 5 stars The Barbarians Arrive
Reviewed in the United States on September 1, 2019
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There is a poem by C.P. Cavafy called Waiting for the Barbarians. In it the author declares the desire for something genuinely new to enter his culture. When reading this volume of the early Apostolic Fathers one is most struck most by the enthusiasm of the writers. They all have the sense that they have in their grasp something which is new and of supreme importance to the world.

Modern Christianity now seems at best an archaism when it is not out and out hypocrisy. There are few Christians who seem to believe that they have an important teaching to communicate to the world.

And perhaps that is best. The Christian myth of a world doomed to death and suffering by human sin then redeemed by Christ is hard to square with our modern understanding of the cosmos.

But it is interesting to read works from when Christianity was young. It was not the bulwark of Western civilization, it was not part of one’s cultural legacy...It was something dynamic and interesting and persuasive. For all who like such time-traveling the Apostolic Fathers are a true delight.
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5.0 out of 5 stars WOW! We have writings of early trusted church pastors!
Reviewed in the United States on May 27, 2007
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Why isn't this book on every evangelical seminary's guidebook to help us avoid many of the false teachings of the modern cults and churches? After studying in seminary and being mostly influenced by Dallas Seminary's Lewis Sperry Chafer and majority of trusted pastors of the last 150-200 years (Charles Spurgeon, Charles Swindoll, Graham, Kenneth Wuest, D.L. Moody, Matthew Henry, G.Campbell Morgan, J. Vernon Mcgee, and host of other popular writers), this is the first time I have known that we have actual writings of the early church pastors in such an easy to read guide format.

How the faithful looked at their impending martyrdom is beautifully seen in "the letter of Ignatius to the Church in Rome" and in Pastor Polycarp's martyrdom written down by the faithful for our edification. It is amazing how their view of faith included trust in Christ all the way to the end, just like John Wesley taught.

It is awesome to know that the early Church always baptized in the name of the Holy Trinity as I read in the last pages of this book, in "teachings (didache/gk) of the apostles".

It is awesome to read that worshipping Christ as God was a normal practice of faith among early Christians from the beginning and how much these trusted pastors exalted our LORD's words and life, death and resurection as the foundation for all Christians.

Surprisingly, our early church also saw great significance in the life of Christ as they saw our imitation of Christ's Perfect life to be a holy goal of every Christian every day of our lives. They did not interpret "be ye perfect as your Father in Heaven is" allegorically or as pre-Grace-dispensational in any way. To them, good works of Love motivated by Faith in Christ's Perfect Life and passionate suffering at the Cross, with His victory over satan through death and Resurrection, was a much stronger emphasis of the basis for our Salvation than simply saying a "magical" 4 laws or sinner's prayer to welcome Jesus in our hearts. The early Church's view of God's Grace is clear: "By Grace you are saved, not by your own doing, but by the will of God in Christ Jesus" spoken by Polycarp, the trusted disciple of John called and appointed to lead the Church in Smyrna. However, it is also true that they took Paul's words in Galations 5 as Holy Scripture and took all of Christ's words inline with James' letter, rather than show an adverserial relationship between Christian good works and our faith in Christ. To them, Christ's calling to holiness, His perfect obedience through the pains of the cross, revealed faithful calling of the Christian to live holy lives as part of our salvation, rather than as a separate past/present/future salvation message that I have heard by majority of our teachers in the past 200 years.

I was surprised to read that John Calvin, Martin Luther, and John Wesley, honored many of these early Christian writings and always taught reading them for edification and Biblical understanding as PART of our sola scriptura belief, and they never intended that anyone should read the scriptures and privately interpret it against the writings of all these early church pastor's teachings. No wonder all Christians everywhere agreed for majority of the first 1800 years of our faith on the significance of Baptism, Holy communion and hosts of other early church practices and beliefs and none of them tried to use "saved by Grace unto good works" as beyond what the early church taught, that there are jewish cereminial laws we were freed from unto Christian good works in Love.

The view of humility in Ignatius truly is humbling against majority of our teaching in the western culture, since he would never want any believer to independent of the Apostolic Christian Church to exalt oneself above the honest teachings of the Apostles and trusted pastors of the early church.

I would highly recommend this translation. Easy to read and follow without liberal antiChristian slants from some other early church books. The print material is also easy to read unlike the glaring papers used by Meier's Eusebius edition and there is not much antiChristian antihistorical Christian bias one finds in some of the early church translations.
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Top reviews from other countries

Groovy Great One
5.0 out of 5 stars What was it like in the early church?
Reviewed in Canada on June 18, 2022
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So much interesting content. If you are a person who is seeking real information on what the early church really looked like, what these early disciples were teaching, and how the church looked before they killed all the jewish roots. This is a history book, an account of Clement, Ignatius, Polycarp, the Didache, and Barnabas. Good book
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Matheus Dias
4.0 out of 5 stars Good book, horrible printing quality.
Reviewed in Brazil on July 20, 2021
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The books is very good, but it look like it was printed on a 18th century printer.
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nirali jain
5.0 out of 5 stars Great early letters of wisdom from ancient fathers
Reviewed in India on November 17, 2022
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these church fathers in this book were earliest disciples like clement, ignatius, polycarp after the apostles. great for reading prayerfully
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Mr. P. G. Mccarthy
5.0 out of 5 stars A window into the early Church
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 28, 2013
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Rating this book as a five star item means that I 'love' it. This doesn't really capture what I feel about the importance of these writings. The account of the martyrdom of Polycarp and the descriptions of persecution are very moving. These writings are also important as we don't have a lot more to go on in building up a picture of the post-apostolic age (and in the books of Irenaeus we can detect the kinds of challenges Christianity had to face, especially novel emerging views of who Jesus was and what he may have said.

My favourite book (included in this collection) is the open letter to Diognetes, tantalisingly early (and some suggest written primarily to the tutor of Marcus Aurelius); this offers a window to early Christian thought and one of the clearest expressions of the gospel in any age ('Oh sweet exchange' etc).

The translator has made these far more readable than the Edinburgh editions and supplies excellent introductions to each book. My only criticism is that I feel the Shepherd of Hermas really belongs with this collection but is omitted without explanation. Some of the letters of Ignatius can be a little 'dry' and Hermas, being visionary, would have given the collection a lift.
7 people found this helpful
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aChildOfTheMosHigh
5.0 out of 5 stars Good
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 17, 2024
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Brought for a friend.
One person found this helpful
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