Early Christian Writings

Description

The writings in this volume shed a glimmer of light, in an otherwise dark period, on the emerging traditions and organizations of the infant Church. They are a selection from a group known as the Apostolic Fathers, so-called because several of the authors were most likely disciples of the Apostles themselves. Like much of the New Testament, their writings take the form of letters, and for the most part deal with practical problems of the life of the early Church, as it struggled in the face of persecution to establish itself in the Roman world. They give us a picture of Christianity still drawing on the theology and traditions of its parent religion, Judaism.

First Sentence

The First Epistle of Clement - so called, though The Second Epistle is actually not an epistle but a homily, the oldest surviving Christian homily, and nor is it by Clement - is one of the earliest Christian writings outside the New Testament.

Subjects

Other Editions

• Early Christian Writings: The Apostolic Fathers (Penguin Classics)Penguin Classics1968-10-30
• Early Christian writingsPenguin Books1987-01-01
• Early Christian WritingsPenguin Classics1987-09-01