The Early Christian Writings

A terrific, short collection of important early Christian writings in modern English. This is therefore a great, rapid introduction to the pre-Nicene church fathers for those that want a feel for the early apostolic churches.

You might want to read my suggestions for how to read the early church fathers before going through the writings that follow.

Also, I have an overview of early Christianity with links to individual early Christians if you'd like a general introduction before you read them.

Early Christian Writings Available in Modern English

• My favorite: The anonymous Letter to Diognetus is beautiful, poetic, and the earliest general description of Christianity in existence.
• Polycarp's Epistle to the Philippians: Polycarp was appointed an overseer by the apostles. You can feel his apostolic spirit from his letter.
• Minucius' Felix' late 2nd or early 3rd century The Octavius is a head-to-head debate between a Christian and a Roman pagan. I have shortened this and arranged it as a debate so that you can catch the most memorably and important points. (Unlike Christian History Magazine's video series on the early church, I have not changed it to make modern Christians more comfortable.)
• Justin Martyr's powerful tribute to the Logos, from chapter 5 of Discourse to the Greeks
• The Martyrdom of Perpetua and Felicitas is the story of a 3rd century martyrdom written by those who were there.
• The tract of the two ways is found in both The Letter of Barnabas and The Didache of the early second century, making it the oldest known Christian tract.
• 3rd Corinthians is an apocryphal work, forged in the 2nd century but orthodox in thought. It's from the Acts of Paul, which also has a letter from the Corinthians to Paul.
• There is also the letter of Pliny the Younger, briefly describing early Christianity from a Roman ruler's perspective and asking the emperor what should be done about them.
• In addition, we have Everyman, updated to more modern English, on this site (of course, since this is Christian History for Everyman). It doesn't qualify as early, but it makes an interesting comparison with these early Christian writings, as it was written just over a thousand years later (but before the Protestant Reformation).
• Don't forget the many quotes from the early Christian writings we provide! Those are not complete writings, but there are hundreds of passages on over a hundred topics, and it is always growing.