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.

  • The anonymous Letter to Diognetus is beautiful, poetic, and the earliest general description of Christianity in existence.
  • 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.)
  • The Martyrdom of Perpetua and Felicitas belongs to the beginning of the 3rd century.
  • 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.

Don't forget the many quotes from the early Christian writings found on our Christian Quotes page! Those are not complete writings, but there are hundreds of passages on over a hundred topics.

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Start on Christian History for Free

Need to get started for free?

Of course, it's going to be hard to do better than this web site!

However, to read the early Christian writings on your own, the place to go is Classic Christian Ethereal Library. There you can read just about everything written in the first few centuries of the church online for free or purchase .pdf's for a minimal cost.

I get no commission or benefit for recommending this. It's just a good place to start.

Prefer Books?

Church History: An Essential Guide by Justo Gonzalez

Church History:
An Essential Guide

by Justo Gonzalez

I've put together a starter package for you, as well as books you need to go further.

The Ante-Nicene Fathers

It's over a century old, but you're not going to better than the Edinburgh series put together by the church of England in the 1890's. It is an essential resource for the amateur historian.

This set has a lot of neat features. At the back of every book and in the last volume is an index of both subjects and Scriptures. How did the apostles' churches use John 3:16? Just look it up in the index. It's a rare verse that's not covered somewhere in the first three centuries, and this series indexes every reference.

There are also introductions giving the backgrounds of both the authors and the writings, most of which is still solid scholarship a century later.

You can get their Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers series at Christian Book Distributors, too. It's impossible to beat their prices.

The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult and left untried.

– G.K. Chesterton

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Men stumble over the truth from time to time, but most pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing happened.

– Winston Churchill

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