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81 of 84 people found the following review helpful:
The best edition of the Apostolic Fathers..., February 18, 2001
Michael Holmes has updated the brilliant J.B. Lightfoot/J.R. Harmer translation of the Apostolic Fathers for the 21st century scholar and interested reader. The works which are included are: 1 Clement, II Clement (correctly labeled here as "An Ancient Christian Sermon"), the Letters of Ignatius (the seven genuine letters in the so-called middle recension), the Shepherd of Hermas, the Letter of Polycarp, the Martyrdom of Polycarp, the Didache, The Epistle to Diognetus, The Epistle of Barnabas, and the numerous fragments of Papias. The critical Greek text is of course also included (with textual variants) in this edition, and so is the Latin when the text only survives as such. For each book there are helpful footnotes, textual variants, introductory material, and a bibliography. There is a subject/author index, a scripture and non-canonical literature quotation section, and a few maps for those who wish to know, for instance, where exactly Ignatius' letter to the Trallians would have been read. Michael Holmes has also updated the translation and Greek texts based on recent findings and textual discoveries. Overall, "The Apostolic Fathers" is a fine resource for the Patristic scholar. However the works are also useful for the non-scholar who wants to read about the infant, developing, and persecuted Church. As the title suggests, these writers lived close to the Apostolic Age; some (Clement, Ignatius, and Polycarp) even probably knew an apostle or two. Their writings, theology, and ethics are important clues into developing Christian Orthodoxy. The affordable one-volume price, the modern translation, and updated Greek text render this book superior to the other translations of the Apostolic Fathers available, including Staniforth's, Lake's, and volume one of the Ante-Nicene Fathers (however the other editions certainly still have great value; the ANF set has the longer recension of Ignatius' letters, which the Holmes edition lacks). If you wish to begin a study of Christianity and Christian history, after reading the New Testament, start with these texts.
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20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
Perfect, December 12, 2007
WARNING: Amazon has inexplicably conflated together reviews from several editions of this work. Be sure when comparing and contrasting you note carefully which edition is under review. Mine below is the latest green hardcover with gilt lettering pictured in the product description.
This handsomely-bound hardback edition truly has everything you could desire. Despite it's light weight and manageable size (5.25 x 7.5"), it is eminently readable, due to the clear Greek and English font and thin but high-quality opaque paper. This newest edition includes all the writings of the earlier Lightfoot edition: 1 & 2 Clement, Ignatius (7 letters), Polycarp (to the Philippians & Martyrdom), the Didache, Epistle of Barnabas, Sherpherd of Hermas, Epistle to Diognetus, and fragments of Quadratus & Papias, as well as updates to notes and translation. Great for those interested in early church history, quotations of canonical New Testament literature, or a chance to practice reading Koine Greek outside the N.T.
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18 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
Outstanding In Every Respect!, April 5, 2000
If you have a serious interest in early church literature, this book must be part of your library. Holmes builds nicely on his earlier work in the field and, at the same time, makes an invaluable contribution to the church by making such accurate translations of these ancient documents available to us today. Well done!
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26 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
A Primer on early christianity, January 7, 2001
I thoroughly enjoyed re-reading "The Apostolic Fathers," and was surprised how much I learned from the exercise. It had been over 30 years since I read these texts, so,understandably, I entered the venture in a doubtful mood. What did I learn? The texts contain numerous references to unknown scriptures not contained in the official canon, e.g., "I am only steam from a pot," (First Clement). Each of the writings reflects the dramatic differences that characterized christian congregations. This is critical to appreciate the wide variances of christian beliefs, practices, and organization in the first century and a half. From Ignatius of Antioch's letters one can see a bishop struggle to unify the obvious conflicting tensions that enlivened his own faith and that of the early churh. One looks in vain in these documents, some of which preceeded the canonical gospels, for structures and dogmas commonly accepted in today's versions of christianity. If fact, if anything, these texts reveal the early christians as what today we would call "fundamentalists." I found the Greek, presented across the page from the English translation, of especial value, since they contain words and phrases repeated in later historical contexts with obvious different applications. While some of the writings may be tedious to the modern reader, perseverance is rewarded with a deeper understanding of the use of language and rhetoric by the leaders of the nascent church.
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22 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
Great Format!, March 28, 2000
I love the format/layout! The greek text is full page on the left side, and the english translation is full page on the bottom, including references in the footnotes, pointing you to scripture reference! Very handy and easy to work with!
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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
Excellent Resource, May 18, 2007
I have only used small sections of this book so far but it is a fantastic resource. It contains up-to-date critical information about the texts themselves and any historical information about authorship, dating, etc. I did notice that the translator tends to make things gender inclusive that are definitely not so. I am generally in favor of this as many Greek words use masculine nouns to refer to a mixed gender grouping, but this translator translated gender specific words (such as aner)to include everyone. That makes the translations a little less useful for academic work. Nevertheless, it is an excellent resource for anyone with a working knowledge of Koine Greek and an interest in 1st and 2nd century Christianity.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
third edition gets it (almost) right!, February 22, 2008
Kudos to Holmes and Baker House for giving us a hard cover of texts New Testament Greek learners need! Nothing else in koine Greek, besides maybe the LXX, is as helpful to NT Greek students because the vocabulary and the syntax of most the Apostolic Fathers is extremely similar to the NT. This means if you know the NT vocab, you can read large blocks of this text without having to look up words. Of course, having the English on facing sides is essential since we want to be able to check our translation and not have to refer to other books. Hermes and Didache in this book are probably EASIER than say the Gospel of John, so this book is helpful even to beginners, while other texts like Ignatius and 2 Clement provide some challenges for advanced students.
And the format of this book is near perfect. I panned the second edition simply because my paperback fell apart and was hard to hold open. This edition lays flat and feels great in your hand. It uses thin paper so the book is small and portable and yet the font size is still fairly large. The only thing I don't like about the third edition is that the font is a little smaller than the second edition, whose font was perfect, and this font is a little different, not quite as pleasing on the eye Also, the second edition had pure white paper whereas this edition is somewhat yellow. Still, you can't have everything. The font on this text is probably bigger and nice than say the Loeb Classical Library, and here you get all the texts in one volume which is only a little bit bigger than Loeb. This is a must have for NT Greekers!
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14 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
The often overlooked founders of the early church, May 23, 2004
This book contains the works of the early church fathers who helped build the foundations of what would later become the worlds largest religion. The development of the church between the apostles and latter church fathers such as Augustine or Gregory of Nazianzus is often overlooked by those studying the early church. This collection focuses mainly upon writers that occurred within the first or second century after the apostles. The epistles and books range from the solid and orthodox works of Clement to the obscure and mystical Shepherd of Hermas. Many of these works were originally included in the canon of Scripture, and it is interesting when first exposed to them to try to discern why they didnt make the cut later in church history. Another interesting question that arises from these readings is whether or not the writers were inspired, and also how much of this teaching can we take as true and authoritative. A prevalent theme in some of the works is apostolic succession, a theory that the Catholic church later latched onto in order to justify many of its questionable actions. Other theological disputes are discussed such as the allegorical interpretation of the Scriptures or the meanings of visions of the final judgement. Overall the book presents several primary sources of early theological doctrines from one of the most important (but often overlooked) eras in the history of the church.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
A good translation of the Apostolic Fathers., December 1, 2008
Michael Holmes has made available a very clean and lucid translation of the Apostolic Fathers. I am thankful for his contribution to patristic reading. The textual apparatus is particularly useful. The typical Greek on one page and English on the other is a basic feature, but an important one nonetheless. A group of graduate students and I regularly get together to do Greek readings with the Apostolic Fathers and we have found Holmes book to be of great benefit for this process. We also use the Loeb Classical Library edition once translated by Lightfoot, but revised by Ehrman. The translation that Holmes has is a good one, however, there are some instances where it would "make sense" to go with the reckoning that Ehrman has taken with the text. It should be known that I am a Biblical scholar and not strictly a patristic scholar. Holmes edition has a beautiful cover and the organization is very clear with distinct headings and spacing. I do recommend that anyone who is serious about reading Greek patristics use Ehrman along with Holmes to compare the translations. Any serious student of the Greek might see the translation as a bit of a hindrance in that they would be attempting to produce their own translation when it is provided. Regardless, it is a pleasant addition to my library and I highly recommend it to others' libraries as well.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
Very Nice, April 3, 2008
As others have mentioned, this latest print of the Apostolic Fathers is accessible, readable, and great as a tool for keeping up your koine. All of the standard works are included (1&2 Clement, the Shepherd, Barnabas, Martyrdom of Polycarp, the Didache, etc).
Reading the Fathers in the koine offers the reader extraordinary opportunities not only to gain an appreciation of the language, but also of the literary and vocabulary diversity of the various authors. The Greek print in this book is very clear and easy to follow. It's an outstanding reference work for patristic research, and is an affordable starting point in building a quality patristics library.
Holmes does a good job of addressing current patristic scholarship, though one wishes his engagement with it was more substantive than alternating between 'intriguing' and dismissively 'speculative'. In particular, Hill's recent work on Polycarp is commendably referred to by Holmes, but not as substantively as one might have hoped.
However, such wishes do not really detract from what this book gives us. This book keeps the focus on the actual patristic writings, rather than getting into the kind of scholarly back and forth that can take the focus off the writings themselves. The corpus given to us here is great stuff, and waters the mouth of the reader to delve further into the patristic history and engage the kind of scholarly works that Holmes cites. Highly recommended.
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