The Early Church Fathers (38 Vols.) [Hardcover]

Alexander Roberts (Editor), James Donaldson (Editor), Henry Wace (Editor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1565630815 | ISBN-13: 978-1565630819 | Publication Date: June 1, 1994

A classic resource for the scholar, student, or minister, the thirty-eight volume Early Church Fathers, including the Ante-Nicene Fathers, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First and Second Series, is now available with a new look and an added annotated index of the authors and works (bound with volume 10 of the Ante-Nicene Fathers and available only in the Hendrickson edition). An invaluable primary resource, each of the three sets features introductions, helpful notes, references to Scripture citations, and indices of key persons, places, and theological issues. From the Apostolic Fathers to the Seven Ecumenical Councils, from the apocryphal gospels to the Arian controversy, this work is one of the most complete collections of the writing in the Christian churchÂ’s first 800 years available today.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Henry Wace (1836-1924), former Dean of Canterbury and noted turn-of-the century scholar, author, and editor, is especially known for his work on the four-volume Dictionary of Christian Biography and with Philip Schaff on the fourteen-volume Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 22896 pages
• Publisher: Hendrickson Publishers (June 1, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1565630815
• ISBN-13: 978-1565630819
• Product Dimensions: 28 x 13 x 10 inches
• Shipping Weight: 80 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,166,673 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

63 of 72 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful, but outdated resource. . ., August 4, 2000

By 

David Zampino "21st Century Hobbit" (Delavan, Wisconsin) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Early Church Fathers (38 Vols.) (Hardcover)

Five stars for anything that gets people to read the actual writings of the Fathers of the Church. Minus one star for the rather overbearing editorialization by Phillip Schaff and others, most of whom try to filter the texts through a strongly Reformation lense. This just isn't fair, and it's not good scholarship. Minus a second star for datedness. Due to discoveries of better manuscripts, etc., there are now better and more complete translations of these works. This set is a starting point -- not an ending point, and should not be considered as such.

For current critical translations, see the "Fathers of the Church" series and the "Ancient Christian Writers" series. (But be prepared to purchase those books one volume at a time.)

27 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Necessary Reading for Every Christian, October 26, 2002

By 

Daniel Rivera (Los Angeles, California United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Early Church Fathers (38 Vols.) (Hardcover)

The study of ecclesiastical history and the writings of the Saints are a necessity for a proper appreciation of Scripture and its interpretation. Philip Schaff's Church History is one of the few complete ecclesiastical history collections available. There are more modern and reliable translations of the ancient Greek and Latin texts (Ancient Christian Writers and Fathers of the Church Series), which abstain from sectarianism; unfortunately, the publishers have not yet gathered these works into a single collection. Despite the shortcomings of this edition, Philip Schaff's Church History is notable, if only for its presentation of the Reformed perspective on the development of ecclesiastic doctrine.

Schaff was guided by a number of principles in his History. He was convinced, for example, that other church histories conformed to a "dry, lifeless style" that failed to probe the "main thing in history, the ideas which rule it and reveal themselves in the process." Most church histories -he believed- failed to foster a sense organic development, leaving students unable to understand their movement's place in the overall history of the church.

Following philosopher G.W.F. Hegel, who posited that cycles of thesis, antithesis, and synthesis raise what is preserved to a higher level, Schaff maintained: "spiritual growth is likewise a process of annihilation, preservation, and exaltation." An example of this process in Christian thought and practice was -according to Schaff- the emergence of the Protestant Reformation out of the medieval Catholic Church. "The practical piety and morality of Roman Catholicism," said Schaff, "is characteristically legal, punctilious, un-free and anxious; but distinguished also for great sacrifices, the virtue of obedience, and full consecration to the Church." The Protestant Reformation brought a needed corrective through a faith that "is evangelically free, cheerful and joyous in the possession of justification by grace."

In effect Schaff presents Protestantism as the heir of catholicity at the expense of the Roman See (his description of "the Papists" is outrageous), liberating doctrine from the "constraints" of ecclesial authority. Yet he conveniently minimizes the shortcomings of Protestantism, namely its fractious nature and the replacement of Apostolic Tradition with the tradition of subjective interpretation of Scripture. Fortunately he recognized the need for union, envisioning the emergence of a synthetic "evangelical-catholic" Christianity in the future.

Schaff utilizes heavy editorializing to present the writings of the Church Fathers as representing his viewpoint; this unfairly forces the reader to accept his overbearing perspective at the expense of the Church Fathers. If you are approaching this work from a non-Protestant background, you might find it necessary to skip the introductions and the footnotes. Despite the sectarian presentation of Church history, I recommend this work, as it makes the works of the Apostolic Fathers accessible at a reasonable price.

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Recommended even though newer collections are available, March 23, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: The Early Church Fathers (38 Vols.) (Hardcover)

...This is an excellent resource, no two ways about it. I find myself using it all the time, looking up things I find quoted in books, tracts, etc. I found it very convienent to be able to get the whole set at once, and I might add, for a very good price ....

Just a caveat: this is not, and does not advertize itself as a complete compendium of the writings of the authors represented in this set. For instance, Origen, Jerome and Athanasius are given particularly brief treatments, as are most of the writers presented in volumes 25-38.

... This is a great resource, but some 120 years after initial publication, the body of manuscripts and scholarship used in translation has been improved upon. This cannot be looked upon as an intrisic weakness in this series, but rather an effect of aging which falls on all older works which rely on a body of historical writings which are under constant study.

Regarding the introduction essays, I don't have a huge problem with them. Not all of them are openly polemical. This was compiled by Protestants, so one should not be surprised to find pro-Protestant essays therein. One cannot possibly confuse these with the writings of the Fathers themselves, and can be easily skipped.

However, I did pick up a fair amount of attempted "damage control" in the footnotes, i.e. the footnote on Irenaeus' Against Heresies 3:3:2. Other examples could be cited.

In any case, I am not citing these things to "unpromote" the work, but simply discussing the points .... I am aware that there are newer translations of these writings available, but are only available piecework and for much more money.

This is indeed a great place to start, but people wanting more complete writings and/or more current scholarship might want to consider the Ancient Christian Writers series.