Customer Reviews

The Faith of the Early Fathers, Vol. 2

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This three volume set is a collection of writings of a number of the early fathers of the church. Fr. Jurgens provides (in introductory text and footnotes) some background, purpose of the particular writing, and, on occasion, some humor. The entire text is indexed to church doctrine, and I found this very helpful. Writings span from around 100CE to almost 800CE so only the briefest glimpses of many writings could be provided. Fr. Jurgens made every attempt to find the "nuggets" in the writings, and certainly succeeded in most areas. The work suffers from being based on "old" translations of the early writings, certainy more recent scholarship and research could be brought to this book. I believe the edition was publised in the early 1970s.

This three volume set is an excellent source for knowlege about the teachings, practices and theology of the early Christian church as written and taught by the successors of the the Apostles and disciples of Jesus, the Christ.

This set of works is outstanding, many other works I have read pail in comparison. This set is most notable for:
* good translation (much of the Fathers is in ancient Greek)
* presenting the Fathers as themselves, thus the Truth can speak for itself (not relying on commentary to lead, or in some other books mislead)
*provides a relavant/broad sampling of a multitude of Fathers writings, without being overly shallow (the known writings of the fathers would take up at least a few library shelves)
*easy to use (some other works are hard to use, or have confusing lookup systems/layouts)
*there are many other minor points of interest, but I believe these are the most relevant
*my only complaint is that these are not hardcover, as this is preferred by scholars and others who use these books heavily, the publisher probably wanted to insure a low price to make this resource available to a broad readership

I can not stress the value of these books, I have seen them used by many scholars, Evangelical & Catholic alike (even at my University).

then read these books. This three volume set is a great introductory set of the writings of the early Church Fathers. The books themselves are organized nicely starting with the earliest sources and then working down through the literary timeline. Jurgens has provided a brief synoposis on each individual author, and every piece of writing is titled, dated, and described. Moreover, the works contain excellent scripture annotations which makes it easy to discover just exactly what Bible verse the father in question is quoting. The topical reference system is very nice as well, but some may not like Jurgens style since he is strongly Catholic and desires to prove the teachings of the Church correct through Patristic sources. Nevertheless, anyone of an Orthodox persuasion or a Protestant curious about Church history will find these books useful and will be able to learn a lot. The only downside to these books is that quotes are only partial; Jurgens' intent is to prove doctrinal points, not provide a handy but abbreviated corpus of Patristic literature. Anyone wishing to study the Fathers more in depth will have to look elsewhere, but these three books offer a fine starting point.

Covered in volume two are some of the greatest Christian thinkers of the post-Nicene Church including: the Cappadocian fathers, John Chrysostom, Ambrose of Milan, and Jerome. Also of interest are the short writings of Pelagius and his close associate Julius of Eclanum. Nevertheless, I think people will really enjoy the writings of the Cappadocians, Chrysostom, and Ambrose since these men did so much to advance the Christian faith and since we owe so much to their writing, preaching and teaching. Without a doubt, without them Christianity would not look the same as it does today.

These books, (PLEASE KNOW THAT THIS BOOK IS PART OF A 3 VOLUME SET!), are an invaluable resource for any student of Christianity. There is no commentary or editorials- simply verbatim excerpts of the Early Father's writings. What is especially helpful is the Doctrinal Index in the back which addresses every conceivable question about Church Doctrine; and establishes a sound basis for Church Doctrine based on the Early Father's writings and Sacred Scripture.

Anyone who wants to know how Christianity was REALLY intended to be through the direction of Jesus, the Sacred Scripture, and Sacred Tradition, should read all 3 of these books. IF YOU WANT THE TRUTH, THE WAY IT WAS INTENDED, READ THESE BOOKS! PLEASE!

This set belongs in every Christian's library.

The 3 volumes are sold separately. ...

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum,
(The peace of the Lord be always with you).