Faith of the Early Fathers, Vol. 1 (Paperback)

~ William A. Jurgens (Author) "The Didache was first published in 1883, following its discovery by Philotheos Brynnios, the metropolitan of Nicomedia, in the 11th century manuscript, Codex Hierosolymitanus 1056..." (more)
Key Phrases: twenty canons, the archheretic, clerical estate, Jesus Christ, Son of God, Catholic Church (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

..".a unique three-year study...of such depth and breadth that it raises serious questions about how all U.S. Christians interpret and practice their faith." --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 474 pages
• Publisher: Liturgical Press (June 1970)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0814604323
• ISBN-13: 978-0814604328
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (36 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #194,605 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

74 of 75 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very Scholarly & good translation, November 23, 2001

By	"jamlaser" (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews

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).

39 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Asset, April 5, 2005

By	Georgee Thevervelil (Philadelphia) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Faith of the Early Fathers, Vol. 3 (Paperback)

As a non-Catholic, I can attest that this work is a great piece of scholarship. Although written by a Roman Catholic, this book presents the views and writings of the Early Fathers with very little bias. I would recommend this book to anyone wishing to research more about the origins of the Christian faith.

46 of 47 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome!!, December 22, 2004

By	Tammy L. Schilling "tammyl84" (MD) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

For those with an interest in the history of the earliest Christians, this books is an awesome and enlighting read. It starts with the Didache, a writing that is contemporary to the New Testament and covers the first four hundred years of Christianity. If you want to know what to believe, then a logical person to ask (if you could) would be the people who were contemporaries of the apostles or who came immediately after. Well, we can't ask, but we can read what they wrote, which is the next best thing.

Jurgen's The Faith of the Early Fathers is a particularly useful collection of those writings. It is arranged first by authors, which is nice for those who want to study the writings of one early father at a time. Better, though, for the rest of us busy people is the doctrinal index. Each issue of doctrine (from the Bible, to the papacy, to Mary, etc.) has a section, and within that section it is broken down into specific points of doctrine, then each of the points has a paragraph number(s) showing where you can read what these early fathers wrote about that issue. So, when you need to, you can lay your hands on what (for examply) St. Justin Martyr wrote about the Eucharist in about one minute flat, without having to spend hours reading and searching his writings.

The Faith of the Early Fathers is the easiest to use compendium of early Christian writings I have ever seen. Anyone who gets this book is going to be just thrilled with what they can quickly and painlessly learn with this reference in their hands.