This is the second in a new six volume translation of and commentary on the works of the Apostolic Fathers. The writings of these men, which immediately follow the books of the New Testament, make up a body of literature that provides indispensable source material for the study of the formation of the Christian Church. Interest in the early Church is higher today than ever before. Theologians, religious authorities, students, and historians find the initial stages of Church development relevant to the contemporary structure of the Church. Volume 2, First and Second Clement, provides translation of and commentary on two of the best-known writings of the Apostolic Fathers. The First Letter of Clement or, more accurately, the letter of the Roman Church to the Corinthian community, provides a significant mixture of scriptural and non-scriptural motifs. The so-called Second Letter of Clement is neither a letter nor by Clement. Actually it is a sermon which deals first with self-control and more generally with exhorting the hearers to repentance and thereby to salvation and life. Not until the rise of historical scholarship in the nineteenth century could its real importance begin to be adequately assessed.

The Apostolic Fathers is an important collection of writings revered by early Christians but not included in the final canon of the New Testament. Here a leading expert on these texts offers an authoritative contemporary translation, in the tradition of the magisterial Lightfoot version but thoroughly up-to-date. The third edition features numerous changes, including carefully revised translations and a new, more user-friendly design. The introduction, notes, and bibliographies have been freshly revised as well.

The early Christian Church and the men who were most influential during the formative years have a profound relevance to the contemporary structure of the Church. The Apostolic Fathers: A Translation and Commentary provides a modern translation and commentary on the writings of these men, indispensable source material for the student of Church history. This volume, one of six, includes a translation of and commentary on the Letter to the Philippians of Polycarp of Smyrna, The Martyrdom of Polycarp, and Fragments of Papias.

A fresh, modern translation of key works of the apostolic fathers. These translations by Rick Brannan are perfect for use by students, scholars, and everyday Christians interested in these treasures of the early church.

A member of the Dominican Order guides readers carefully and intelligently through the major figures and debates of this key age in the emergence and spread of Christianity.

A contemporary version of important early Christian texts that are not included in the New Testament. The translation, Greek texts, introduction, notes, and bibliographies are freshly revised.

Enduring and influential early Christian texts. The writings of the Apostolic Fathers give a rich and diverse picture of Christian life and thought in the period immediately after New Testament times. Some of them were accorded almost Scriptural authority in the early Church. This new Loeb edition of these essential texts reflects current idiom and the latest scholarship. Here are the Letters of Ignatius, bishop of Antioch, among the most famous documents of early Christianity; these letters, addressing core theological questions, were written to a half dozen different congregations while Ignatius was en route to Rome as a prisoner, condemned to die in the wild-beast arena. Also in this collection is a letter to the Philippian church by Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna and friend of Ignatius, as well as an account of Polycarp's martyrdom. There are several kinds of texts in the Apostolic Fathers collection, representing different religious outlooks. The manual called the Didache sets forth precepts for religious instruction, worship, and ministry. The Epistle of Barnabas searches the Old Testament, the Jewish Bible, for testimony in support of Christianity and against Judaism. Probably the most widely read in the early Christian centuries was The Shepherd of Hermas, a book of revelations that develops a doctrine of repentance.