Papers presented at an international conference held in early 2018 on the campus of Ave Maria University in Florida.

While the church today looks quite different than it did two thousand years ago, Christians share the same faith with the church fathers. Although separated by time and culture, we have much to learn from their lives and teaching. This book is an organized and convenient introduction to how to read the church fathers from AD 100 to 500. Michael Haykin surveys the lives and teachings of seven of the Fathers, looking at their role in such issues as baptism, martyrdom, and the relationship between church and state. Ignatius, Cyprian, Basil of Caesarea, and Ambrose and others were foundational in the growth and purity of early Christianity, and their impact continues to shape the church today. Evangelical readers interested in the historical roots of Christianity will find this to be a helpful introductory volume.

The writings in this volume cast a glimmer of light upon the emerging traditions and organization of the infant church, during an otherwise little-known period of its development. A selection of letters and small-scale theological treatises from a group known as the Apostolic Fathers, several of whom were probably disciples of the Apostles, they provide a first-hand account of the early Church and outline a form of early Christianity still drawing on the theology and traditions of its parent religion, Judaism. Included here are the first Epistle of Bishop Clement of Rome, an impassioned plea for harmony; The Epistle of Polycarp; The Epistle of Barnabas; The Didache; and the Seven Epistles written by Ignatius of Antioch - among them his moving appeal to the Romans that they grant him a martyr's death.

The writings from the postapostolic period of the early church (ca. 70-150 CE), known as the Apostolic Fathers, comprise the earliest extant Christian writings outside of the New Testament. The Apostolic Fathers furnish us with an invaluable repository of insights related to the issues, theology, and exegetical practices during this period in church history. Due to the frequent allusions to and quotations of the Gospels and Epistles, the Apostolic Fathers are also an important witness to the text of the New Testament. While several Greek-English diglot editions exist offering excellent English translations, this is the first annotated version of the Greek text that provides a contextual English gloss for all vocabulary occurring less than thirty times in the Greek New Testament. A Greek Reader's Apostolic Fathers will help one develop the necessary skills for an advanced familiarity and fluency in the Greek texts of early Christianity. This reader is designed primarily as a textbook for an advanced Greek readings course, but is intended for general reading or scholarly research as well.

This selection of writings from early church leaders includes work by Clement of Rome, Ignatius, Polycarp, Irenaeus, Athenagoras, and Justin Martyr.Long recognized for the quality of its translations, introductions, explanatory notes, and indexes, the Library of Christian Classics provides scholars and students with modern English translations of some of the most significant Christian theological texts in history. Through these works--each written prior to the end of the sixteenth century--contemporary readers are able to engage the ideas that have shaped Christian theology and the church through the centuries.