What are some good books on the early church fathers?

Jonaitis

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Since there is only so much information on the men you mentioned, you won't find many works about them. Here are some books on the early church I have read, still reading, or have been recommended to me.

Sketches of Church History by J.C. Robertson
Sketches From Church History by S.M. Houghton
The Spreading Flame: The Rise and Progress of Christianity From its First Beginnings to the Conversion of the English by F. F. Bruce
Church History in Plain Language by Bruce L. Shelley
History of the Christian Church by Philip Schaff
 
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Silverback

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I’m looking for some good books on the early church fathers up to the 4th century. Pretty much right before Eusebius. Books on like Polycarp, Papias, Origen, Clement of Rome, etc.

Thanks
God Bless

The writings of the Antinacean Fathers are online for free. Other than that, I don't know if any others works are available
 
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I haven't read St. Augustine's Confessions, but I still recommend it.

Eastern Orthodox Christianity: The Essential Texts
by Bryn Geffert and Theofanis G. Stavrou isn't strictly about the early church fathers, but it includes the sayings of various Desert Fathers, and excerpts from the works of St. Ignatius of Antioch and St. John Chrysostom.

Original Sin: A Cultural History by Alan Jacobs is also not strictly about the early church fathers, but it gives a very good overview of the writings of St. Augustine on original sin, and of his dispute with Pelagianism.

The Writings of the Apostolic Fathers is an anthology of essays compiled by Paul Foster that includes discussions and summaries of St. Ignatius of Antioch and the Didache.
 
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~Anastasia~

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I’m looking for some good books on the early church fathers up to the 4th century. Pretty much right before Eusebius. Books on like Polycarp, Papias, Origen, Clement of Rome, etc.

Thanks
God Bless
Hello and welcome to CF. :)

You can find a great deal of what's been translated for free online at CCEL.org

And if you're interested, you might drop by the Eastern Orthodox forum(s) to chat. We are strongly based on the ECFs and you can find good conversation there, if you want to visit. (Just be aware it's a congregational forum, so if you want to debate, it has to go in a particular sub forum.)

The Ancient Way - Eastern Orthodox
 
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com7fy8

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good books on the early church fathers
This is my opinion from what I have read, which is not from extensive education >

First > the early fathers were our Apostles. We can simply read the New Testament and discover a lot about how Paul and Peter and others were and what they did.

Something I find very important is how Paul and Sylvanus and Timothy related with the Thessalonians >

"as a nursing mother cherishes her own children" > in 1 Thessalonians 2:7.

This kind of scripture tells me so much more than any amount of information about doctrines and history can. These early fathers were family, intimate, tenderly sharing and personal with God's children > they were not at all public political religious figures just making statements and you never knew them personally. Our Apostle Peter says . . . for God's leaders . . . how to relate >

"nor as being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock." (1 Peter 5:3)

So, our leaders are our "examples" > if they are examples, they show us how we all can be blessed like they are. And we know them personally, so we can feed on how they are and live and love.

So, my opinion is that people who were public political figures did not necessarily represent God's church; but they could have been distant and not necessarily personal with people. They might have been more concerned about issues and how to control things, politically.

Have you actually read "The First Epistle of Clement"? Nowhere does this epistle name Clement as its author. Plus, it uses "us", "we", "our" > not "me" "myself" and "I". And it seems to be humble, and written to people who personally knew the ones who prepared this epistle. And I find it matches more with what our New Testament writers have ministered, than with groups who are calling attention only or mainly to themselves as being the best group of all. This is a personal communication, not a justification for any particular group.

I suspect, now, that ones seeking power and publicity could have controlled what has made it into historical records > they could have suppressed information about or simply did not recognize the really gentle and humble "examples to the flock". And the ones pastoring God's children have been busy with . . . taking "care of the church of God" > see what qualifies people to do this > 1 Timothy 3:1-10. So, they were not struggling for public recognition, but prayerfully taking care of God's children.

But ones seeking a bigger name for themselves have piggy-backed on the credibility of God's word; and so they have used it and claimed it. There are ones who claim the Epistle of Clement as one of their official writings, even though this writing does not even name Clement or claim there is a pope. But ones make claims about this, though I can't prove it, in any case :)
 
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Root of Jesse

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This is my opinion from what I have read, which is not from extensive education >

First > the early fathers were our Apostles. We can simply read the New Testament and discover a lot about how Paul and Peter and others were and what they did.

Something I find very important is how Paul and Sylvanus and Timothy related with the Thessalonians >

"as a nursing mother cherishes her own children" > in 1 Thessalonians 2:7.

This kind of scripture tells me so much more than any amount of information about doctrines and history can. These early fathers were family, intimate, tenderly sharing and personal with God's children > they were not at all public political religious figures just making statements and you never knew them personally. Our Apostle Peter says . . . for God's leaders . . . how to relate >

"nor as being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock." (1 Peter 5:3)
There's a difference between Scripture, and the writings of those who were disciples of those who wrote the Scriptures. And those that were disciples of them.
So, our leaders are our "examples" > if they are examples, they show us how we all can be blessed like they are. And we know them personally, so we can feed on how they are and live and love.

So, my opinion is that people who were public political figures did not necessarily represent God's church; but they could have been distant and not necessarily personal with people. They might have been more concerned about issues and how to control things, politically.

Have you actually read "The First Epistle of Clement"? Nowhere does this epistle name Clement as its author. Plus, it uses "us", "we", "our" > not "me" "myself" and "I". And it seems to be humble, and written to people who personally knew the ones who prepared this epistle. And I find it matches more with what our New Testament writers have ministered, than with groups who are calling attention only or mainly to themselves as being the best group of all. This is a personal communication, not a justification for any particular group.
The gospels don't mention those who wrote them either. All of Paul's letters were personal communications to the groups of Christians he wrote to. Clement's letters were to the Corinthians, settling disputes among them.
I suspect, now, that ones seeking power and publicity could have controlled what has made it into historical records > they could have suppressed information about or simply did not recognize the really gentle and humble "examples to the flock". And the ones pastoring God's children have been busy with . . . taking "care of the church of God" > see what qualifies people to do this > 1 Timothy 3:1-10. So, they were not struggling for public recognition, but prayerfully taking care of God's children.

But ones seeking a bigger name for themselves have piggy-backed on the credibility of God's word; and so they have used it and claimed it. There are ones who claim the Epistle of Clement as one of their official writings, even though this writing does not even name Clement or claim there is a pope. But ones make claims about this, though I can't prove it, in any case :)
The First letter of Clement to the Corinthians is not official Scripture, it is a writing of an apostolic father.
 
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Root of Jesse

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I’m looking for some good books on the early church fathers up to the 4th century. Pretty much right before Eusebius. Books on like Polycarp, Papias, Origen, Clement of Rome, etc.

Thanks
God Bless
There is a compendium called "The Fathers Know Best" by Jimmy Akin that's very good.
 
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ViaCrucis

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I’m looking for some good books on the early church fathers up to the 4th century. Pretty much right before Eusebius. Books on like Polycarp, Papias, Origen, Clement of Rome, etc.

Thanks
God Bless

Early Christian Writings: The Apostolic Fathers by Andrew Louth and Maxwell Staniforth is really good.

Here's the link to it on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B002RI9LKI/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

It's true that you can find the writings of the Fathers online pretty easily, so that's a great option. But I do like Staniforth's translation of the early fathers.

-CryptoLutheran
 
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Fr. John Behr has written several biographies of the ante-Nicene fathers, most notably, a biography of Irenaeus, the first great Patristic theologian.

In addition, a very detailed history of the early church, up until the Nicene era, was written by Eusebius of Caesarea, his Ecclesiastical History.

Since there is only so much information on the men you mentioned, you won't find many works about them.

We have much more information about them than most other people alive during that timeframe. The early church fathers, the Roman Emperors, and certain political figures of the Greco-Roman Oikumene dominate that epoch.
 
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