The Apostolic Fathers - Early Witness

The first generation after the apostles, in their own words, with integrated introductions and discussion questions.

When the last of the apostles died, the church did not fall silent. The men who led it next - some of whom had known the apostles personally - wrote letters, taught new believers, and shepherded congregations through persecution. This volume gathers three of the earliest surviving witnesses to that generation: the Didache, the Letters of Ignatius of Antioch, and the First Epistle of Clement of Rome.

These are not obscure curiosities. They come from the heart of the early church.

The origins of the church at Antioch are known to us from the Scripture. It was at Antioch that the gospel was first preached to the Gentiles as a matter of course, and it was Antioch that first sent Paul on his missionary journeys. Antioch continued as a significant center of Christianity for centuries, and it was this church which Ignatius led as bishop until sometime around the year AD 107, when he was removed from church leadership and arrested for his faith. He wrote seven letters as he was marched to martyrdom under Roman guard - all seven are contained here.

The origins of the church at Rome are less clear, although tradition tells us it was founded by Peter, and we know it very quickly gained a place of prominence among the early church. Paul wrote his epistle to the church at Rome around AD 55-57, and his first epistle to the church at Corinth about the same time. Approximately 40 years later, a man by the name of Clement was positioned as a bishop in the church at Rome writing his own epistle to the church at Corinth. This epistle - the First Epistle of Clement of Rome - was treasured and read aloud in churches for centuries. It appears here in full.

Alongside them sits the Didache, a fascinating enigma and among the earliest glimpses we have of how the first Christians actually worshiped, prayed, and ordered their common life.

We've modernized the language for clarity and added introductions and discussion questions, representing the best of modern scholarship, to help you read these texts on their own terms.

Hardcover. Designed to be treasured.