Early Church Fathers Collection

After the authors of the New Testament, no group has had a more profound influence on the prayer, theology, and life of Christians than the Fathers of the Church, who lived and wrote in the first several centuries after Christ. Among the Fathers, perhaps the most pivotal were those of the first two hundred years. Including figures such as St. Clement of Rome, St. Ignatius of Antioch, and St. Irenaeus of Lyons, these giants of the faith lived just decades after the Apostles—some even knew the Apostles themselves—and their writings witness to what life was like in the early Church.

The Early Church Fathers Collection from Word on Fire Classics provides the perfect entry point to these early writers. In this volume, you’ll find selections from the best works by the early Fathers: the letters of St. Clement, St. Ignatius, and St. Polycarp; the anonymous literary works The Martyrdom of Polycarp, The Didache, The Shepherd of Hermas, and The Letter to Diognetus; and the apologetic writings of St. Justin Martyr, St. Irenaeus, and Tertullian. Accompanied by helpful introductions and explanatory footnotes, these works speak as powerfully today as they did in their own time and, approached in a spirit of faith, serve the same purpose: to enkindle in their readers the love of Jesus Christ.