Customers say
Customers find the book excellent for church Bible studies and as an introduction to the Church Fathers, providing a great summary of early church development. The book is well-written and easy to read.
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A quick rundown of this product’s key features:
We hear the voices of the early Church Fathers even today. Their teachings, their guidance, their insights, and their sacrifice shaped the Catholic Church. They defined the canon of Scripture. They developed our creeds and forms of worship. They defined Christianity’s distinctive moral sense.
But who were they? What can we learn from their ancient teachings? What can the Fathers teach the 21st century – about holiness, culture, faith, and the Gospel.
This is the definitive resource for anyone interested in learning about the Church Fathers and their legacy. Ideal for RCIA, catechists, clergy, as well as lay Catholics who want to learn more about the great teachers of early Christianity.
In this new and extensively updated Third Edition, you’ll find:
New! Twenty Church Fathers never before covered in this seriesNearly 75 more pages of information on the early Church!New! Many poets of ancient Christianity, whose hymns we still sing today.An extensively revised introductionThe Mothers of the Church and their impactResearch-friendly references and citations, topical index, timeline, and detailed bibliography
Our Top Reviews
Reviewer: John P
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Highly recommended
Review: What did the Church actually believed and taught in the beginning of the church.
Reviewer: Madeleine
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Good seller
Review: The book arrived punctually and in great condition.
Reviewer: P. Kerlin
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: How did Christianity get from Jesus and the Apostles to the faith we have today?
Review: The Fathers of the Church is excellent. What first struck me, as I was flipping through the book before I started reading it from the beginning, was Saint Justin’s account of the celebration of the Eucharist. If I hadn’t known better, I would have thought it was someone’s description of a Catholic mass, now, in 2014. Justin Martyr wrote the description in 155 a.d.! It’s 1,859 years old, but what the first Christians were doing in 155 a.d. is the same mass we have now! That floored me and got me hooked, so I started reading the book from the beginning.The introduction is great– it defines the four criteria to be a Church Father and the importance of the Fathers learning from those who hung out with the Apostles who hung out with Jesus. It tells the reader about the different eras the Church Fathers lived and wrote in,what the different heresies were that they had to deal with, and how the people learned this from the Fathers’ teachings before the world was literate and the written word was available to all.The selections of readings from the Fathers are highly readable and are explained in light of what was going on in the Church at that particular time. The descriptions of the individual Fathers are very enlightening. For example, I never knew that Jerome was so snarky! These are real people who had human strengths and faults, just like me. The Fathers passed on the faith that we are blessed with today. It fills that gap of “how did we get from Jesus and the Apostles to modern day Christianity?”Mike Aquilina writes at a level that is easily understandable, but intelligent and exciting at the same time. My poor book now has TONS of underlining and writing in the margins. This is my new favorite book. Get it. Read it.
Reviewer: Tbt
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: What is The Truth
Review: Many history books slant the truth and become more of the writers opinions. Not this book, it’s like hearing the history directly from the mouths of the earliest Christians. Portal back in time that is just as relevant because real truth is eternal.This book helped me become a better Catholic.
Reviewer: Joshua Cook
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: very good book
Review: this book will change the lives of people who read them
Reviewer: Justin Jewell
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: so far it is a good primer for introducing the Fathers
Review: I have only read the first quarter of the book but, so far it is a good primer for introducing the Fathers. I would have liked the biographies to have been a bit longer. Considering the scope of the work it is a minor complaint. I would highly recommend this for anyone who would like to be introduced to the Church Fathers. For those like me who already had a previous edition I highly recommend this as a replacement
Reviewer: A Reader
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Great Resource
Review: I purchased this book as a supplement for an Adult Bible Study at my parish and am learning a lot about the the ear!y Church Fathers. This wou!d be a tremendous resource for anyone wanting to learn more about the Catholic faith.
Reviewer: Connie H.
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Its what he asked for
Review: Was a gift that was asked for. Shipping/packaging was great and delivered on time.
Reviewer: Amazon Customer
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Very good book.
Reviewer: sarmad gorial
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Received, a must have book.
Reviewer: Graham Cammock
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: This is a tremendous book! A humbling experience, the book really makes you come to appreciate the earliest Christian bishops, popes, monks and teachers, of which I would have been otherwise totally ignorant of. They were such important and good people, as many of them were martyrs, they bore so much suffering and torture for the Christain faith. In fact they are so essential to Christianity, that with out their devotion and martyrdom, the faith would probably not be here in the form we have it today. I also admire how the fathers kept a tight lid on heresy and mysticism, and preserved the orthodox doctrine of Christianity that we have today, I have read a lot a about mysticism and find it inferior to orthodox doctrine. The book also gives you a deep appreciation of Catholicism. I would say we are in a state of ignorance if we have not read about the fathers of the church.
Reviewer: Amazon Customer
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: A great reference book to know the history of church from the time Jesus left it with the disciplines for the next 800 years. Give you a grip of why we do what we do now.
Reviewer: Mr. R. E. Lenik
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Very enlightening and educational
Price effective as of Jun 26, 2025 05:23:37 UTC
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