Interested in reading more about the Early Church period, but don’t know where to start? See below for some suggestions…
Overview & Introduction
D. N. Bell, A Cloud of Witnesses: An Introductory History of the Development of Christian Doctrine (Kalamazoo: Cistercian Publications Inc., 2007)
An exceptionally readable (and short) introduction to some of the main controversies in the first 500 years. This book is written with plenty of humour and nicely illustrates the squabbles, back-biting and other (very human) goings-on of some of the saintly figures involved. Don’t be put off by the word “Doctrine”. Highly recommended as a place to start exploring – a kind of “Dummies Guide” to the Early Church.
H. Chadwick, The Penguin History of the Church: The Early Church (London: Penguin Books, 1993)
An excellent paperback introduction to the whole field of Early Church study by a renowned scholar. More in-depth coverage on substantially more topics than “A Cloud of Witnesses” (above). Perhaps a little dense (lots of names, dates & places on every page) but not too technical. A good foundation for further reading.
G.A. Williamson (translator), Eusebius: The History of the Church from Christ to Constantine (London: Penguin Books, 1989)
So you’ve read a few books about the Early Church by modern scholars, but what about seeing Early Church history through the eyes of the first Church historian (writing c.300 AD)? This work is often our only source of information on some of the earliest people and events. Sometimes the text is not always easy to follow, but this is largely due to Eusebius’ style. This Penguin paperback is readily available and has a useful introduction by a renowned scholar (Andrew Louth).
A very useful collection of primary source texts (letters, excerpts from longer texts, etc) translated into English. Not a book to be read from start to finish, but a useful reference and/or to dip into on themes of interest. The selections are grouped under topics such as Persecution, Christian Apologetic, Gnosticism, the Outbreak of the Arian Controversy and the Council of Nicaea. This text covers the period up to 337 (the death of Emperor Constantine) – there’s a companion volume “Creeds Councils and Controversies” that covers 337-461 AD.
J.N.D. Kelly, Early Christian Doctrines (London: Continuum, 1977 – 5th Edition)
The classic textbook on the Early Church period with plenty of references to Early Church writings on every page. Not necessarily a book to buy with the intention of reading it from cover to cover, but an excellent resource & reference to help you start digging a little deeper into areas that grab your attention. An ideal follow-up to Chadwick’s “The Early Church” (above).
Hans von Campenhausen, The Fathers of the Greek Church (London: Adam & Charles Black, 1963)
This book dedicates a short chapter to each of 12 key figures from the early Eastern Church (who thought and wrote in Greek). Includes coverage of Justin, Irenaeus, Clement of Alexandria, Origen, the Cappadocians, etc). The style is very readable, and you don’t have to be a specialist to get past the first page (the same applies to the companion volume below). Long out of print, but you should easily be able to find a copy from Abebooks.co.uk for a few pounds.
Hans von Campenhausen, The Fathers of the Latin Church (London: Adam & Charles Black, 1964)
Never let it be said that I’m (completely) biased! This book dedicates a short chapter to each of 7 key figures from the early Western Church (for whom Latin was their linguistic and cultural background). You’ll find chapters on Tertullian, Cyprian, Ambrose, Jerome and (of course) Augustine. The same comments on style and readability apply as to the above book, and again it’s not currently in print, but should be easily obtainable from Abebooks.co.uk for next to nothing.
C. Stead, Philosophy in Christian Antiquity (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008
An excellent paperback overview of the philosophical background to the Early Church period and the interaction between Greek philosophy and Christianity.
A. E. McGrath, Christian Theology: An Introduction (Oxford: Blackwell Publishers Ltd, 2016)
The best one volume textbook I’ve come across on the broad subject of Christian theology. Helps to place Early Church ideas and debates in the wider historical context. Written for absolute beginners at university level.
The Formation of the New Testament
The 27 texts (Gospels and letters) that comprise the New Testament were written between c.50 and 100AD. But there were plenty of other texts also in circulation during the early centuries which didn’t make it into the New Testament you’d find in a Bible today (these are referred to as “Apocryphal” – meaning hidden – texts). The books below are worth seeking out on this topic.
How did we end up with those 27 texts and not others? Why the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John (and not the Gospels of Thomas or the Hebrews?). What were the drivers for the establishment of a definitive list? Which texts did each of the key early Church figures (like St Irenaeus) reference? Metzger’s book considers these questions (and many more). Fascinating and an easy to read book for the non-specialist.
S. Gathercole (trans), The Apocryphal Gospels (London: Penguin Books, 2021)
If you fancy reading some of the texts that didn’t make the cut, this book contains a great selection. Most are fragments of the originals (since that’s all that has survived). You may have heard of the Gospel of Thomas (which is a collection of sayings attributed to Jesus, rather than a narrative) and this is reproduced here, along with the Protoevangelium of James (an important text for some traditions).
Elliott’s text is the standard scholarly reference on the topic of New Testament Apocrypha.
J. Jeremias, Unknown Sayings of Jesus (London: SPCK, 1958)
“Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.” (John 21:25). Have you ever wondered what else Jesus might have said? The Gospels contain many sayings, but what if there are others that were passed on via oral tradition or in different manuscripts? These are known as “agrapha” (meaning “unwritten” as opposed to the written sayings found in the Gospels). In this great little book, Jeremias surveys a number of sayings and assesses them for authenticity, deciding that there are 21 that justify being taken as serious contenders. A fascinating area of study! The link above is to Amazon, but it’s also worth looking on Abebooks for a copy.
Gnosticism
It was all so simple at the start of the 20th century (and before). As the nascent mainstream Christian Church developed in the first few centuries, alongside it sprang up various unorthodox groups with beliefs outside the mainstream, collectively known as “the Gnostics”. These groups were combatted by figures in the established Church like Irenaeus, Clement of Alexandria and Origen. Beliefs often attributed to Gnosticism include topics such as…
- Secret knowledge (“gnosis”) as the key to salvation
- Salvation is understood as the ascent of the soul trapped in a body – struggling to return to its source
- Elitist – only a few with the required knowledge will achieve salvation
- Emphasis on the complete transcendence of the supreme God
- A series of intermediary beings exist between the supreme God and the world
- These are often seen as emanations from the supreme God
- The emanations are v.fertile and create “aeons” (immaterial ideas)
- The material world was created by one or more “demiurges”(Greek = “craftsman, creator”)
- Dualism – equal battle between good and evil
- General disparagement of the sense-perceptible world
Some suggested reading on the topic…
K. Rudolph, Gnosis: The Nature and History of Gnosticism (San Francisco: Harper, 1987)
Rudolph’s book presents a classical view of Gnosticism, before Williams and King shook things up (see below)…
Michael Williams came along in the late 90’s and suggested that there was no such thing as “Gnosticism” but that it was rather a category invented by modern scholarship. For every so-called characteristic of “Gnosticism” (e.g. they were highly ascetic) he produced evidence for the contrary (i.e. some were hedonistic) and therefore argued that we should do away with this artificial categorisation…
K. L. King, What Is Gnosticism? (London: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2003)
Karen King follows in the path set out by Williams (arguing for the category to be dropped) explaining that not only is it a modern invention, but also simply a convenient synonym for heresy.
N. D. Lewis, Introduction to Gnosticism (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013)
Saving the best till last, this book by Lewis is the standard current textbook on the topic (and summarises the development of scholarship in this areas well as providing plenty of excerpts from various texts). If you just want one book on this topic, this is it. At the time of writing (Jan 2025) this was being advertised for an outrageous price (£140) via Amazon (link above). If this is still the case when you’re looking, try Abebooks also.