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Christianity books Nicene and Post‑Nicene Fathers, De Doctrina Christiana, Dictionary of Christian Biograph, The Works of Josephus, The Lost Books of the Bible | ||
The Ante-Nicene Fathers, subtitled "The Writings of the Fathers Down to A.D. 325", is a collection of books in 10 volumes (one volume is indexes) containing English translations of the majority of Early Christian writings. The period covers the beginning of Christianity until before the promulgation of the Nicene Creed at the First Council of Nicaea. The translations are very faithful, and provide valuable insights into the spirituality and theology of the early Church fathers.
Contents
Publication
The series was originally published between 1867 and 1873 by the Presbyterian publishing house T. & T. Clark in Edinburgh under the title Ante-Nicene Christian Library (ANCL), as a response to the Oxford movement's Library of the Fathers which was perceived as too Roman Catholic. The volumes were edited by Rev. Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson. This series was available by subscription, but the editors were unable to interest enough subscribers to commission a translation of the homilies of Origen.
In 1885 the Christian Literature Company, first of Buffalo, then New York, began to issue the volumes in a reorganized form, edited by the Episcopalian bishop of New York, A. Cleveland Coxe. Coxe gave his series the title The Ante-Nicene Fathers. By 1896, this American edition/revision was complete. In 1897, a volume 9, which contained new translations, was published by T. & T. Clark as an additional volume, to complete the original ANCL. Apart from volume 9, the contents entirely derived from the ANCL, but in a more chronological order. Coxe added his own introductions and notes, which were criticized by academic authorities and Roman Catholic reviewers.
T. & T. Clark then associated with the Christian Literature Company and with other American publisher for the publication of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers.
Contents
The volumes include the following:
Volume I. Apostolic Fathers with Justin Martyr and Irenaeus
Volume II. Fathers of the Second Century
Volume III. Latin Christianity: Its Founder, Tertullian
Volume IV. The Fathers of the Third Century
Volume V. The Fathers of the Third Century
Volume VI. The Fathers of the Third Century
Volume VII. Fathers of the Third and Fourth Centuries
Volume VIII. Fathers of the Third and Fourth Centuries
, Remains of the First Ages, Decretals,
Volume IX. Recently Discovered Additions to Early Christian Literature; Commentaries of Origen