The Early Christian Writings

[PatristicArcana]

The most widely used English translation of the early Christian writings is the Ante-Nicene Fathers ten volume set. It's available from Amazon for $300 (or sometimes on sale for $250), but you can usually get it from Scroll Publishing for $110. A bit pricey, but it's the centerpiece of any patristic library. You can also find a full online transcript of the ANF. However, there are additionally at least three other major series that are composed of various Christian writings throughout history, viz., Popular Patristics, Ancient Christian Writers, and Fathers of the Church. What follows is a catalog that I put together consisting all of the volumes which contain the works of the pre-Nicene writers. All entries in bold font are volumes that contain translations not found in the ANF...

Popular Patristics

Volume 17: Irenaeus' On the Apostolic Preaching.
Volume 20: Melito's On Pascha.
Volume 22: Hippolytus' On the Apostolic Tradition.
Volume 29: Tertullian's On Prayer, Cyprian's On the Lord's Prayer, and Origen's On Prayer.
Volume 32: Selected treatises of Cyprian.
Volume 33: Selected letters of Cyprian.

Ancient Christian Writers

Volume 1: Clement of Rome's First Clement and the seven epistles of Ignatius.
Volume 6: The Didache, Epistle of Barnabas, the Martyrdom of Polycarp and his epistle to the Philippians, the fragments of Papias' lost writings, and Mathetes to Diognetus.
Volume 7: Arnobius' Case Against the Pagans, vol. 1.
Volume 8: Arnobius' Case Against the Pagans, vol. 2.
Volume 13: Tertullian's Treatises on Marriage and Remarriage, To His Wife, An Exhortation to Chastity, and On Monogamy.
Volume 16: Irenaeus' Proof of the Apostolic Preaching.
Volume 19: Origen's On Prayer and Exhortation to Martyrdom.
Volume 23: Athenagoras' Embassy for the Christians and The Resurrection of the Dead.
Volume 24: Tertullian's Treatise Against Hermogenes.
Volume 25: Cyprian's The Lapsed and The Unity of the Catholic Church.
Volume 26: Origen's Commentary on Song of Songs and Homilies on Song of Songs.
Volume 27: Methodius' Symposium and Treatise on Chastity.
Volume 28: Tertullian's Treatises on Penance, On Penitence, and On Purity.
Volume 39: Marcus Minucius Felix's Octavius.
Volume 43: Letters of Cyprian, Vol. 1.
Volume 44: Letters of Cyprian, Vol. 2.
Volume 46: Letters of Cyprian, Vol. 3.
Volume 47: Letters of Cyprian, Vol. 4.
Volume 54: Origen's Treatise on the Passover and Dialogue with Heraclides.
Volume 55: Irenaeus' Against Heresies, book 1.
Volume 56: Justin Martyr's First Apology and Second Apology.

Fathers of the Church

Volume 1: Clement of Rome's First Clement, the anonymously composed Second Clement, The Didache, Mathetes to Diognetus, Ignatius' seven epistles, Martyrdom of Polycarp and his epistle to the Philippians, the fragments of Papias' lost books, Shepherd of Hermas, and Barnabas.
Volume 6: Justin Martyr's First Apology, Second Apology, Dialogue with Trypho, Discourse to the Greeks, Exhortation to the Greeks, and Monarchy of God.
Volume 10: Minucius Felix's Octavius, and Tertullian's Apology, To Scapula, On the Soul, and Testimony of the Soul.
Volume 19: Eusebius' Ecclesiastical History, books 1-5.
Volume 23: Clement of Alexandria's Christ the Educator.
Volume 29: Eusebius' Ecclesiastical History, books 6-10.
Volume 36: Cyprian's To Demetrian, To Donatus, The Dress of Virgins, Exhortation to Martyrdom to Fortunatus, The Good of Patience, That Idols Are Not Gods, Jealousy and Envy, The Lapsed, The Lord's Prayer, Mortality, Unity of the Church, and Works and Almsgiving.
Volume 40: Tertullian's Apparel of Women, The Chaplet, Flight in Time of Persecution, To the Martyrs, On Patience, On Prayer, and Spectacles.
Volume 49: Lactantius' Divine Institutes.
Volume 51: Letters of Cyprian, 1-81.
Volume 54: Lactantius' Deaths of the Persecutors, The Phoenix, The Workmanship of God, and The Wrath of God.
Volume 67: Novatian's Jewish Foods, letters, In Praise of Purity, The Spectacles, and The Trinity.
Volume 71: Origen's Homilies on Exodus and Homilies on Genesis.
Volume 80: Origen's Commentary on the Gospel of John, books 1-10.
Volume 83: Origen's Homilies on Leviticus.
Volume 85: Clement of Alexandria's Stromatas, books 1-3 (book 3 was left untranslated in the ANF).
Volume 89: Origen's Commentary on the Gospel of John, books 13-32.
Volume 94: Origen's Homilies on Luke.
Volume 97: Origen's Homilies on Jeremiah and Homily on 1 Kings 28.
Volume 98: Gregory Thaumaturgus, his life and works.
Volume 103: Origen's Commentary on Romans, books 1-5.
Volume 104: Origen's Commentary on Romans, books 6-10.
Volume 105: Origen's Homilies on Joshua.

[One Bad Pig]

Wow.

[Amazing Rando]

Thank you! I've been looking around online for a translation of Hippolytus' Apostolic Tradition, but can't seem to find one on ccel.org.

[PatristicArcana]

Thank you! I've been looking around online for a translation of Hippolytus' Apostolic Tradition, but can't seem to find one on ccel.org.

You won't be disappointed. The volume from the Popular Patristics series can be obtained for a reasonable price from Amazon, contains more exegetical material than one could reasonably ask for, and has an introductory section which includes a fairly comprehensive analysis of the controversy over Hippolytean authorship.

[Adam]

Yes, I read much from the Ante-Nicene Fathers from my Junior College library in 1960-62. This turned me ascetic, first in Aldous Huxley style, then by 1963 almost converting to RC (which I eventually did from 1969-1992). There's no "God wants you rich" televangelism there. I'm Lutheran now, but still don't consider myself a Protestant. The early fathers push one towards RC or Eastern Orthodoxy.
Adam

[Lightknight]

I own this collection and very highly recommend it. It is also free online:

http://www.ccel.org/fathers.html

The online site also has additional writings not found in the text volume:

http://www.ccel.org/p/pearse/morefathers/home.html

While it may be free online, the text version is very nice and much more pleasing to the eyes. As a person who has had to write numerous papers on religious topics, I can affirm the original poster's statement that this collection is the most widely quoted source by scholars.

The site does not seem to want to include the more heretical works of Origen (though it includes the good ones) and some of the books that you think should be there are actually in another location of either the text versions or online because they were originally attributed to the wrong author and have since been properly labeled.

[Jaltus]

The ANF collection is sold by CBD for a lot less. You can get the entire patristics library for $300, which is I believe 39 volumes.

[Adrift]

This turned me ascetic, first in Aldous Huxley style, then by 1963 almost converting to RC (which I eventually did from 1969-1992). There's no "God wants you rich" televangelism there. I'm Lutheran now, but still don't consider myself a Protestant. The early fathers push one towards RC or Eastern Orthodoxy.
Adam

I find that very interesting. Could you point out specific themes that nudged you towards Catholicism? Was this across the board or were certain church fathers more influential in your decision than others? And, if you don't mind sharing, why your move to Lutheranism later?

Also, for everyone, have any of you read all volumes straight through? How long would it take?

:teeth:

[PatristicArcana]

Also, for everyone, have any of you read all volumes straight through? How long would it take?

Naturally, that largely depends on the pace at which one reads, how much time they're able or interested in investing, and to what depth they wish to research what they're reading. One of the Ante-Nicene Fathers volumes consists of appendices, indices, etc., and the other nine volumes can reasonably be read through the course of a year.

[Adam]

I find that very interesting. Could you point out specific themes that nudged you towards Catholicism? Was this across the board or were certain church fathers more influential in your decision than others? And, if you don't mind sharing, why your move to Lutheranism later?
:teeth:
As well as I can recall 1960-62 now, I read mostly the earliest Christian writers. Probably Clement of Rome and Polycarp, at least.
There was just nothing like the Protestantism of middle-class America. I don't recall specific Romanism, just the intensity of piety and asceticism was more Roman Catholic. Eastern Orthodoxy would have been as close a fit, but was not on the radar screen in suburban California.
As influential in going Roman Catholic was taking the gospels literally. The heroic ethic taught to the disciples was best approximated by Franciscan friars. The gospel teaching seemed best understood as rigorous rules for only the "elect" (better use "elite" to avoid being crucified by TWeb critics), implying a division between priestfly clergy as against mere laymen.
I turned Episcopal in 1992 when I could no longer believe in the Pope because of so many mistakes of the papacy and the Council of Trent. I turned to ELCA in 2004 when the Episcopal Church went apostate in 2003.
Adam