Another subject this semester: Early Church History… pretty much 50AD – 451AD. Why would I want to learn this? Because this is where it was all happening – the church went from one guy walking around in a small part of the Middle East, to being all over the known world, in the space of a few centuries. Even doing a bit of preliminary reading, it’s amazing how many controversies from back then still rear their heads today.
Some of the reference works for the early church history subject are available on the web:
- Mission and Expansion of Christianity in the First Three Centuries
- NPNF2-01. Eusebius Pamphilius: Church History, Life of Constantine, Oration in Praise of Constantine
- Early Christian Writings; especially the epistle of barnabas, the first epistle of clement of rome to the corinthians, the epistles of ignatius of antioch, the epistle of polycarp of smyrna to the philippians, and the account of his martyrdom, the shepherd of hermas, the fragments of papias of hierapolis, the anonymous epistle to diognetus, the didache (“teaching of the twelve apostles”)