# Books on the church fathers



## FedByRavens (Sep 15, 2012)

Can anybody tell me of any books on early church history from an evangelical/reformed perspective?


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## NB3K (Sep 15, 2012)

I know they're not reformed. but there is 

The Early Church Fathers (38 Vols.) [Hardcover] 

then there is Phillip Schaff's


History of the Christian Church, 8 Volumes


I know they might not be entirely what you were looking for, but I think this is as good as it gets.


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## Christusregnat (Sep 15, 2012)

Not precisely what you're looking for, but Calvin and Turretin's Institutions are both chock full of the Fathers.


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## JonathanHunt (Sep 15, 2012)

And if you want a basic introduction to the Fathers at an accessible level:
Rediscovering the Church Fathers: Who They Were and How They Shaped the Church: Michael A. G. Haykin: 9781433510434: Amazon.com: Books


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## baron (Sep 15, 2012)

JonathanHunt said:


> And if you want a basic introduction to the Fathers at an accessible level:
> Rediscovering the Church Fathers: Who They Were and How They Shaped the Church: Michael A. G. Haykin: 9781433510434: Amazon.com: Books



Thank you for the information. Just down loaded for my Kindle.


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## CharlieJ (Sep 15, 2012)

If you want to read about the church fathers, don't worry too much about the perspective of the authors. At the highest level of scholarship, there is a good mix of perspectives, and the scholars keep each other honest about their biases and interpretations. Just get really good scholars. Some of the best contemporary authors are:

Rowan Williams
Andrew Louth
J. N. D. Kelly
Robert Wilken
John Behr

If you're looking at a more specific topic within the church fathers, or on a particular father, let me know. I can give more specific bibliography. One very good bibliography site is this one: Bibliographies


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## py3ak (Sep 16, 2012)

A classic book on the use of the Fathers is this one by Jean Daille. Several Reformed people have written church histories, as the Magdeburg Centurists, John Brown (Haddington) and John Newton. My impression of the last two is that they are on a pretty popular level for the time in which they were written. The Magdeburg Centuries and Baronius' Annals were standard sources for many Reformed writers when it came to church history: of course Baronius was a Catholic, so the fact that Durham (for example) uses him shows that history doesn't have to be written by someone of similar convictions. More recently, Needham has written _2000 Years of Christ's Power_, and the first volume of that of course deals with the early church. I believe he is a Reformed Baptist.


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