The Researchers Library of Ancient Texts, Volume 2: The Apostolic Fathers Includes Clement of Rome, Mathetes, Polycarp, Ignatius, Barnabas, Papias, Ju

Book excerpt: The Bible, as we hold it today, is esteemed by many religious institutions and especially Conservative Christians to be the inspired, inerrant Word of God. This doctrinal position affirms that the Bible is unlike all other books or collections of works in that it is free of error due to having been "given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works" (2 Tim. 3:16, 17). While no other text can claim this same unique authority, the Apostolic Fathers included in this volume (also called the Ante-Nicene Fathers), covers the Early Christian writings from the beginning of Christianity until the promulgation of the Nicene Creed at the First Council of Nicaea, which was convened in Bithynia by the Roman Emperor Constantine I in AD 325. As such, writings contained in this volume of The Researchers Library of Ancient Texts (Volume Two: The Apostolic Fathers: Includes Clement, Anthenagorus, Mathetes, Polycarp, Ignatius, Barnabas, Papias, Justin Martyr, and Irenaeus), provides literature that follows the chronology of New Testament texts, which frequently are used or assigned as supplemental works within academic settings to help students and scholars discover or better understand cultural and historical context of the early Christian Church. These ancient texts provide commentators valuable insight into what many ancient Jews and early Christians believed when, "God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets" (Heb. 1:1). The Researchers Library of Ancient Texts is therefore intended to be a supplemental resource for assisting serious researchers and students in the study of the Bible and the early Church age. Contained in this volume: The works of Clement, Anthenagorus, Mathetes, Polycarp, Ignatius, Barnabas, Papias, Justin Martyr, and Irenaeus.