Early Christians Speak, Volume 1, 3rd Edition: Faith and Life in the First Three Centuries - Paperback

by Everett Ferguson (Author)

These studies in early church history cover various aspects of the church life of early Christians. They focus on the second century.

What did the second century Christian leaders say about faith, baptism, infant baptism, worship services, the Lord's Supper, prayer, singing, church organization, mercy and the role of women? New Testament texts bearing on the topic are listed at the beginning of each chapter. We are talking about the same community of people, the same church, as existed in the New Testament. Such writings have an important bearing on the interpretation of the Scriptures.

Author Biography

Dr. Everett Ferguson is Professor of Church History Emeritus at Abilene Christian University. His numerous academic and scholarly honors include an honorary John Harvard Fellowship (1956-57), a Harvard Graduate School Fellowship (1958-59), a Ph.D. ""with distinction"" (Harvard, 1960), and selection as the John G. Gammie Senior Lecturer by the Southwest Commission for Religious Studies, 1996-97. He is a member of the Council of the Association internationale d'etudes patristiques and past president of the North American Patristics Society. In 1998, he was presented with a festschrift, The Early Church in Its Context: Essays in Honor of Everett Ferguson, ed. Abraham J. Marlherbe, Frederick W. Norris, and James W. Thompson (Leiden: E.J. Brill). Dr. Ferguson has been co-editor (with Elizabeth A. Clark) of the Journal of Early Christian Studies. His other publications include Backgrounds of Early Christianity (Eerdmans, 2nd ed. 1993), Encyclopedia of Early Christianity, ed. (Garland, 2nd ed. 1997), Recent Studies in Early Christianity, ed. (Garland, 1999), and The Church of Christ: A Biblical Ecclesiology for Today (Eerdmans, 1996).