Way of the Fathers

Clement of Rome led a church in turmoil. Its people were deeply divided. The secular culture was hostile to the faith. A... Read more

St. Ignatius of Antioch is the first of the Fathers to leave us abundant writings. His seven letters are passionate — wa... Read more

In this episode we examine the history of the study of the Fathers since the Reformation. The field has enjoyed explosiv... Read more

With this episode author Mike Aquilina begins his twice-monthly series on the lives, times, and works of the early Churc... Read more

Marcus Minucius Felix is one of the greatest writers you never heard of. His “Octavius,” written in the late second cent... Read more

St. Polycarp of Smyrna was a man with many connections. He knew the Apostle John, and St. Ignatius of Antioch, and St. I... Read more

The work of the early Church was largely done by Christians whose names we’ll never know. In fact, many of the most impo... Read more

The Shepherd of Hermas is the strangest text from the Church’s earliest period. It’s at once a conversion story and a fi... Read more

Forget the Dale Carnegie course. Here's how to win skeptical friends and influence pagans. Read the second-century Lette... Read more

In the late second century the Church suffered an infestation of heresies — many of them, and they kept changing their c... Read more

“Whatever things are rightly said are ours.” St. Justin looked at creation and saw Christ. He looked into the mind of Pl... Read more

He was a prophet living altogether in the Spirit. He was a second-century apologist, able to elucidate the doctrine of C... Read more

Alexandria, in Egypt, was the intellectual capital of the Greco-Roman world, and as the second century turned to the thi... Read more

Perpetua of Carthage is almost unique in the literature of her time. She is a woman and a writer. Over the course of cen... Read more