The Early Christians
In Their Own Words
Edited by Eberhard Arnold
What did Christianity look like before it became an institution? In these firsthand accounts of the early church, the spirit of Pentecost burns with prophetic force through the fog that envelops the modern church. A clear and vibrant faith lives on in these writings, providing a guide for Christians today. Its stark simplicity and revolutionary fervor will stun those lulled by conventional Christianity.
The Early Christians is a topically arranged collection of primary sources. It includes extra-biblical sayings of Jesus and excerpts from Origen, Tertullian, Polycarp, Clement of Alexandria, Justin, Irenaeus, and others. Equally revealing material from pagan contemporaries — critics, detractors and persecutors — is included as well.
Praise for The Early Christians
James Luther Adams
Harvard Divinity School
A compelling, fascinating, and direct account of one of the most important periods in the history of modern man.
Justo L. Gonzalez
Emory University
This unique selection will not only help readers understand early Christianity intellectually; it will also challenge them to seek to live more fully, abundantly, and even radically. If any proof were needed of the enduring power of Christianity, the fact that these ancient texts speak so directly to our situation almost two thousand years later would more than suffice.
Roland H. Bainton
Yale University
If you hold, like Arnold does, that Christianity is no longer Christianity if it departs too radically from its beginnings, then you must read this book.
Larry D. Fourman
Ministers Book Club
As an anthology of early Christian writings, this book will become invaluable for those who use it as a resource for preaching, worship, teaching, and their own devotional life.
Graydon F. Synder
Bethany Seminary
Arnold’s work calls back to those days when Christian love was free flowing and socially radical…A fine volume in a field which has few comparable productions.
Ford Lewis Battles
Pittsburgh Theological Seminary
Arnold’s selection of texts suggests the richness and diversity of early Christian faith, and stands as a yardstick with which to measure the poverty of our own spiritual life…A Christianity as yet unspoiled by ecclesiastical or philosophical structures, marked by longing for the end, pledged to love and sharing of worldly good, unencumbered as yet by high-placed or highly educated members, free of prohibital crafts, trades or professions—this is the golden age from which Arnold takes inspiration.
