The Fathers of the Church, 3rd Edition Paperback – September 26, 2013

The Fathers of the Church is excellent. What first struck me, as I was flipping through the book before I started reading it from the beginning, was Saint Justin's account of the celebration of the Eucharist. If I hadn't known better, I would have thought it was someone's description of a Catholic mass, now, in 2014. Justin Martyr wrote the description in 155 a.d.! It's 1,859 years old, but what the first Christians were doing in 155 a.d. is the same mass we have now! That floored me and got me hooked, so I started reading the book from the beginning.The introduction is great-- it defines the four criteria to be a Church Father and the importance of the Fathers learning from those who hung out with the Apostles who hung out with Jesus. It tells the reader about the different eras the Church Fathers lived and wrote in,what the different heresies were that they had to deal with, and how the people learned this from the Fathers' teachings before the world was literate and the written word was available to all.The selections of readings from the Fathers are highly readable and are explained in light of what was going on in the Church at that particular time. The descriptions of the individual Fathers are very enlightening. For example, I never knew that Jerome was so snarky! These are real people who had human strengths and faults, just like me. The Fathers passed on the faith that we are blessed with today. It fills that gap of "how did we get from Jesus and the Apostles to modern day Christianity?"Mike Aquilina writes at a level that is easily understandable, but intelligent and exciting at the same time. My poor book now has TONS of underlining and writing in the margins. This is my new favorite book. Get it. Read it.

this book will change the lives of people who read them

Author is very knowledgeable and writes very well. Very readable

Many history books slant the truth and become more of the writers opinions. Not this book, it's like hearing the history directly from the mouths of the earliest Christians. Portal back in time that is just as relevant because real truth is eternal.This book helped me become a better Catholic.

The book arrived punctually and in great condition.

I have only read the first quarter of the book but, so far it is a good primer for introducing the Fathers. I would have liked the biographies to have been a bit longer. Considering the scope of the work it is a minor complaint. I would highly recommend this for anyone who would like to be introduced to the Church Fathers. For those like me who already had a previous edition I highly recommend this as a replacement

I purchased this book as a supplement for an Adult Bible Study at my parish and am learning a lot about the the ear!y Church Fathers. This wou!d be a tremendous resource for anyone wanting to learn more about the Catholic faith.

Read for diaconate studies. Easy and enjoyable to read.