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The Library

Forty Centuries of Christian Writing

1780 works catalogued century by century, from the literature the Bible was written among to the present — each with a note on what it is, why it lasted, and where to read it.

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The ones to read first

A shortlist across the whole catalogue, for a reader who has to choose.

c. 90–110

Greek

The Didache

Didache ton dodeka apostolon

Anonymous

A short manual of Christian practice for a congregation still finding its footing: the Two Ways of life and death, then plain instructions for baptism, fasting, the eucharistic prayers, and how to tell a true travelling prophet from a freeloader.

Early Church · Church orderMatthewActsFull text

c. 100–150; date disputed

Greek

The Gospel of Thomas

Anonymous

A hundred and fourteen sayings of Jesus with no narrative, no passion, and no resurrection, some close to the canonical gospels and others enigmatic in a way that invites an inner, secret reading.

Contested · SayingsFull text

c. 155

Greek

The First Apology

Justin Martyr · c. 100–165

A philosopher's open letter to the emperor, answering the rumours that Christians were atheists and cannibals by simply describing what they believed and did — including the earliest detailed account of a Sunday gathering.

Early Church · ApologyJohnIsaiahFull text

c. 180

Greek

Against Heresies

Adversus Haereses

Irenaeus of Lyons · c. 130–c. 202

Five books setting out the Gnostic systems in detail and then dismantling them, on the grounds that the God who made matter is the God who redeemed it, and that Christ recapitulates in himself everything Adam lost.

Early Church · TheologyGenesisRomansEphesiansJohnFull text

197

Latin

Apology

Apologeticum

Tertullian · c. 155–c. 220

A defence addressed to the governors of the empire, arguing that Christians are tried by a procedure used for no other crime, and that the blood of the martyrs is seed.

Early Church · ApologyFull text

c. 198–203

Greek

Miscellanies

Stromateis

Clement of Alexandria · c. 150–c. 215

Deliberately unsystematic notebooks arguing that philosophy was God's covenant with the Greeks as the law was with the Jews, and sketching the true gnostic — the mature Christian whom knowledge makes loving rather than superior.

Alexandrian · TheologyFull text

203

Latin

The Passion of Perpetua and Felicity

Passio Perpetuae et Felicitatis

Vibia Perpetua and an editor · Perpetua d. 203

A young Carthaginian mother's own record of her arrest, her father's pleading, her nursing infant, and four dreams — a ladder guarded by a dragon, a contest in the arena — completed by an eyewitness account of her death.

Early Church · Prison diaryRead elsewhere

c. 204

Greek

Commentary on Daniel

Hippolytus of Rome · c. 170–c. 235

A verse-by-verse exposition written during persecution, arguing from the four kingdoms that the end is not as near as the excited were claiming, and dwelling on Susanna as a figure of the church.

Early Church · CommentaryDanielFull text

c. 207–212

Latin

Against Marcion

Adversus Marcionem

Tertullian · c. 155–c. 220

Five books dismantling Marcion's two gods, his edited gospel, and his shortened Paul, arguing that the God of Israel and the Father of Jesus are one and that the creation he made is good.

Early Church · PolemicGenesisLukeGalatiansFull text

c. 213

Latin

Against Praxeas

Adversus Praxean

Tertullian · c. 155–c. 220

Against the view that Father and Son are merely names for one figure, Tertullian works out a God who is one substance in three persons, and a Christ of two conditions in one person.

Early Church · TheologyJohnMatthewFull text

c. 215; authorship disputed

Greek

The Apostolic Tradition

Attributed to Hippolytus of Rome · c. 170–c. 235

A manual of ordination prayers, the three-year catechumenate, the baptismal rite with its questions and anointings, and the eucharistic prayer that follows.

Early Church · Church orderRead elsewhere

c. 233

Greek

On Prayer

Peri Euches

Origen of Alexandria · c. 185–c. 253

An answer to the objection that prayer is pointless if God already knows and has already decided, followed by a full exposition of the Lord's Prayer.

Alexandrian · DevotionalMatthewLukeRomansRead elsewhere

c. 248

Greek

Against Celsus

Contra Celsum

Origen of Alexandria · c. 185–c. 253

A point-by-point reply, seventy years late, to the most intelligent pagan attack on Christianity ever written — quoting Celsus so fully that his lost book can be largely reconstructed from it.

Alexandrian · ApologyFull text

251

Latin

On the Lapsed

De Lapsis

Cyprian of Carthage · c. 210–258

After the Decian persecution, an unsparing analysis of why so many complied so quickly, and a refusal to let confessors hand out forgiveness in place of the bishop and a period of penance.

Early Church · TreatiseFull text

252

Latin

On Mortality

De Mortalitate

Cyprian of Carthage · c. 210–258

Written during a plague that killed Christians and pagans alike, answering the complaint that the faithful were not being spared, and asking why people who say they long for heaven grieve at going there.

Early Church · ConsolationFull text

c. 303–311

Latin

The Divine Institutes

Divinae Institutiones

Lactantius · c. 250–c. 325

Seven books written during the Great Persecution, setting out Christianity as a complete philosophy — false religion, the origin of error, justice, true worship, and the life of blessedness — in the most polished Latin any Christian had yet written.

Early Church · ApologyFull text

c. 318

Greek

On the Incarnation

De Incarnatione Verbi Dei

Athanasius of Alexandria · c. 296–373

A short, unhurried argument that the Word took a body because a creation running back toward nothing could only be restored from inside it — and that the resurrection is the demonstrable proof, visible in martyrs who no longer fear dying.

Early Church · TheologyJohnHebrewsGenesisFull text

325; revised 381

Greek

The Creed of Nicaea

The Council of Nicaea

The confession drawn up by the first ecumenical council, declaring the Son to be of one substance with the Father, and anathematising those who said there was a time when he was not.

Ecumenical · CreedRead elsewhere

c. 330–345

Coptic

The Rules

Pachomius · c. 292–348

Regulations for a walled community of monks living, working, eating, and praying together under a superior, with detailed provision for admission, clothing, meals, and correction.

Egyptian Monastic · RuleRead elsewhere

c. 339–345

Greek

Orations Against the Arians

Orationes contra Arianos

Athanasius of Alexandria · c. 296–373

Three long discourses arguing text by text that the Son is eternally begotten, and that if he were a creature then creatures would be worshipping a creature.

Alexandrian · PolemicProverbsJohnHebrewsFull text

c. 348–350

Greek

Catechetical Lectures

Cyril of Jerusalem · c. 313–386

Lectures delivered to candidates for baptism through Lent, then five more given in Easter week explaining the rites they had just been through for the first time.

Early Church · CatechesisRead elsewhere

c. 350–380

Gothic

The Gothic Bible

Ulfilas · c. 311–383

A translation of most of the Bible into Gothic by a missionary bishop who invented an alphabet to do it, said to have omitted the books of Kings as too warlike for his converts.

Arian · TranslationRead elsewhere

c. 367

Greek

Letter to Marcellinus on the Psalms

Athanasius of Alexandria · c. 296–373

Advice on how to use the psalter, arguing that the psalms are unique in scripture because in reading them you speak the words as your own.

Alexandrian · LetterPsalmsRead elsewhere

329–373

Greek

The Festal Letters

Athanasius of Alexandria · c. 296–373

Annual letters announcing the date of Easter and offering pastoral instruction — the thirty-ninth of which lists the books of scripture that may be read in church.

Alexandrian · LettersFull text