The Library
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.
1–100
2 works
c. 80
Greek
Anonymous
A Jewish oracle in Greek hexameters, put in the mouth of the pagan Sibyl, running through the empires to the eruption of Vesuvius and the rumour that Nero had fled east and would return. It calls for repentance, washing in rivers, and hands raised to heaven.
c. 100–125
Syriac
Anonymous
Forty-two short hymns of unusual sweetness, sung in the voice of the redeemed and sometimes in the voice of Christ himself, full of milk, harps, crowns, and living water.
101–200
3 works
c. 160–180
Greek
Excerpta ex Theodoto
Theodotus, compiled by Clement of Alexandria
Clement's working notes on the Eastern Valentinians, copied out with his objections sometimes attached and sometimes not, so that it is often unclear who is speaking. Includes the famous summary: knowledge of who we were, what we have become, where we were, where we have been thrown.
c. 150–200
Greek, surviving in Coptic
The Coptic Gospel of the Egyptians
Anonymous
A Sethian account of how the heavens were populated, ending in a hymn of vowels and a claim that Seth wrote the book, placed it on a mountain, and set it there to remain until the last times. Jesus appears as Seth's final garment.
c. 198–203
Latin
De Baptismo
Tertullian · c. 155–c. 220
A defence of baptism against a teacher who denied its necessity, describing the rite in detail and advising that children wait until they can ask for it themselves.
201–300
7 works
c. 203
Latin
De Paenitentia
Tertullian · c. 155–c. 220
Two repentances are described: the one that leads to baptism, and the single painful public penance allowed to a believer who falls afterwards.
c. 215; authorship disputed
Greek
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.
c. 200–250
Greek, surviving in Coptic
Anonymous
The longest text in the Nag Hammadi library and among the most damaged: an ascent through successive baptisms and levels of being, each named and enumerated, told by a visionary who claims descent from Zoroaster.
249–258
Latin
Cyprian of Carthage · c. 210–258
Eighty-one letters to and from Cyprian covering a persecution, a plague, two schisms, and a running quarrel with Rome over whether heretical baptism counts.
1 September 256
Latin
Sententiae Episcoporum
The Council of Carthage
The minutes of a council on whether converts baptised by heretics must be baptised again. Each bishop speaks in turn and is recorded by name and see, and Cyprian opens by saying that no one sets himself up as a bishop of bishops or compels his colleagues by terror.
256
Greek
Firmilian of Caesarea · d. c. 269
A Cappadocian bishop backs Carthage against Rome on rebaptism, and tells Stephen of Rome bluntly that appealing to Peter does not settle an argument.
c. 256–257
Latin
De Rebaptismate
Anonymous
The other side of the argument Cyprian's council settled, written anonymously and preserved among Cyprian's works: baptism in the name of Jesus is valid whoever performs it, and what the heretic cannot give is the Spirit, which the laying on of hands supplies.
301–400
4 works
c. 348–350
Greek
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.
c. 350–390; authorship disputed
Greek
Cyril or John of Jerusalem
Five addresses given in Easter week to those baptised days before, explaining at last what had been done to them: the renunciation facing west, the anointing, the threefold immersion, the white robe, and the eucharist, taken with the hands making a throne for the King.
c. 390–391
Latin
De Mysteriis
Ambrose of Milan · c. 339–397
Instruction given to the newly baptised in Easter week on what happened to them at the font and the altar, explained only after the fact.
c. 390–391
Latin
De Sacramentis
Ambrose of Milan · c. 339 – 397
Six addresses to the newly baptised at Milan, apparently taken down by a shorthand writer as Ambrose spoke — repetitive, colloquial, and much less polished than his written work. It quotes the eucharistic prayer he actually used, word for word.
401–500
3 works
c. 400–401
Latin
Augustine of Hippo · 354–430
An argument that a sacrament belongs to Christ and not to the minister, so a baptism performed by a traitor or a heretic is still a real baptism.
c. 404
Latin
Rufinus of Aquileia · c. 344–411
A clause-by-clause exposition of the baptismal creed of Aquileia, noting where it differs from Rome's and explaining the descent into hell.
c. 425–440
Greek
Mark the Monk
Two hundred short sentences on how the law works inside a person, insisting against one party that baptism gives everything and against another that nothing is received without being worked out — grace is complete and hidden, and is uncovered by keeping the commandments.
701–800
1 work
c. 750; Roman material a century older
Latin
Liber Sacramentorum Romanae Ecclesiae
Anonymous
A Roman mass book copied in Francia, probably at Chelles by nuns, and adapted for Gallican use on the way. It carries the scrutinies of Lent, the Holy Week rites, the Easter vigil with its blessing of the font, and prayers for the sick and the dying.
1501–1600
1 work
February 1527
German
Michael Sattler and the Swiss Brethren · c. 1490–1527
Seven articles: baptism on confession of faith, the ban, the breaking of bread, separation from the world, shepherds, the sword, and the oath.
1601–1700
1 work
drafted 1677; published 1689
English
The Particular Baptist churches of England
The Westminster Confession revised by Baptists, following it closely except on baptism, church government, and the relation of the magistrate to religion.
22 of 1780 works