The Fathers Know Best

What Did Early Christians Really Believe? The Answer Will Surprise and Amaze You! The Fathers Know Best: Your Essential Guide to the Teachings of the Early Church is a unique resource that introduces you to the teachings of the first Christians in a way no other work can. It is specially designed to make it easy for you to find the information you want and need. Amazing features in this fact-packed book include: More than 900 quotations from the writings of the early Church Fathers, as well as from rare and important documents dating back to the dawn of Christian history. Mini-biographies of nearly 100 Fathers, as well as descriptions of dozens of key early councils and writings. A concise history of the dramatic spread of Christianity after Jesus told his disciples to evangelize all nations. Special maps showing you where the Fathers lived, including many little-known and long-vanished locations. A guide to nearly 30 ancient heresies, many of which have returned to haunt the modern world. The Fathers' teaching on nearly 50 topics, including modern hot-button issues like abortion, homosexuality, and divorce. This groundbreaking work presents the teachings of the early Christians in a way unlike any other book. It flings open the doors of the crucial but little-known age covering the birth of Christianity and the triumphant march of the gospel throughout the ancient world.

A Trusted Introduction to the Church Fathers This concise introduction to the church fathers connects evangelical students and readers to twelve key figures from the early church. Bryan Litfin engages readers with actual people, not just abstract doctrines or impersonal events, to help them understand the fathers as spiritual ancestors in the faith. The first edition has been well received and widely used. This updated and revised edition adds chapters on Ephrem of Syria and Patrick of Ireland. The book requires no previous knowledge of the patristic period and includes original, easy-to-read translations that give a brief taste of each writer's thought.

The Fathers of the Church have been a vital source of wisdom and inspiration for countless saints, popes, peasants, and converts throughout the history of the Church. In this powerful one-volume library, Father Willis presents more than 250 selected doctrinal topics in an exhaustive selection of writings from the major sources of the Fathers. He lets the Fathers speak for themselves on a wide variety of spiritual themes.

What was the early Church like? Contrary to popular belief, Rod Bennett shows there is a reliable way to know. Four ancient Christian writers - four witnesses to early Christianity - left us an extensive body of documentation on this vital subject, and this book brings their fascinating testimony to life for modern believers. With all the power and drama of a gripping novel, this book is a journey of discovery of ancient and beautiful truths through the lives of four great saints of the early ChurchClement of Rome, Ignatius of Antioch, Justin Martyr, and Irenaeus of Lyons. "A treasure! The early Church and its teachings come to life in this story. Did the first Christians believe what you believe? Buy this book, read the words of the early Church Herself, and fall in love with the historic Church that Christ Himself founded." - David Currie, Author, Born Fundamentalist, Born Again Catholic "Rod Bennett has immersed himself in the fascinating writings of four early Fathers of the Church and has made the discovery from reading them that sincere and attentive readers of them ought to make. The author's imaginative account of these four great Church Fathers is not only an excellent introduction to their work; it is a convincing rendering of what the early Church must really have been like. This is an important new contribution to Christian apologetics." - Kenneth Whitehead, Author, One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic

Inspiration for the motion picture streaming on Pure Flix! Drawing on her thirty years' experience practicing pediatric and adolescent medicine, teen health expert Dr. Meg Meeker explains why an active father figure is maybe the single most important factor in a young woman's development. In this invaluable guide, Meeker shows how a father can be both counsel and protector for his daughter as she grows into a spiritually and mentally strong young woman. From cradling his newborn to walking her down the aisle, a father must relish his paramount responsibility—guiding the course of his daughter’s life. Meeker reveals • how a man can become a "strong father" • how a father's guidance influences every part of a woman's life, from her self-respect to her perspective on drugs, alcohol, and sex • how to lay down ground rules that are respected without creating distance in your relationship with your daughter • why you need to be your daughter's hero • the mistakes most fathers make and their serious consequences • how to help daughters make their own good decisions and avoid disastrous mistakes • how a father's faith will influence his daughter's spiritual development • how to get through to you daughter, even during her toughest don't-talk-to-me years • true stories of daughters who were on the wrong path—and how their fathers helped to bring them back Learn how to grow, strengthen, or rebuild your relationship with your daughter to better both your life and hers in the bestselling Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters: 10 Secrets Every Father Should Know.

Getting to know the Church Fathers means getting to know our own roots. It means knowing more deeply who we are as we learn more and more about who they are. The early Christians are our ancestors, our common genealogy, our family. When we look to our roots, what do we see? That's what Mike Aquilina shows you in this book. The Fathers managed to pull off an amazing achievement. They converted the pagan world in a mere two and a half centuries. They did it without any resources, without any social or political power. They did it with the most primitive communications media. Yet their Church sustained a steady growth rate of 40 percent per decade over the course of those centuries. Maybe there's something we can learn from them. This book is a journey into that world, a tour where your guides are the Fathers.

If the word trinity isn’t in Scripture, why is it such an important part of our faith? And if the Bible can be interpreted in many ways, how do we know what to make of it? And who decided what should be in the Bible anyway? The Church Fathers provide the answers. These brilliant, embattled, and sometimes eccentric men defined the biblical canon, hammered out the Creed, and gave us our understanding of sacraments and salvation. It is they who preserved for us the rich legacy of the early Church. D’Ambrosio dusts off the dry theology and brings you the exciting stories and great heroes such as Ambrose, Augustine, Basil, Athanasius, Chrysostom, and Jerome. This page-turner will inspire and challenge you with the lives and insights of these seminal teachers from when the Church was young.