Henry Chadwick, Early Christian Thought and the Classical Tradition (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1966) paperback, $19. One of the finest essays available on the thought of three of the greatest early Christian thinkers: Justin, Clement of Alexandria, and Origen.

Robin Lane Fox, Pagans and Christians (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1987) paperback. Thorough and well written. Fox concentrates on 2^nd and 3^rd centuries. The first half on pagan religion is excellent, but is quite detailed. Don’t let yourself get bogged down in it. Feel free to skip around or jump to the second half on Christianity and read the chapters that interest you. Each chapter is fairly self-contained and offers fine studies on prophecy, the rise of bishops, and martyrdom.

Robert Wilken, The Christians as the Romans Saw Them (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1984) paperback, $14. We are so used to hearing how Christians viewed Christ and how Christians viewed themselves that we are liable not to understand why Christians were persecuted or disliked or simply ignored. This book is good in the way it shows how outsiders viewed Christ, the Church, and Christian doctrines.

A.H. Armstrong, ed., Classical Mediterranean Spirituality: Egyptian, Greek, Roman, World Spirituality Series, vol. 15 (New York: Crossroad, 1986) paperback, $20.

Stephen Benko, Pagan Rome and the Early Christians (Bloomington: Indiana U. Press, 1984) paperback, $11.

Charles Cochrane, Christianity and Classical Culture: a Study of Thought and Action from Augustus to Augustine (New York: Oxford University Press, 1944). Dated, but a classic account.

E.R. Dodds, Pagans and Christians in an Age of Anxiety (New York: W.W. Norton, 1965). A fascinating account of the ancient worldview.

Garth Fowden, "Polytheist religion and philosophy," in Averil Cameron & Peter Garnsey, eds., The Late Empire, A.D. 337-425, Vol. 13 of The Cambridge Ancient History (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998) pp. 538-560. NEW.

Everett Ferguson, ed., The Early Church and Greco-Roman Thought, Studies in Early Christianity 8 (New York: Garland Publishing, 1993).

Ramsay Macmullen, Paganism in the Roman Empire (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1981) paperback, $13.

Ramsay Macmullen, Christianity and Paganism in the Fourth to Eighth Centuries (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1997) NEW in paperback.

Ramsay Macmullen, Paganism and Christianity, 100-425 C.E.: A Sourcebook (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1992) paperback, $20.

Joyce E. Salisbury, Perpetua’s Passion: The Death and Memory of a Young Roman Woman (New York: Routledge, 1998) paperback, $16. NEW. The first book-length study of Perpetua and her world. A valuable introduction to understanding the world and literature of martyrdom.

G.W. Bowersock, Martyrdom & Rome (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995) hardback, $30. Brief, not very balanced, but valuable insights.

Everett Ferguson, ed., Church and State in the Early Church, Studies in Early Christianity 7 (New York: Garland Publishing, 1993).

W.H.C. Frend, Martyrdom and Persecution in the Early Church: A Study of a Conflict from the Maccabees to Donatus (New York: Oxford University Press, 1965). Despite the years, still the most thorough survey.

Andrew McGowan, "Eating People: Accusations of Cannibalism against Christians in the Second Century," Journal of Early Christian Studies 2 (1994) 413-442.

J.B. Rives, "The Piety of a Persecutor," Journal of Early Christian Studies 4 (1996) 1-26.

Cecil M. Robeck, Prophecy in Carthage: Perpetua, Tertullian, Cyprian (Cleveland: Pilgrim Press, 1993) hardcover.

Brent D. Shaw, "Body / Power / Identity: The Passion of the Martyrs," Journal of Early Christian Studies 4 (1996) 269-312.

G.E.M. de Ste Croix, "Why were the Early Christians Persecuted?" Past and Present 26 (Nov 1963) 6-38. The classic treatment of the question.

Kurt Rudolph, Gnosis: the Nature and History of Gnosticism (San Francisco: Harper San Francisco, 1987) paperback, $23. The best study of gnosticism to date, incorporating the latest findings of the Nag Hammadi library. A clear and unusually thorough account.

Bentley Layton, ed., The Gnostic Scriptures: a New Translation (New York: Doubleday, 1995) paperback, $23. Contains not only the Nag Hammadi material, but also other gnostic texts such as the Jung Codex. Layton’s valuable introduction puts forth his distinctive views on the role of Valentinus and his disciples shaping gnostic theology and disseminating gnostic views.

Giovanni Filoramo, A History of Gnosticism (Cambridge, MA: Blackwell, 1991) paperback, $18.

Hans J. Klimkeit, Gnosis on the Silk Road (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1993) hardcover. The first English translation of Manichaean texts from Central Asia.

Samuel N.C. Lieu, Manichaeism in the Later Roman Empire and Medieval China: A Historical Survey (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1985). A masterful study.

Birger Albert Pearson, ed., Gnosticism, Judaism, and Egyptian Christianity, Studies in Antiquity and Christianity (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1990) hardcover, $33.

Pheme Perkins, Gnosticism and the New Testament (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1993) paperback, $17.

Simone Pétremont, A Separate God: the Origin and Teachings of Gnosticism (San Francisco: HarperCollins, 1990) paperback, $18.

James M. Robinson, ed., The Nag Hammadi Library, 3^rd edition (San Francisco: HarperCollins, 1988) paperback, $20. Complete translation of texts.

David M. Scholer, ed., Gnosticism in Early Christianity, Studies in Early Christianity 5 (New York: Garland Publishing, 1993).

Richard Valantasis, The Gospel of Thomas, New Testament Readings (New York: Routledge, 1997) paperback, $18.

Michael Allen Williams, Rethinking ‘Gnosticism’: An Argument for Dismantling a Dubious Category (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1996) NEW in paperback, $20. Important revisionist argument.

Robert M. Grant, Irenaeus of Lyons, Early Church Fathers Series (London: Routledge, 1997) paperback, $18. NEW. Irenaeus of Lyons (ca. 130-200) formulated the classic Christian defense against the gnostics: that to be orthodox one must accept the tradition of teaching that has come to us from the apostles via public channels (the bishops, the books we now call the New Testament, and the Creed). Grant offers a 60-page introduction to Irenaeus’ life, work, and age as well as a valuable selection from his writings.

Walter H. Wagner, After the Apostles: Christianity in the Second Century (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1994) paperback, $18. In the second century, the Christian church decided on its scripture, developed its episcopal structure, and established some of its basic doctrines. This crucial—and under-studied—era receives detailed study here. A good synthesis, though some of his sweeping judgments on individual Church Fathers would be challenged by scholars.

Leslie W. Barnard, Justin Martyr: His Life and Thought (London: Cambridge University Press, 1967).

Allen Brent, Hippolytus and the Roman Church in the Third Century: Communities in Tension Before the Emergence of a Monarch Bishop, Supplements to the Vigiliae Christianae 31 (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1995).

Hans von Campenhausen, Ecclesiastical Authority and Spiritual Power in the Church of the First Three Centuries, trans. J.A. Baker (reprint of 1967 edition: Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1997) hardcover, $30. A classic.

Henry Chadwick, The Role of the Christian Bishop in Ancient Society, Colloquy 35 (Berkeley: Center for Hermeneutical Studies in Hellenistic and Modern Culture, 1979); reprinted in Heresy and Orthodoxy in the Early Church (London: Variorum Reprints, 1991).

Mary Ann Donovan, One Right Reading? A Guide to Irenaeus (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 1997) paperback, $19.

Everett Ferguson, ed., Church, Ministry, and Organization in the Early Church Era, Studies in Early Christianity 13 (New York: Garland Publishing, 1993).

Robert M. Grant, Heresy and Criticism: the Search for Authority in Early Christian Literature (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1994) hardcover.

Clayton N. Jefford, with Kenneth J. Harder and Louis D. Amezaga, Jr., Reading the Apostolic Fathers (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1997) paperback, $17. Very simple introduction..

Denis Minns, Irenaeus (Washington: Georgetown University Press, 1994) hardcover, $25.

Christine Trevett, Montanism: Gender, Authority, and the New Prophecy (Cambridge, 1996) hardcover, $60.

Simon Tugwell, The Apostolic Fathers, Outstanding Christian Thinkers Series (Harrisburg, PA: Morehouse Publishing, 1990) paperback, $8.

Maxwell Staniforth, ed., Early Christian Writings: The Apostolic Fathers, revised ed. by Andrew Louth (London: Penguin Books, 1987) paperback, $12. We tend to leave off with the New Testament—forgetting some of the great writers who immediately followed those who wrote the New Testament. This gives good complete translations of key works: Clement of Rome, Letter (yes, there are still problems in Corinth 30 years after St. Paul’s death); Ignatius of Antioch, Seven Letters (passionate letters by the bishop of Antioch on his way to be martyred in Rome); Didache (contains the earliest baptismal and eucharistic rites); Justin Martyr, First Apology (the first great defense of the Christian faith against pagan objections).

Bart D. Ehrman, After the New Testament: A Reader in Early Christianity (New York: Oxford University Press, 1998) paperback, $27. NEW. A major and long-needed anthology of writings in the 2^nd and early 3^rd centuries. It includes letters (Clement, Ignatius of Antioch), liturgical documents (Didache, Hippolytus’ Apostolic Tradition, Didiscalia), martyrdom accounts (Martyrdom of Polycarp, Martyrs of Lyons & Vienne, Passion of Perpetua), apocryphal texts (Gospel of Thomas, Acts of Paul), apologists (Justin, Athenagoras, Origen).

L.W. Barnard, trans., Justin Martyr: The First and Second Apologies, Ancient Christian Writers 56 (Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 1997) hardcover, $30.

John Behr, trans., Irenaeus of Lyons: On the Apostolic Preaching (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1998) paperback, $9. NEW.

Robert B. Eno, ed., Teaching Authority in the Early Church, Message of the Fathers 14 (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 1984) paperback, $12.

Robert Grant, ed., The Apostolic Fathers: a New Translation and Commentary, six volumes (New York: T. Nelson, 1964-1968).

Joseph T. Lienhard, ed., Ministry, Message of the Fathers 8 (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 1984) paperback, $12.

J.B. Lightfoot & J.R. Harmer, ed., The Apostolic Fathers: Greek Texts and English Translations of Their Writings, 2nd edition, revised by Michael W. Holmes (reprint of 1891 edition: Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1991) hardcover, $30.

H.A. Murusillo, ed., The Acts of the Christian Martyrs (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1972). This contains a translation of all the important documents (together with the original Greek or Latin texts).

Kurt Niederwimmer, The Didache: A Commentary, Hermeneia, trans. Linda M. Maloney (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1998) hardcover, $50. NEW.

Carolyn Osiek, The Shepherd of Hermas: A Commentary, Hermeneia (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1999) hardcover, $48. NEW.

Cyril C. Richardson, ed. Early Christian Fathers (New York: Macmillan, 1970) paperback, $14.

William R. Schoedel, Ignatius of Antioch: a Commentary on the Letters, Hermeneia (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1985) hardcover.