Author: Ford, Dr. David

Form: Paperback

Pages: 249

Wisdom for Today from the Early Church: A Foundational Study provides a fascinating, inspiring, and eye-opening entranceway into the theological and spiritual riches of Christ's Church in the first five centuries of the Christian era. And it makes clear how these insights are highly relevant for our life as Orthodox Christians today, and how they can not only inspire us in our personal relationship with our LORD and all His Saints, but also how they can equip us for living and proclaiming the historic Faith in the midst of our increasingly anti-Christian society and culture.

The book addresses ten of the most important themes of the life of the Early Church, as seen in the Table of Contents:

Chapter One: An Orthodox Understanding of the Book of Acts

Chapter Two: The Apostolic Fathers Teach and Encourage the Faithful

Chapter Three: The Apologists Explain and Defend the Faith to the Surrounding Society

Chapter Four: St. Irenaeus Meets the Challenge of the Gnostics

Chapter Five: The Church Meets the Challenge of the Montanists

Chapter Six: Tertullian and the Dangers of the Sectarian Mind-Set

Chapter Seven: The Canonization of the New Testament: The Church Decides

Chapter Eight: The Rise of Papal Presumption

Chapter Nine: The Holy Martyrs Live and Die for Christ

Chapter Ten: The Rise of Monasticism, the New Martyrdom; and the Wisdom of the Desert Fathers and Mothers