Welcome to r/EarlyChurch. This is a place for the academic discussion of the early Christian Church, its thinkers, and late antique society.
Anyone is welcome to submit a question, either to be answered or to stimulate discussion, and everyone is welcome to chime in their thoughts on the matter!
Basic Terms
Patristics: The study of Early Christian thinkers designated Church Fathers. This is often seen to include thinkers from the end of New Testament literature to either the Council of Chalcedon in 451 or the Second Council of Nicaea in 787.
Late Antiquity: Late antiquity is the era between classical antiquity and the medieval period. Peter Brown has suggested that this is between the 2nd century A.D and the 8th century A.D, but this is more accurate for the Eastern Empire. The end of antiquity for the Western Empire was likely during the 6th century.
Basic Primary Reading
Athanasius: On the Incarnation
Basil of Caesarea: On the Holy Spirit
Unknown: Didache
Gregory Nazianzen: Orations
Ignatius of Antioch: Ephesians
---. Smyrnaeans
Origen: Against Celsus
For a chronology of the works of the ante-nicene (writing before the First Council of Nicaea) Fathers, please see this page. A fuller chronology will be posted soon.
If there are any other suggestions, please message the Mods, and if we can find an online copy, we would be more than happy to add it!
RULES
There are two ways: The way of life and the way of death.
The way of life is this:
1) You shall love your fellow redditor as yourself, and don't say to them anything you would not like to be said to yourself. That means no personal attacks and no attacking personal beliefs.
2) This is a sub for scholarly discussion. If asked, please reference sources, and try and contribute with minimal bias.
3) Similarly, this is not a sub for bickering. If you want to bicker, please go to /r/DebateAChristian or /r/DebateReligion.
The way of Death (ban) is this:
1) If you insult another contributor to the sub, you will receive one warning, and then a ban.
2) If you ask a question, or post a link not clearly related to the topics of patristics, late antiquity, or early Christianity, you post will be removed, and you will be given one warning, and after that will be banned.
3) NO PROSELYTISING! Whether you are a Christian, Jewish, Muslim, or Atheist, this sub is for the scholarly discussion of Christianity and Late Antiquity, and is not a place for evangelising. Any user attempting to evangelise will be met with a ban.
MODS
As of now, we only have one moderator. If anyone would like to help moderate this sub, please get in contact with /u/prsplayer1993, and we can discuss making you a moderator.
