Free resources

Early Church Resources

I’ve created a few resources to aid with your studies or interest in the Early Church. The maps below are converted from the appendices in my book, and I’ll soon add some hi-res versions as A3 posters to purchase. Below the maps is an interactive chronological timeline of when the New Testament and Early Church texts were written. At the time of writing, I have covered most of the Ante-Nicene (pre-325 AD) period.

Geographical locations of Early Church texts

Approximate locations of where the NT and Ante-Nicene texts were written (or sent).

Blue book icons represent the New Testament books, and the red crosses are a selection of the Early Church Fathers’ texts.

Journey of Ignatius to his martyrdom

The whole journey covers about 1524 miles (2454 km)!

  • Blue pins are the known route that Ignatius took
  • Green pins are where he stopped to write his epistles (click the pins for info)
  • Red pins are the conjectured route

Chronological timeline of the New Testament and other Early Church texts and events

A timeline of when the New Testament and other early Patristic works were written*, plus significant historical events which may have influenced certain writings.

Key

  • Orange = New Testament
  • Dark Green = Apostolic Fathers (c.70 - c.150 AD)
  • Light Green = Ante-Nicene Fathers (pre-325 AD)
  • Light Orange = Post-Nicene Fathers
  • Blue = Significant Historical Events
  • Black = Major Time Periods
  • Teal = First Seven Ecumenical Councils
  • Red = Widespread Persecutions
  • Light Red = Localised/Regional Persecutions
  • Grey = Disputed Facts
  • Yellow = Major Schisms

* Much of the dating and research has been taken from the works of Schaff, Lightfoot, Harmer et al.

Open the timeline full screen · Powered by Time.Graphics

Bibliography / further reading

Books

  • Brent, Allen, Popular Patristics volume 32, Introduction, Section 5.3 “The Textual Tradition”, pp. 42-44.
  • Grant, Robert, Greek Apologists of the Second Century (1988)
  • Grant, Robert M., The Anchor Bible Dictionary, v. 2, p. 201
  • Holmes, W. M., The Apostolic Fathers, Greek and English translations, third edition; p.347, p.355
  • Heiser, Michael S., Unseen Realm, pp. 324-326
  • Pavao, Paul F., Decoding Nicea
  • Roberts, A., Donaldson, J., Cleveland Coxe, A. (ed.), Schaff, P. (ed.). Ante-Nicene Fathers. Originally published 1885-6.
  • Sanders, Fred, Issler, Klaus, eds., Jesus in Trinitarian Perspective: An Introductory Christology (Nashville: B&H, 2007), p. 23.
  • Schaff, P. Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series II. Originally published 1891.
  • Shaheen, Y., Rise and Fall of Gods: In Historical Perspective, p. 105
  • Urban Legends Of Church History by Michael J. Svigel, and John Adair
  • Williams, C. A., Roman Homosexuality p.23

Articles

Online