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Ante-Nicene Fathers #4
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol 4
This edition of the Early Church Fathers series has been optimized for use on the Kindle with a hierarchical Table of Contents that minimizes the number of page turns required to locate a section of the volume. This edition is among the most accurate electronic editions available, but Hebrew characters do not display on the Kindle.
This volume includes the writings of Tertullian, Minucius Felix, Commodian, and Origen.
This edition features an artistic cover, a new promotional introduction, and a hierarchical table of contents which makes it possible to navigate to any part of the book with a minimum of page turns.
This volume includes the writings of Tertullian, Minucius Felix, Commodian, and Origen.
This edition features an artistic cover, a new promotional introduction, and a hierarchical table of contents which makes it possible to navigate to any part of the book with a minimum of page turns.
2738 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1885
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
November 5, 2025
Tertullian creates a demon haunted world thus making demons in charge of the world. Women are clearly in league with the devil and are to blame for lust within men. Tell me again why women are part of Christianity and why a man would belong to a group that disparages women?
The second half of the book is Origen. A better selection of his writing is contained in the book I recently read, ‘Origen’ by Trigg first published in 1998. This volume on the Ante-Nicene fathers concentrated mostly on Origen’s response to the anti-Christian Celsus.
Celsus is foolhardy when he says Noah’s ark sounds goofy according to Origen. The ark could have easily been as big as a city and carried 7 pairs of each of the animals. Moses would not lie; he is as great as Plato and Plato surely got his wisdom from the Prophet Moses and spoke for God.
The canon is not completely canonized. The Shepard of Hermas, Book of Enoch, Acts of Peter (with its talking dog), Barnabas, and other silly books are accepted by Origen. Hell makes sense because God does love the world so much that he gave his only begotten son. Paul was visited by Jesus and 500 saw him at the same time and the Gospels can’t be questioned because they are divine. Origen proves the divinity of the scriptures.
All of today’s bad apologetics are within this volume. Look at the trees and heaven that proves the perfect order of the universe and necessitates a creator with intention, the moral law is intrinsic to humans and proves God implanted it in to humans, Jesus saw the burning bush with Elijah and Moses proving he was special.
The Old Testament prophecies predicted the messiah born of a virgin and from Bethlehem and the enemies of Israel were destroyed but it was just in a spiritual sense not a literal sense. I like to note all my enemies are spiritually destroyed also. Inconvenient claims about the coming messiah were spiritualized by Origen. For him the soul is real, the spirit is too, as well as the body. There must be more than the spiritual for how could there be meaning in this life if there wasn’t an after-life.
Any self-described Christian who disagreed with Origen is not a true Christian. Hell awaits them. Origen liked the Book of Daniel and the letters of Paul. Tertullian liked Revelation. Jesus is God and the trinity is not necessary since it is not mentioned by Origen. I think Tertullian disagreed on that. They really need to compare notes.
Tertullian was better at Philosophy, Origen at theology. I found Origen a slog to wade through. He knew the conclusion before the reason. He reflects off Celsus who appeals to Epicureans according to Origen. Adam and Eve in the Garden are a given.
Tis a pity these works. A real intelligent book by Plotinus, ‘Enneads’ will be written in 25 years. It really puts to shame the works in this volume.
The real value in this Volume is the obvious substance free apologetics hasn’t changed over the last 1800 years. The reader glosses over the patriarchal superiority, the special pleading, the lack of evidence beyond claims, and the outlandish assertions as givens while forgetting the poorly mapped out philosophical reasoning, and through that glossing they forget that these writing are anachronistic today.
This is the best the early Christians had and it is not very good. The Book of Acts tells me that 5000 people converted on the spot after hearing Paul and Peter and somebody fell asleep and fell to their death from a window and was magically arisen from the dead. Sounds real to me, or as I like to quote from the KJV (1611) Acts 9:5 ‘it is not for thee to kick against the pricks.’
The second half of the book is Origen. A better selection of his writing is contained in the book I recently read, ‘Origen’ by Trigg first published in 1998. This volume on the Ante-Nicene fathers concentrated mostly on Origen’s response to the anti-Christian Celsus.
Celsus is foolhardy when he says Noah’s ark sounds goofy according to Origen. The ark could have easily been as big as a city and carried 7 pairs of each of the animals. Moses would not lie; he is as great as Plato and Plato surely got his wisdom from the Prophet Moses and spoke for God.
The canon is not completely canonized. The Shepard of Hermas, Book of Enoch, Acts of Peter (with its talking dog), Barnabas, and other silly books are accepted by Origen. Hell makes sense because God does love the world so much that he gave his only begotten son. Paul was visited by Jesus and 500 saw him at the same time and the Gospels can’t be questioned because they are divine. Origen proves the divinity of the scriptures.
All of today’s bad apologetics are within this volume. Look at the trees and heaven that proves the perfect order of the universe and necessitates a creator with intention, the moral law is intrinsic to humans and proves God implanted it in to humans, Jesus saw the burning bush with Elijah and Moses proving he was special.
The Old Testament prophecies predicted the messiah born of a virgin and from Bethlehem and the enemies of Israel were destroyed but it was just in a spiritual sense not a literal sense. I like to note all my enemies are spiritually destroyed also. Inconvenient claims about the coming messiah were spiritualized by Origen. For him the soul is real, the spirit is too, as well as the body. There must be more than the spiritual for how could there be meaning in this life if there wasn’t an after-life.
Any self-described Christian who disagreed with Origen is not a true Christian. Hell awaits them. Origen liked the Book of Daniel and the letters of Paul. Tertullian liked Revelation. Jesus is God and the trinity is not necessary since it is not mentioned by Origen. I think Tertullian disagreed on that. They really need to compare notes.
Tertullian was better at Philosophy, Origen at theology. I found Origen a slog to wade through. He knew the conclusion before the reason. He reflects off Celsus who appeals to Epicureans according to Origen. Adam and Eve in the Garden are a given.
Tis a pity these works. A real intelligent book by Plotinus, ‘Enneads’ will be written in 25 years. It really puts to shame the works in this volume.
The real value in this Volume is the obvious substance free apologetics hasn’t changed over the last 1800 years. The reader glosses over the patriarchal superiority, the special pleading, the lack of evidence beyond claims, and the outlandish assertions as givens while forgetting the poorly mapped out philosophical reasoning, and through that glossing they forget that these writing are anachronistic today.
This is the best the early Christians had and it is not very good. The Book of Acts tells me that 5000 people converted on the spot after hearing Paul and Peter and somebody fell asleep and fell to their death from a window and was magically arisen from the dead. Sounds real to me, or as I like to quote from the KJV (1611) Acts 9:5 ‘it is not for thee to kick against the pricks.’
March 26, 2014
The fourth volume in the classic series edited by Philip Schaff combines the scraps of Tertullian's Montanist period, two short works by Tertullian's fellow North Africans Minucius Felix and Commodian, and the grand pre-Augustinian theologian Origen (also technically a "North African" in that he spent much of his life in Alexandria, but "Alexandria" is generally grouped with Eastern Christianity and, later, Eastern Orthodoxy, while "North Africa" refers to Latin writers in the Carthage area).
Tertullian
Since the entire last volume was devoted to Tertullian (reviewed here), I'll just give a brief note on each of his treatises here. I will say that if I didn't know the back story, I don't know that I would have picked up much of his Montanism from these works. To be sure, some of theme are more extreme than his previous writings; and to be even surer, this is a 19th century translation and much of the nuances may just be getting lost in the old-timey language. (If you haven't read any of these volumes, they often follow the 19th century device of intentionally antiquating their language so that it sounds like a 19th century parody of the 16th century. Which is annoying not just here but in much literature of the time.) I mean, the bits about the prophet Prisca was a bit of a giveaway that something else is going on with Tertullian, but even then he sticks mostly to Scripture and doesn't seem to rely too much on these extra prophecies (though of course any such reliance should make us hesitate). If you want to know more about this, the folks over at The Tertullian Project have got a great bundle of resources all gathered into one place...
I. On the Pallium
Here Tertullian makes the quite reasonable point that since clothing customs change over time, we ought not worry about wearing the pallium, even though such is not commanded in Scripture. He also gives what I hope is good-natured ribbing about even worrying topics like this:
At least, I hope it's good natured--with Tertullian we can never be completely sure that he's not in full-blown cranky-old-man mode...
II. On the Apparel of Women
While we may in fact be able to wear whatever the local customs dictate, women are still required to be modest (men too, for that matter). Rather than extravagant opulence of the culture, we should remember that we are temples of the Holy Spirit and not to be made gaudy or falsely painted/covered with gold. And while I don't know that I'd go quite as far as Tertullian in condemning all makeup, I'm quite happy to admit that he condemns it with style and quotability:
Read the rest at: http://coyleneal.blogspot.com/2014/03...
Tertullian
Since the entire last volume was devoted to Tertullian (reviewed here), I'll just give a brief note on each of his treatises here. I will say that if I didn't know the back story, I don't know that I would have picked up much of his Montanism from these works. To be sure, some of theme are more extreme than his previous writings; and to be even surer, this is a 19th century translation and much of the nuances may just be getting lost in the old-timey language. (If you haven't read any of these volumes, they often follow the 19th century device of intentionally antiquating their language so that it sounds like a 19th century parody of the 16th century. Which is annoying not just here but in much literature of the time.) I mean, the bits about the prophet Prisca was a bit of a giveaway that something else is going on with Tertullian, but even then he sticks mostly to Scripture and doesn't seem to rely too much on these extra prophecies (though of course any such reliance should make us hesitate). If you want to know more about this, the folks over at The Tertullian Project have got a great bundle of resources all gathered into one place...
I. On the Pallium
Here Tertullian makes the quite reasonable point that since clothing customs change over time, we ought not worry about wearing the pallium, even though such is not commanded in Scripture. He also gives what I hope is good-natured ribbing about even worrying topics like this:
Men of Carthage, ever princes of Africa, ennobled by ancient memories, blest with modern felicities, I rejoice that times are so prosperous with you that you have leisure to spend and pleasure to find in criticising dress. These are the 'piping times of peace' and plenty. Blessings rain from the empire and from the sky. (OTP, Chapter 1)
At least, I hope it's good natured--with Tertullian we can never be completely sure that he's not in full-blown cranky-old-man mode...
II. On the Apparel of Women
While we may in fact be able to wear whatever the local customs dictate, women are still required to be modest (men too, for that matter). Rather than extravagant opulence of the culture, we should remember that we are temples of the Holy Spirit and not to be made gaudy or falsely painted/covered with gold. And while I don't know that I'd go quite as far as Tertullian in condemning all makeup, I'm quite happy to admit that he condemns it with style and quotability:
Whatever is born is the work of God. Whatever, then, is plastered on is the devil's work. (OAW, Chapter 5)
Read the rest at: http://coyleneal.blogspot.com/2014/03...
October 26, 2019
The fourth part of Tertullian's works, a tractate by Minucius Felix, Commodian, and a couple of the works of Origen - Against Celsus and De Principiis.
It took me a long time to finish the whole edition; nothing to do with the edition itself, per se, but more about how I would read short amounts over long periods of time...so memory is a bit hazy.
This part of Tertullian's works are definitely in his later, more cantankerous, Montanist-esque stage. He will not go down in history as a feminist...but it is a portrait of Christianity in North Africa in the early third century.
Minucius Felix wrote some good stuff.
Origen can be a challenge anyway, but especially in De Principiis, since it's mostly preserved only in Rufinus' Latin translation, and there's always the question of how much Rufinus would have "adapted" in order to make Origen seem less heretical. Against Celsus has short chapters but many, many of them; Origen's apologetic game is strong.
A good exploration into patristic literature.
It took me a long time to finish the whole edition; nothing to do with the edition itself, per se, but more about how I would read short amounts over long periods of time...so memory is a bit hazy.
This part of Tertullian's works are definitely in his later, more cantankerous, Montanist-esque stage. He will not go down in history as a feminist...but it is a portrait of Christianity in North Africa in the early third century.
Minucius Felix wrote some good stuff.
Origen can be a challenge anyway, but especially in De Principiis, since it's mostly preserved only in Rufinus' Latin translation, and there's always the question of how much Rufinus would have "adapted" in order to make Origen seem less heretical. Against Celsus has short chapters but many, many of them; Origen's apologetic game is strong.
A good exploration into patristic literature.
January 7, 2014
Although I find most of the patristics alienating and boring, I have found some amusement in the extreme emotionalism displayed by Tertullian (hardly a Christian "meek and mild") and much to think about in the writings of Origen, perhaps the most intellectually challenging of the 'Fathers of the Church'.
March 18, 2009
Here we get some final works by Tertullian. But the highlight of this volume is Origen's work On the Principles which contains his method for interpreting scripture, a method which certainly held sway in a large portion of the ancient church.
October 30, 2013
Once again I do not have much to say about this book. I suppose it would help if I spent a little more time on comprehension rather than completion as I read. I will note that these texts were much more comprehensible for light reading than some of the earlier texts. I appreciate that.
June 22, 2022
A good read on what the early church taught. However, more than in the previous volumes, I felt it unnecessary to read about 122 pages regarding, "On the Apparel of Women" (p.18-101) and and appendix of poems doubtfully attributed to Tertulian (p.127-166). I just read a page or two and found them quite uninteresting.
April 12, 2016
Some good stuff, some head-scratching stuff, and a lot of repetitive stuff. The Greek philosopher debate/logic style (which influenced the early patristic writers rather heavily, since they were at least engaged by its proponents, if not schooled in it themselves) is lamentably voluminous. Great, that it shoots down every possible counter-argument before it can be spoken...but a heavy, at times monotonous read for laypersons almost two millennia later. Bonus coffee for this one.
October 30, 2013
Origen is fantastically intelligent, sometimes a little too much so. This volume is dominated by his apologetic treatise against Celsus, in which is demonstrated the glory of Christ, the foolishness of Celsus, and the pressing need for God-fearing editors.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews