The Complete Ante-Nicene & Nicene and Post-Nicene Church Fathers Collection: 3 Series, 37 Volumes, 65 Authors, 1,000 Books, 18,000 Chapters, 16 Million Words

You would not understand the Catholic Church without reading some of their earliest writings. This book consists of the original Christian writings that covers the about the first 500 years. You would find some of St. Augustine’s books (Confessions, City of God, etc.) in this book as well! You are getting several books for only the price of one book! There are two versions available like one reviewer on here has noted. I prefer to read this version which is chronological and easier to understand. I will probably use the other version for quick reference to specific fathers. What is fascinating about this book is that it’s several decades of work all in one volume! Imagine one book that covers more than 2x’s the age of America! Thats literally how much this book covers. Catholic saints like Thomas Aquinas and others wrote some intriguing work. This right here is like a massive library all in your phone for only $3. Thank you Catholic Way Publishing.

For accurate text, layout, and arrangement of materials (chronologically, as in the printed volumes), I believe this (ASIN: B00KYBSUUM) is the best Church Fathers edition for Kindle. But - and this is a deficiency - none of the introductions are included. The introductions are useful because they provide some context when approaching these texts for the first time. It's unfortunate they were taken out. I believe the publisher is Catholic may have believed they were doing the right thing by removing text written by Anglican/protestants. Anyway, from the introductions I've read, it doesn't seem that there's much of anything in the introductions that a Catholic would object to or not be able to read in the right way. The introductions are brief, and just point out the context and maybe the significance of the text and how it might relate to other patristic texts. Usually helpful information. Maybe the publisher will make an updated edition, and put the introductions back in? My recommendation is to get this edition - the kindle book here - (ASIN: B00KYBSUUM) - for the better (error free) text and better (in my opinion) layout/arrangement of materials. Then also get one other edition - for example, ASIN: B01N9DKZK6. This latter edition contains the same text as here - but arranged alphabetically by author (instead of chronologically, which can be very handy) - and importantly it also contains *introductions* to almost all authors, plus (at the end) a complete KJV Bible including the deuterocanonicals (aka the Old Testament "apocrypha") (e.g., Tobit, Wisdom, Sirach, 1st & 2nd Maccabees, etc. - as the KJV did when first published in 1611). Each is only about $3, so it's affordable to get both.

It's great to have these documents available to me at a moment's notice (the hard copies are as large as a set of encyclopedias), and with a good table of contents to navigate from. Unfortunately, the publisher has removed all of the introductions to the various books. As someone who has read this material for years, I don't have much of a problem with that. However, for someone new to these writers, such an introduction would be invaluable. Otherwise, there's no way for the new reader to tell the difference (for example) between the genuine letters of St. Ignatius of Antioch and the false ones, which the set also reproduced. I can understand why this was done. The publisher here is Catholic, and the original 19th century introductions and footnotes were not always kind to Catholicism. Still, it does create something of a vacuum in the set, and that's unfortunate.

It is an amazing world we live in where this many critical works can be put together for the price of a cup of coffee. I even made a folder of similar collected works all together for under $20. If someone were to read them all they would be one of the best read Chistians in the world. All that to say, cherish this work. It is foundational. My one critique is that the file was too large for my older second-hand Kindle Paperwhite. Every time I tried to download it, my Kindle crashed. I think if you have a newer Kindle you should be fine. My phone handled it great.

UPDATE 10/21/2014: Thanks to Catholic Way Publishing for editing out the problematic commentaries from this e-book. I am raising my rating to five stars. I sincerely appreciate that you have brought us such works as this one, The Catholic Encyclopedia , Paul J. Glenn's An Introduction to Philosophy , and Bonaventure's Holiness of Life (all of which I have purchased) at such fantastic prices! ORIGINAL REVIEW 10/11/2014: The works of the Early Church Fathers are, of course, invaluable. And at this price, a wonderful bargain. But as you are reading, make sure that you are reading the words of the Church Fathers and not added commentary. For example, at the end of Iranaeus "Against Heresies" book three, approx location 16475, there is an "Elucidation" section that criticizes the Latin translation and goes on to make claims against the Papacy (approx location 16500: "The Latin, thus translated by a candid Roman Catholic, reverses the whole system of the Papacy."). At about location 16517 we find the following: "No other Church is to be heard or considered; but Rome takes all into her own power, and may dictate to all Churches what they are to believe, however novel, or contrary to the torrent of antiquity in the teachings of their own founders and great doctors in all past time." This is clearly an anti-Roman Catholic screed. I compared this book against the same work at the New Advent website, and New Advent does not have the added "elucidation."

This is the good, the bad, and the ugly, of early Church History. There's heresy, there's extreme truth. It's an excellent source for sharpening your understanding and discernment skills. Highly recommend. For all three sets, you will be lucky to find them for anything less than $750 for all the volumes. You can find them all free in PDF form online, but this is an excellent way to have them all in one complete layout and easy to search, highlight, and make notes in.

For any Christian who wants to understand the real roots of the Faith, both historically and theologically, these writings include much of the most important work of the best minds of the first five hundred years of Christian history, a period during which the first real understandings of Christianity were formulated. This is the same period during which the books of the New Testament were selected from among the letters and Gospels circulating among Christian communities, and during which the Church itself grew from a small, persecuted community in the Roman province of Palestine to being the biggest, most important religious group in the entire Roman Empire and beyond, and these writings reflect that growth.

Didn't know all this was available and love the ability to read on my Amazon fire hd 10 tablet. Exceptional amount of information that is useful but not practical to read without electronic media. Someone please assemble this information in a better format to enable users a better experience. Presently not up to par with other media readers, but appreciative of the effort to provide this historical information.

An instant library of the early church. Not the sort of thing you would sit down and read from cover to cover, but a great reference book.

Great to have all Schaff's collection in one handy-dandy kindle file! The indexing is good, and finding texts is pretty easy (even for me). Read together with the history of Christian Creeds, we can see clearly the battles those searching for the Truth had against heresy. The continuing relevance is amazing - almost all of the current PC myths about the Bible are covered and thoroughly exploded. Whoever said studying history doesn't help with living in the present was dead WRONG!

I enjoy learning Catholic history and history of the church. My faith just gets stronger after reading and I’m sure that I will read it few more times.

Good book. Thanks amazon for your service. If it can share to external device, keep in safe coustody even if the tablet get damaged.

A highly informative accompaniment to, and commentary on, all three readings at Sunday Mass by perhaps our most well-known and authoritative Biblical scholar in the UK. The comments are presented in a clear and accessible manner and provide an essential resource for an understanding of God's message. They are a stimulus for further reflection and study. To be recommended without reservation.