List of Early Christian Writers

Various Early Christian writers wrote gospels and other books, some of which were canonized as the New Testament canon developed. The Apostolic Fathers were prominent writers who are traditionally understood to have met and learned from Jesus' personal disciples. The Church Fathers are later writers with no direct connection to the disciples (other than the claim to Apostolic Succession). Apologists defended Christianity against its critics, especially Greek and Roman philosophers. Dates given, if not otherwise specified, are of their writings or bishopric, not of their lives.

  • Paul of Tarsus, "Apostle to the Gentiles", earliest New Testament author 45~65
  • Four Evangelists, traditionally identified as the authors of the canonical gospels 60~125
  • Ignatius, bishop of Antioch, apostolic father 68~107
  • Clement of Rome, bishop of Rome, apostolic father 88~101
  • Papias, bishop of Hierapolis, apostolic father 110~130
  • Polycarp of Smyrna, bishop of Smyrna, apostolic father 110~160
  • Justin Martyr church father ~165
  • Melito of Sardis, bishop of Sardis, ~180
  • Irenaeus, bishop of Lyon, disciple of Polycarp, apologist 180~202
  • Origen of Alexandria 185~254, Platonist, controversial during his lifetime, posthumously condemned at the Second Council of Constantinople in 553
  • Tatian, pupil of Justin Martyr, ascetic theologian ~185
  • Athenagoras of Athens, philosopher, apologist ~190
  • Polycrates, bishop of Ephesus, excommunicated by Victor I of Rome over the Easter controversy ~196
  • Montanus, self-proclaimed prophet and founder of Montanism, last quarter of 2nd century CE
  • Tertullian church father, apologist, first Christian writer in Latin, later a Montanist 197~230
  • Hippolytus, church father, sometimes termed the first anti-pope, reconciled with the church and died a martyr 217~236
  • Cyprian bishop of Carthage, martyr 218~258
  • Clement of Alexandria, church father with gnostic sympathies ~220
  • Novatian, a rigorist and Antipope in 251
  • Dionysius, patriarch of Alexandria, pope of the Coptic Orthodox Church 248~264
  • Paul of Samosata, bishop of Antioch, adoptionist, condemned at 269 Council of Antioch for Christological errors
  • Donatus Magnus, bishop of Carthage, (+355), leader of the Donatists from 313
  • Lactantius, apologist, "Christian Cicero" ~317
  • Arnobius, apologist ~330
  • Eusebius, wrote History of the Church ~325 after the victory of Constantine over paganism and is considered the Christian Herodotus, the first major Church historian

Famous quotes containing the words list of, list, early, christian and/or writers:

    “Every morning I woke in dread, waiting for the day nurse to go on her rounds and announce from the list of names in her hand whether or not I was for shock treatment, the new and fashionable means of quieting people and of making them realize that orders are to be obeyed and floors are to be polished without anyone protesting and faces are to be made to be fixed into smiles and weeping is a crime.”
    —Janet Frame (b. 1924)

    “A man’s interest in a single bluebird is worth more than a complete but dry list of the fauna and flora of a town.”
    —Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)

    “Franklin said once in one of his inspired flights of malignity—
    Early to bed and early to rise
    Make a man healthy and wealth and wise.
    As if it were any object to a boy to be healthy and wealthy and wise on such terms.”
    —Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835–1910)

    “Surely the one thing needful for a Christian and an Englishman to study is Christian and moral and political philosophy, and then we should see our way a little more clearly without falling into Judaism, or Toryism, or Jacobinism, or any other ism whatever.”
    —Thomas Arnold (1795–1842)

    “Most writers steal a good thing when they can,
    And when ‘tis safely got ‘tis worth the winning.
    The worst of ‘t is we now and then detect ‘em,
    Before they ever dream that we suspect ‘em.”
    —Bryan Waller Proctor (1787–1874)