Ante-Nicene Fathers (book)
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The Ante-Nicene Fathers: The Writings of the Fathers Down to A.D. 325 (abbreviated ANF)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> is a collection of books in 10 volumes (one volume is indexes) containing English translations of the majority of Early Christian writings.<ref>Boston University website, Theology Library, TF701: Introduction to Christian Traditions</ref> The period covers the beginning of Christianity until the promulgation of the Nicene Creed at the First Council of Nicaea.
Publication
[edit]The series was originally published between 1867 and 1873 by the Presbyterian publishing house T. & T. Clark in Edinburgh under the title Ante-Nicene Christian Library (ANCL), as a response to the Oxford movement's Library of the Fathers which was perceived as too strongly identified with the Anglo-Catholic movement. The volumes were edited by Rev. Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson. This series was available by subscription, but the editors were unable to interest enough subscribers to commission a translation of the homilies of Origen.
In 1885 the Christian Literature Company, first of Buffalo, then New York, began to issue the volumes in a reorganized form. This was done without permission, and was indeed a pirate edition. The new series was edited by the Episcopal bishop of New York, A. Cleveland Coxe. Coxe gave his series the title The Ante-Nicene Fathers. By 1896, this American edition/revision was complete. Unable to close down the pirate, T. & T. Clark were obliged to make what terms they could.
In 1897, a volume 9, which contained new translations, was published by T. & T. Clark as an additional volume, to complete the original ANCL. Apart from volume 9, the contents entirely derived from the ANCL, but in a more chronological order. Coxe added his own introductions and notes, which were criticized by academic authorities and Roman Catholic reviewers.<ref>JStor website, Arthur Cleveland Coxe, the Ante-Nicene Fathers, and Roman Catholicism, article by Elizabeth A. Clark published in Anglican and Episcopal History, Vol. 85, No. 2 (June 2016), pp. 164-193</ref>
T. & T. Clark then associated with the Christian Literature Company and with other American publishers for the publication of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers.
Volumes
[edit]- Volume 1: Apostolic Fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus
- Volume 2: Hermas, Tatian, Athenagoras, Theophilus, Clement of Alexandria
- Volume 3: Tertullian
- Volume 4: Tertullian (IV), Minucius Felix, Commodian, Origen
- Volume 5: Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix
- Volume 6: Gregory Thaumaturgus, Dionysius the Great, Julius Africanus, Anatolius and Minor Writers, Methodius, Arnobius
- Volume 7: Lactantius, Venantius, Asterius, Victorinus, Dionysius, Apostolic Teaching and Constitutions, Homily, and Liturgies
- Volume 8: Twelve Patriarchs, Excerpts and Epistles, The Clementina, Aprocryphal Gospels and Acts, Syriac Documents
- Volume 9: Gospel of Peter, Diatessaron, Testament of Abraham, Epistles of Clement, Origen and Miscellaneous Works
- Volume 10: Bibliography, General Index, Annotated Index of Authors and Works<ref>Reformed Christian Books website, Ante-Nicene Fathers, American Edition</ref>
See also
[edit]- Church Fathers
- Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers
- Ancient Christian Writers
- The Fathers of the Church
- Jacques Paul Migne
References
[edit]External links
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- Ante-Nicene Fathers collection at the Christian Classics Ethereal Library
- List of links to scans of Ante-Nicene Fathers and ANCL volumes in the "Links Galore" spreadsheet