Reviewed in Brief

The Early Christian Fathers, edited and translated by Henry Bettenson. 424 pp. New York: Oxford University Press. $4.00

A few resolute theologians have, no doubt, read all of the Fathers of the Church: Migne’s Patrologia, which is not quite complete, contains 221 volumes of Latin and 165 volumes of Greek. Even the Ante-Nicene Fathers bulk large and seldom write with clarity and grace. Mr. Bettenson has assembled and translated from eleven early writers short sections which deal with basic doctrinal questions. The translations are clearly the work of an expert; the notes are both learned and concise. This is a convenient and valuable conspectus of the beliefs of orthodox Christians before the Council of Nicaea began the authoritative formulation of dogma.

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Revilo Oliver

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The Early Christian Fathers, edited and translated by Henry Bettenson. 424 pp. New York: Oxford University Press. $4.00

A few resolute theologians have, no doubt, read all of the Fathers of the Church: Migne’s Patrologia, which is not quite complete, contains 221 volumes of Latin and 165 volumes of Greek. Even the Ante-Nicene Fathers bulk large and seldom write with clarity and grace. Mr. Bettenson has assembled and translated from eleven early writers short sections which deal with basic doctrinal questions. The translations are clearly the work of an expert; the notes are both learned and concise. This is a convenient and valuable conspectus of the beliefs of orthodox Christians before the Council of Nicaea began the authoritative formulation of dogma.