Fathers

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series I

The writings of Augustine and John Chrysostom in fourteen volumes. Autobiography, theology, letters, and sermons offer two different approaches to Scripture and Christian life.

14 volumes · Schaff, Series I

Edited by Philip Schaff

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Augustine and Chrysostom in nineteenth-century English.

Public domain. Not a modern critical translation.

About this book

The first series of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers gathers the writings of Augustine and John Chrysostom in fourteen volumes. It gives readers a broad encounter with two influential Christian teachers through autobiography, letters, doctrinal treatises, and biblical preaching. Augustine's Confessions and City of God sit within a much larger body of work, while Chrysostom's homilies show interpretation taking shape in the act of addressing a congregation. The series is therefore useful for seeing familiar titles in the company of the less familiar writing that helps explain them.

Augustine and Chrysostom shaped later Christian thought in different languages and settings, and their works show how theological questions emerge from pastoral responsibility, scriptural study, and public controversy. Reading them together gives more perspective than treating either as a source of isolated quotations. Choose a particular work or biblical book and follow a sustained section of the argument. In a sermon, notice the movement from the words of Scripture to the lives of hearers; in a doctrinal treatise, notice the problem that makes a seemingly fine distinction worth arguing over.

Author & background

Augustine (354–430), bishop of Hippo in North Africa, wrote in Latin and became central to later discussions of grace, the Church, and the inner life. John Chrysostom (c. 349–407), a preacher at Antioch and later bishop of Constantinople, wrote and preached in Greek. His biblical homilies often bring interpretation into direct contact with wealth, conduct, and responsibility toward others. Neither wrote for this collection: its editors brought together works created for different occasions, audiences, and stages of their authors' ministries.

Choose a volume

The collection, in order.