The Fathers of the Church are the saintly bishops and priests of the first centuries who bear witness to the apostolic tradition and hand it on in their writings and ministry. They identify the canon of Scripture, exemplify the principles of biblical interpretation, shape the early liturgies, compose the creeds, define the rule of faith, and lay the foundations of canon law and the Church’s pastoral activity. Reading them is indispensable for a Catholic education. Perhaps the Fathers of the first two centuries are the best place to start. They are called the Apostolic Fathers because they learnt the faith from the Apostles or their immediate successors. Mike Aquilina has written widely on the Fathers of the Church and will share his pick of the best books on the Apostolic Fathers.
Mike Aquilina is author of more than sixty books, including The Fathers of the Church and The Mass of the Early Christians. He is executive vice-president of the St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology. He also serves as a contributing editor of Angelus News and general editor of the Reclaiming Catholic History series published by Ave Maria Press. He hosts the “Way of the Fathers” podcast for Catholic Culture. He has co-hosted eleven television series on EWTN. Aquilina is also a poet and songwriter, whose works have been recorded by Dion, Paul Simon, Van Morrison, Amy Grant, Bruce Springsteen, and others.
Mike Aquilina's recommeded books on the early Church Fathers are:
- Four Witnesses: The Early Church in Her Own Words by Rod Bennett
- The Early Church (33–313): St. Peter, the Apostles, and Martyrs by James L. Papandrea
- The Christians as the Romans Saw Them by Robert L. Wilken
- The Rise of Christianity by Rodney Stark
- We Look for a Kingdom: The Everyday Lives of the Early Christians by Carl J. Sommer
- Early Christian Writing: The Apostolic Fathers by Andrew Louth
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