A Source Book for Ancient Church History

from the Apostolic Age

to the

Close of the Conciliar Period

by Joseph Cullen Ayer, Jr., Ph.D.

Contents

• Title Page
• Errata
• Dedication
• Preface
• Contents
• General Bibliographical Note

Ancient Christianity

• Division One--The Church under the Heathen Empire: to A.D. 324
• Period I.--The Apostolic Age: to Circa A.D. 100
• Period II.--The Post-Apostolic Age: A.D. 100-A.D. 140
• Period III.--The Critical Period: A.D. 140 to A.D. 200
• Chapter I. The Church in Relation to the Empire and Heathen Culture
• Chapter II. The Internal Crisis: The Gnostic and Other Heretical Sects
• Chapter III. The Defence against Heresy
• Chapter IV. The Beginnings of Catholic Theology
• Period IV.--The Age of the Consolidation of the Church: 200 to 324 A.D.
• Chapter I. The Political and Religious Conditions of the Empire
• Chapter II. The Internal Development ofthe Church in Doctrine, Custom, and Constitution
• Chapter III. The First General Persecution and Its Consequences
• Chapter IV. The Period of Peace for the Church: A.D. 260 to A.D. 303
• Chapter V. The Last Great Persecution
• Division Two--The Church under the Christian Empire: from 312 to circa 750
• Period I.--The Imperial State Church of the Undividied Empire, or until the Death of Theodosius the Great, 395
• Chapter I. The Church and Empire under Constantine
• Chapter II. The Arian Controversy until the Extinction of the Dynasty of Constantine
• Chapter III. The Triumph of the New-Nicene Orthodoxy over Heterodoxy and Heathenism
• Chapter IV. The Empire and the Imperial State Church
• Period II.--The Church from the Permanent Division of the Empire until the Collapse of the Western Empire and the First Schism between the East and the West, or Until About A.D. 500
• Chapter I. The Church at the Beginning of the Permanent Separation of the Two Parts of the Roman Empire
• Chapter II. The Church of the Western Empire in the Fifth Century
• Chapter III. The Church in the Eastern Empire
• Period III.--The Dissolution of the Imperial State Church and the Transition to the Middle Ages: from the Beginning of the Sixth Century to the Later Part of the Eighth
• Chapter I. The Church in the Eastern Empire
• Chapter II. The Transition to the Middle Ages. The Foundation of the Germanic National Churches
• Chapter III. The Foundation of the Ecclesiastical Institutions of the Middle Ages
• Chapter IV. The Revolution in the Ecclsiastical and Political Situation Due to the Rise of Islam and the Doctrinal Disputes in the Eastern Church
• Index

Project Gutenberg Copyright Clearance

This facsimile edition prepared by La Monte H.P. Yarroll.