Reddit reviews When the Church Was Young

Fathers Know Best by Jimmy Akin


When the Church was Young by Marcellino D'Ambrosio

I've heard nothing but good things about When the Church Was Young.

this might be what you are looking for, When the Church Was Young: Voices of the Early Fathers https://www.amazon.com/When-Church-Was-Young-Fathers/dp/1616367776

When the Church was Young, by Marcellino d'Ambrosio

I'm currently reading When the Church was Young by Marcellino D'Ambrosio. It's about the first 800 years of the church and so far is a great read.

When the Church Was Young: Voices of the Early Fathers

The audiobook for this makes me emotional at some points. Also, it's not a step by step historical account but rather a set number of scenarios of the early Church.

Pretty great! A Catholic friend suggested a companion book (When the Church Was Young) that's been super helpful. It's got a pretty obvious Roman Catholic slant, but the historical context it gives is awesome

Hi, u/Atrum_Lux_Lucis!

This is admittedly, not particularly my area of interest so I won't even try to directly respond to some of your questions as some others have. I have enjoyed reading them though!

I am responding because I remember a person mentioning a similar dilemma and I believe they found their answers in a book called the "Early Church Fathers" or something like that. Here's a link to what I hope is the right book: Early Church Fathers

Good luck and God bless!

I'd suggest Jimmy Akins The Fathers Know Best which compiles quotes from the Church Fathers and Akins enumerates them based on subject. It's not comprehensive but it's a good start and touches on a lot of things such as doctrines and dogmas, teachings and long held Church belief like contraceptives. It's a great book if you just want to look up what the Fathers have said and it's a great apologetics tool if you want to back up your positions. Either way, I think the following three books might be more inline with what you're looking for.

• Reading the Early Church Fathers: From the Didache to Nicaea by Jim Papandrea.
  
  I haven't read this one, but I do know the author and it looks like it's right up your alley. Papandrea is a Catholic professor and this book covers important documents from the Early Church period and dissects the texts and explains them to you.
  
  
• [When the Church Was Young: Voices of the Early Fathers] (https://www.amazon.com/When-Church-Was-Young-Fathers/dp/1616367776/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1479111666&sr=8-3&keywords=church+fathers) by Marcellino D'Ambrosio
  
  Another book that is similar to Papandrea's book.
  
  
• Father's of the Church
  
  Similar in content to the last two. Worth checking out.
  
  And here's if you want to read the Church Fathers directly
  
  I've constantly heard that the Jurgens 3 volume set was one of the best physical sets to buy. It's pricey, but I do know that it's cheaper on ebay so might be worth looking for it on there. (That is assuming you're within the US)
  
  
• Complete Ante-Nicene, Nicene and Post Nicene Fathers Collection by Phillip Schaff.
  
  I suggest you buy it digitally for next to nothing, it's great on Kindle and works well as a more comprehensive resource for studying the Fathers. His set is also digitalized online if you'd like to read it there for free. Absolutely no difference in content. Word of caution though, Schaff translated this in the late 19th century and was a Protestant, so his commentary may not always be historically and theologically sound. He does provide an exhaustive amount of footnotes that maintain the citations the Fathers used which is a task of its own. A great resource but with certain limitations.

Here is an article detailing several early church fathers and their thoughts on Mary.

>St. Ephraem (d.373), the great Eastern doctor and deacon, directly addresses the Blessed Virgin in several Marian sermons. Direct prayer to Mary is also found in a sermon of the great Eastern Father, St. Gregory Nazianzen (330-389). (9) By the last part of the fourth century and the beginning of the fifth, we have numerous explicit examples of direct prayer to the Mother of God, for example in the writings of St. Ambrose, as well as by St. Epiphanius. (10)
>
>As already referred to, the most complete ancient prayer to the Blessed Mother historically preserved is the Sub Tuum Praesidium (250 A.D.):
>
>We fly to your patronage,O holy Mother of God,despise not our petitionsin our necessities,but deliver us from all dangers.O ever glorious and blessed Virgin.

That prayer is what the Memorare is based on.

Here is an article on early church fathers and why they do ask saints for intercession. They talk about praying with the saints, and that it is good.

Here is an article detailing quotes demonstrating the early church fathers knew celibacy was better, especially for priests!

>St. Epiphanius
>
>Holy Church respects the dignity of the priesthood to such a point that she does not admit to the diaconate, the priesthood, or the episcopate, no nor even to the subdiaconate, anyone still living in marriage and begetting children. She accepts only him who if married gives up his wife or has lost her by death, especially in those places where the ecclesiastical canons are strictly attended to (Panarion [A.D. 376]).

Celibacy is better, just like Paul says.

I recommend reading more of the early church fathers to get a better understanding of why their faith and these things are so Catholic. These sites all list citations you can chase down, but maybe you would also be interested in this book and this book?