The writings from the postapostolic period of the early church (ca. 70-150 CE), known as the Apostolic Fathers, comprise the earliest extant Christian writings outside of the New Testament. The Apostolic Fathers furnish us with an invaluable repository of insights related to the issues, theology, and exegetical practices during this period in church history. Due to the frequent allusions to and quotations of the Gospels and Epistles, the Apostolic Fathers are also an important witness to the text of the New Testament. While several Greek-English diglot editions exist offering excellent English translations, this is the first annotated version of the Greek text that provides a contextual English gloss for all vocabulary occurring less than thirty times in the Greek New Testament. A Greek Reader's Apostolic Fathers will help one develop the necessary skills for an advanced familiarity and fluency in the Greek texts of early Christianity. This reader is designed primarily as a textbook for an advanced Greek readings course, but is intended for general reading or scholarly research as well. ""This edition of the Apostolic Fathers provides what is needed to read these valuable texts in their original language: introductions to familiarize, glosses for infrequent words, and concise grammatical notes. Bandy's work fills a long-standing void, helping to expand reading ability outside of the corpus of the New Testament and into the world of the second century."" --Rick Brannan, Faithlife (makers of Logos Bible Software), Team Manager, Content Innovation ""Readers of the Greek New Testament have long enjoyed the benefits of Greek readers, which provide rare vocabulary at the bottom of each page of Greek text. Now we may enjoy the same benefits while reading the Apostolic Fathers. This is a real gift Not only will I recommend this Apostolic Fathers Greek reader to students and colleagues, but I look forward to using it regularly myself. Highly recommended."" --Constantine R. Campbell, Professor of New Testament, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School Alan S. Bandy is the Rowena R. Strickland Associate Professor of New Testament and Greek at Oklahoma Baptist University. He is the author of The Prophetic Lawsuit in the Book of Revelation (2010) and he co-authored Understanding Prophecy: A Biblical-Theological Approach with Benjamin L. Merkle (2015). He has also published a variety of articles and essays.
