Perfect and a sure keeper.
Look elsewhere for details for I'm only adding another vote.

Elizabeth Chadwick does it again! This is the second novel I have read by her (the first being "The Love Knot") and this one is incredible too! The story begins in 1184 after Fulke FitzWarin is sent to serve Prince John, son of Henry II. His family thought it a great honor as did Fulke until John accuses him of cheating at chess, which by the way he didn't. He just plays chess better. Well, a fight ensues over this and both hold grudges against each other for a lifetime.

Meanwhile, Fulke is training under Theobald Walter, who becomes his friend and mentor. He also meets his future wife, Maude,on the day of her wedding to Theobald. Fulke's life takes many twists and turns and he becomes an outlaw. He tries to reclaim his family's estate of Whittington Castle time and time again, after his father's many attempts and failures. This struggle eventually kills his father, but Fulke endeavors to make his father's quest a realization.

After years pass by, he ends up finally marrying the woman of his dreams, Maude. However, their life from the beginning is spent running from King John's vengance. Even after all of this they manage to raise a family, endure one adventure after another and never cease to support and love one another.

The day-to-day trials and joys of the middle ages are brought to life with a wonderful perspective on how life must have been for not only the nobles of twelfth century England but also the commoners. The author really makes you feel as though you were there. So far all of her books have been winners, and if you love a great medieval story, this book is one of the best!

Elizabeth Chadwick does it again with yet another engrossing historical novel about medieval England. I have read all her other novels and was never disappointed with any of them. It is easy to see how the true figure of Fulke FitzWarin could have given rise to the legend of Robin Hood. For those who crave historical fiction about the time period surrounding the reign of King John, this novel will not disappoint. Highly recommended!

As the title suggests, this is a collection of works by Christians who lived in the Egyptian city of Alexandria. The following works are included: "On Marriage," and "On Spiritual Perfection" by Clement of Alexandria (which are technically Stromata books III and VII, the former which is only in Latin in the Ante-Nicene Fathers set.), "On Prayer," "Exhortation to Martyrdom," and "Dialogue with Heraclides," by Origen (all three books are absent from the Ante-Nicene Fathers set). There are nice introductions to each book and each author. Chadwick gives very detalied notes and explanations of Origen's "On Prayer." This is an excellent book for 2 reasons. First it is a great sample of the skilled thinkers of Alexandria. Second, it acts as a good supplement to the Ante-Nicene Fathers set.

World is so chaotic on the sphere of ethic and thought. We need so usefull guidance for us. When I read this book, I find out fresh inspiration. Specially on the direction of thought it became so effective and I want to translate in our language

This little gem by Henry Chadwick is a clear and concise introduction to three early Christian thinkers who addressed the question of how Christianity should interact with philosophy: Justin Martyr, Clement of Alexandria, and Origen. All three were optimistic about the project of stating Christian faith in terms of the philosophy dominant in their culture. Chadwick's knowledge of the period is both wide and deep, but these essays assume little or no prior knowledge on the part of the reader. They are a lucid and informative introduction to a question which continues to trouble many thoughtful people of faith.

The man whom James Joyce considered the greatest prose stylist in the language is also the most persuasive of apologists. Christianity--and the Roman Catholic Church in particular--has received routinely bad press. Newman is its most eloquent, passionate defender.

By the time I had read this book, I'd already read countless books and essays on religion and truth and love. This book offered me something extra - and opened my eyes to a wonderful new truth - mainly this - that love is enough.

Never having been trained in the social graces, I always felt like a bit of a clutz in social settings such as dinner parties and even simple get-togethers.

Drummond makes the point that if you have love - if you can feel and express love - you have it all. So instead of focusing on which fork to use for the shrimp and salad, I started focusing on how much God loved me and everyone around me.

And that little simple truth enabled me to feel more at ease in every circumstance and in every situation.

Drummond's book is about grace, love, truth, Universal spiritual laws - it's got it all. From little things (like social graces) to big things (like loving our fellow man - irrespective of his lot in life) this book will change your life.

This should be required reading for everyone.

I have always been told that faith is the greatest thing a Christian can have. I have read 1 Corinthians 13 many times before, put I just thought of it as poetic. I never realized it tells us plainly LOVE is greater than faith and hope. Without love our faith and our hope is worthless junk. This book is an easy read, and short, but full of insight and intelligence. It gives the reader a new perspective on the greatest thing a Christian can have; LOVE

I read this book at least once a year to keep me focused on what's important in my life. Love is the greatest, most important force in our universe. This book explains the essense of love and provides profound insights on it purpose and how we may employ it in our daily lives. Read it, learn it, and do it. Your life will be fulfilled!

Man, I wish I had these books when I was in school. Its not an indepth review of all of Augustine's thought & writings, but its amazing how much is packed into this little book (it will literally fit into your shirt pocket). The book will give you a great laymans introduction to Augustine, and you can be sure to impress anyone should your conversation turn towards the topic.

Recommended for the layman, just don't use it to prepare for debates with religious scholars :-)

Firstly, it should be noted that this book is not 895 pages! It is, in actuality, 144 pages - and it is a detailed 144 pages, too. This is actually the first book I ever read that got me interested in the thought of the early Church Fathers and it is a great introduction to St. Augustine. (The entire series is great, actually.)

Although this book is only a sketch, it provides some really helpful information when it comes to issues such as the Pelagian controversy and Augustine's views on Original Sin. It is interesting to note that although Augustine is held in such high regard by many today, his own ideas were sometimes reviled and considered heretical in his own time. Of course, it is also worth noting that Augustine's ideas are oftentimes completely misunderstood today; people sometimes force later developments onto Augustine.

Due to his continuing controversy - and the man is one of the more controversial orthodox thinkers in the history of the Christian Church - this book is worth reading. For those interested in further reading, the suggested readings in the back are a great place to start (I myself just picked up Peter Brown's autobiography on Augustine). For those who have no desire to become scholars on Augustine, however, this "very short introduction" is a very fine introduction as well. It is a great place to start.

With the recent resurgence of interest in the historic churches, histories of the early Church have attracted a greater audience. While this development is surely welcome, there is a growing tendency to quote (or misquote) the Church Fathers to support one's own theological position. There have also been works of Church history where the sole purpose appears to be "spinning" historical facts in order to validate theological presuppositions. Such polemical volumes are generally aimed at a large audience and so are often written in a popular style. More impartial works are often comprehensive tomes poorly suited to those seeking an introduction to the patristic era.

Henry Chadwick's The Early Church goes a long way in solving this problem. Written as part of Penguin's History of the Church series, this excellent work is a great place for those with an interest in early Church history to begin their investigations. Chadwick arranges the sections thematically rather than chronologically - allowing a clearer focus for the reader - and masterfully covers all the major currents in the patristic era without leaving his audience adrift in a sea of minutiae. Beginners to the subject of Church history may find it useful to read the book, digest the information, and then reread it, as they will be better prepared to see how the various theological and political currents interacted in the development of Christian orthodoxy.

Those who approach the topic with a theological axe to grind will not find solace in this book. Chadwick is nothing if not an honest historian and both sides in the Protestant/Roman Catholic apologetics wars may feel a bit uncomfortable at times. The centrality of the Eucharistic liturgy as the defining act of Christian worship from the Church's inception, the implementation of the episcopacy as the main defense against heresy, and the long and arduous process of arriving at a canon attack much of the contemporary Protestant ethos. On the other hand, Roman Catholic believers will feel a little uneasy at the scant evidence for anything resembling the modern papacy. Indeed, after reading Chadwick's work, the reader may come to the realization that many battle lines drawn between the two sides would have seemed alien territory to early Christians with an entirely different set of cultural presuppositions.

Although there are certainly more comprehensive works, one would be hard pressed to find a better introductory volume on the early Church than this one. For its clarity, thoroughness, and impartiality, The Early Church is the best place to start any study of this period.

Chadwick provides his readers with a thorough historical account of the early Christian church. He begins with the Jewish context into which the church was born, tells how the church grew and developed in the ensuing centuries, and takes the reader all the way to the Germanic invasions and their aftermath. The book is written in Chadwick's usual scholarly style, and has gained a wide reputation as an excellent source for the student or the layman who wishes to find out more about the early church.

His unromantic approach is one of Chadwick's strongest points, and is quite clear from the way he deals with, for instance, the conversion of Constantine and the Council of Nicaea in chapter 8. Constantine's conversion is not portrayed as spectacular and immediate as we find in certain history books. Rather, we see a military strategist who initially did not quite know the difference between Christianity and the 'Unconquered Sun', the deity to whom the Roman senate attributed Constantine's legendary victory over the troops of Maxentius at the Milvian bridge in 312, but one who nevertheless gravitated from solar monotheism to Christianity.

In my view Chadwick has done the church an immense favour by writing this book. The book has been reprinted many times, and it is widely used and referred to as a reliable source on the early church. The book does not read quite as easy as some modern works on church history, and this might be due to the fact that it was written in 1967, before the concept of 'user-friendliness' were popularised. The paragraphs are sometimes long (a single paragraph would often be longer than an entire page), and one wonders if the time has not perhaps arrived for a newer and easier to read version, edited to compensate for the collective attention deficiency disorder of the culture we live in. By doing so the book might be accessible to a much wider audience.

If you want to find a place to start reading up on early church history, then this is the place to start.

He starts out with the basic post-resurrection time of the 12 Apostle's and turns and weaves through basic orthodox church teaching, until the dawn of the dark ages. I love the way the book is written, it only took me a week to finish it. If you are a Christian looking to learn about church history, or simply interested in Christianity's early church period, you will love this book.

Augustine's Confessions combines an intellectual biography and conversion story with apologetics and theology. It is an essential source document on one of the most highly regarded Western thinkers and for early Church history. As a conversion story, it sets the standard in Christian thought. In short, any serious student of Christianity cannot afford to miss reading this book.

The Penguin Classics edition, translated by R. S. Pine-Coffin, provides a good translation. However, you are going to get what you pay for. Like most books in the Penguin Classics series, this edition of the Confessions leaves a lot to be desired. It has a bare bone's introduction, no notes to help the reader understand obscure passages, and no index. This edition is fine if you want to read Augustine without the distractions of commentary. However, if you want to seriously understand the Confessions, spend some more money and get an edition with better support.

I was asked to read this book as a freshmen in college and I loved it. It is not an easy read, but once you read over a part once more, Augustine's logic makes perfect sense. If you've read any other Augustine, such as "Freedom of the will", this book fits right in there and explains it perfectly. In fact, this book explains most of Augustine's tenants perfectly. If anyone wants to know why Christianity took such a harsh stand against sexual sins...it's Augustine lashing out at his past. He was really tormented. Worship God or worship sex. He chose God and I'm sure he thought about going back. Augustine also developed the full Christian idea of free will, which is manifested in this book as well. Augustine is an incredible figure and a role model for modern Christians. His trials are not much different from ours, seeing as we live in a society so obsessed with sex. Augustine's Confessions is one of my favorite books. A must-read for any theologian and philosopher.

After Sacred Scripture itself, perhaps no other book has brought more people to a deeper understanding of the truths of the Christian faith than "Confessions." Simply put, it's the story of one well-educated, intelligent man who led a profligate life in a sophisticated pagan society. It took his mother, prayer, and the grace of Almighty God to make him a saint--and indeed one of the greatest saints of the Catholic Church.

What is most striking about Augustine's story is how easily it relates to our own lives and our own times. It is impossible to read "Confessions" without seeing a little bit of yourself in his tales of his early life. The book is perfect for anyone struggling with their Christian faith. Indeed, it helped bring me back to the Catholic Church.

This translation is well-written and highly readable. I own it and highly recommend it.

The accomplished Christian scholar Henry Chadwick, in his work 'Boethius: The Consolations of Music, Logic, Theology, and Philosophy,' has produced a well-rounded, critical approach to the life and influence, to the writings and teachings, of the philosopher, statesman, and Christian saint, Boethius. First off, Chadwick provides a fairly extensive sketch of the religious and political milieu of the declining west that Boethius was born into: the relations between Romans and Goths, Catholics and Arians, between Church and State, Platonism and Christianity, are all laid out in a clear and concise fashion. This overview, while treating the aspects of Boethius' rearing, education, and career, leads all the way to his tragic death. From here, Chadwick begins his artful analysis of Boethius' works: his exploits in the fields of music, arithmetic, geometry and astronomy are dealt with briefly. Then Chadwick handles the efforts of Boethius within the fields of logic and rhetoric; he surveys the scholar's writings and commentaries upon the works of Aristotle and many of the preeminent adherents of the school of Neoplatonism. Next, the Christian Theology of Boethius is surfaced through Chadwick's exposition upon the five theological tractates of the scholar. And finally, Boethius' masterwork, 'The Consolation of Philosophy,' is given a fairly extensive analysis which brings to light the religion and philosophy of the Saint. Overall, this is a comprehensive study of the 'last of the Romans, and first of the scholastics,' which touches upon everything of primary significance in this great man's life. Possibly the most enduring feature of this work, is the fact that Henry Chadwick respectively placed Boethius in a seat of importance within the framework of the Early Church. Here, the Legend of Boethius is turned into a concrete fact. For Boethian studies, Chadwick's work may be the most resourceful.