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ENTIRE EARLY "CHRISTIAN WRITINGS"
LIST AT BOTTOM
OTHER (LIKELY) NON-CHRISTIAN WORKS
FROM THIS PERIOD
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0020:
"Assumption of Moses"
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0070:
Apocalypse of Baruch
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0073-:
Mara BarSerapion
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0075:
Ascension of Isaiah
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0075:
Josephus
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0080:
Sibylline Oracles IV/V
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93-96:
Pseudo
Hecataeus
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71-115:
Justus of Tiberias Chronicle of Justus of Tiberias, entitled
A Chronicle of the Kings of the Jews in the form of a genealogy, by Justus of Tiberias. His kingdom, which was bestowed upon him by Claudius, was extended by Nero, and still more by Vespasian. He was a political opponent of Josephus, against whom he is said to have concocted several plots; but Josephus, although on several occasions he had his enemy in his power, only chastised him with words and let him go free. It is said that the history which he wrote is in great part fictitious, especially where he describes the Judaeo-Roman war and the capture of Jerusalem.
"
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74-150:
The Miriam Fragment
FROM EARLY CHRISTIAN WRITINGS:
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150:
Justin
Martyr -
Dialogue with Trypho, a Jew
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150:
Pseudo
Clement: Recognitions
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150:
Melito -
Homily of the Pascha
"Who will contend against me? Let him stand before me. It is I who delivered the condemned. It is I who gave life to the dead. It is I who raised up the buried. Who will argue with me? It is I, says Christ, who destroyed death. It is I who triumphed over the enemy, and having trod down Hades, and bound the Strong Man, and have snatched mankind up to the heights of heaven." "The battle between Christians and Jews over possession of the name "Israel" goes back to the earliest days of Christianity.. the past-tense verbs found in
(Melito's) Peri Pascha 99 may indicate that the author is referring to the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE."
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165:
Hegesippus
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170:
The Muratorian Fragment
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175:
Irenaeus
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Against Heresies
"the temple constructed of stones was
indeed then rebuilt (for as yet that law was observed which had been made
upon tables of stone), yet no new covenant was given, but they used the
Mosaic law until the coming of the Lord; but from the Lord's advent, the new
covenant which brings back peace, and the law which gives life, has gone
forth over the whole earth, as the prophets said: "For out of Zion shall go
forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem ; and He shall rebuke
many people; and they shall break down their swords into ploughshares, and
their spears into pruninghooks, and they shall no longer learn to fight."
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185:
Clement
of Alexandria -
The Stromata
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198:
Tertullian -
An
Answer to the Jews
"among us, who have been called out of the
nations, -'and they shall join to beat their glaives into ploughs, and their
lances into sickles; and nations shall not take up glaive against nation,
and they shall no more learn to fight.' Who else, therefore, are
understood but we, who, fully taught by the new law, observe these
practices, - the old law being obliterated, the coming of whose abolition
the action itself demonstrates?"
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200:
Tertullian -
Against Marcion
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230:
Origen -
The Principles
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235:
Hippolytus
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248:
Cyprian -
Testimonies Against the Jews
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250:
Origen -
Against Celsus |
John |
Matthew
"I challenge anyone to prove my statement untrue if I say that the entire Jewish nation was destroyed less than one whole generation later on account of these sufferings which they inflicted on Jesus. For it was, I believe, forty-two years from the time when they crucified Jesus to the destruction of Jerusalem."
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St. Gregory Thaumaturgus
(AD 213-270) "He has blessed every age, both men
and women, both young men and youths, and old men. He has made strength with His
arm, on our behalf, against death and against the devil, having torn the
handwriting of our sins. He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their
hearts; yea, He has scattered the devil himself, and all the demons that serve
under him. For he was overweeningly haughty in his heart, seeing that he dared
to say, I will set my throne above the clouds, and I will be like the Most High.
And now, how He scattered him the prophet has indicated in what follows, where
he says, Yet now you shall be brought down to hell, and all your hosts with you.
For He has overthrown everywhere his altars and the worship of vain gods, and He
has prepared for Himself a peculiar people out of the heathen nations. He has
put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree. In these
terms is intimated in brief the extrusion of the Jews and the admission of the
Gentiles. For the elders of the Jews and the scribes in the law, and those who
were richly privileged with other prerogatives, because they used their riches
ill and their power lawlessly, were cast down by Him from every seat, whether of
prophecy or of priesthood, whether of legislature or of doctrine, and were
stripped of all their ancestral wealth, and of their sacrifices and
multitudinous festivals, and of all the honourable privileges of the kingdom.
Spoiled of all these boons, as naked fugitives they were cast out into
captivity. And in their stead the humble were exalted, namely, the Gentile
peoples who hungered after righteousness. For, discovering their own lowliness,
and the hunger that pressed upon them for the knowledge of God, they pleaded for
the divine word, though it were but for crumbs of the same, like the woman of
Canaan; and for this reason they were filled with the riches of the divine
mysteries. For the Christ who was born of the Virgin, and who is our God, has
given over the whole inheritance of divine blessings to the Gentiles. He has
helped His servant Israel. Not any Israel in general, indeed, but His servant,
who in very deed maintains the true nobility of Israel. And on this account also
did the mother of God call Him servant (Son) and heir. For when He had found the
same labouring painfully in the letter and the law, He called him by grace. It
is such an Israel, therefore, that He called and has helped in remembrance of
His mercy. As He spoke to our fathers, I to Abraham and to his seed for ever. In
these few words is comprehended the whole mystery of the economy. For, with the
purpose of saving the race of men, and fulfilling the covenant that was made
with our fathers, Christ has once bowed the heavens and come down. And thus He
shows Himself to us as we are capable of receiving Him, in order that we might
have power to see Him, and handle Him, and hear Him when the speaks. And on this
account did God the Word deem it meet to take to Himself the flesh and the
perfect humanity by a woman, the holy Virgin; and He was born a man, in order
that He might discharge our debt, and fulfil even in Himself the ordinances of
the covenant made with Abraham, in its rite of circumcision, and all the other
legal appointments connected with it. (St. Gregory Thaumaturgus; The Second
Homily: On the Annunciation to the Holy Virgin Mary)
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260:
Victorinus
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Apocalypse Commentary
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273: Alexander of Alexandia - Epistle on Arianism "The Father,
raising Him to His right hand, hath seated Him upon a throne on high, and
hath made Him to be judge of the peoples, the leader of the angelic host,
the charioteer of the cherubim, the Son of the true Jerusalem, the Virgin's
spouse, and King for ever and ever. Amen."
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306: Peter of Alexandria
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Letter to the Church at Alexandria
"By the later who lived after the destruction of Jerusalem, it was shown to
possess a most clear and evidently definite period, especially because in some
places the reaping is early, and sometimes it is late, so as to be sometimes
before the time and sometimes after it, as it happened in the very beginning of
the giving of the law, before the Passover, according as it is written, "But the
wheat and the rye were not smitten, for they were not
grown up."
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310:
Fragments
From the Writings of Peter of Alexandria "Since
the mercy of God is everywhere great, let us bless Him, and also
because He has sent unto us the Spirit of truth to guide us into
all truth. For for this cause the month Abib was appointed by
the law to be the beginning of months, and was made known unto
us as the first among the months of the year; both by the
ancient writers who lived before, and by the later who lived
after the destruction of Jerusalem, it was shown to possess a
most clear and evidently definite period"
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310:
Eusebius -
Theophania
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312:
Eusebius -
Demonstratio Evangelica
"..how can we deny that the prophecies of long ago have at last been
fulfilled?"
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312:
Eusebius -
Proof of the Gospel -
Lightfoot "probably the most important apologetic work of the Early Church." (D.C.B. ii.331.)
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319:
Athanasius -
On the Incarnation
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Refutation of the Jews
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320:
Eusebius -
History of the Martyrs
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325:
Eusebius -
Ecclesiastical History
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330:
Lactantius
"But he also opened to them all
things which were about to happen, which Peter and Paul preached at Rome ;
and this preaching being written for the sake of remembrance became
permanent, in which they both declared other wonderful things, and also said
that it was about to come to pass, that after a short time God would send
against them a king who would subdue the Jews, and level their cities to the
ground, and besiege the people themselves, worn out with hunger and thirst.
Then it should come to pass that they should feed on the bodies of their own
children, and consume one another. Lastly that they should be taken captive,
and come into the hands of their enemies, and should see their wives most
cruelly harassed before their eyes, their virgins ravished and polluted,
their sons torn in pieces, their little ones dashed to the ground; and
lastly, everything laid waster with fire and sword, the captives banished
forever from their own lands, because they had exalted over the well-beloved
and most approved Son of God."
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345:
Aphrahat
the Persian Sage -
Excerpts from
Select Demonstrations “The theology and writings of Aphrahat draw extensively on the Old Testament reflecting a religious milieu of 4th century Mesopotamia in which Christianity was seeking to define itself as separate from Judaism. (Aphrahat) praises Jesus Christ as the divine conqueror of death and fulfillment of all types and prophecies of the Old Law.”
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359:
Gregory of Nyssa -
On Virginity
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360:
Ephrem the
Syrian - Selected Works
Translated out of the Original Syriac (1847 PDF)
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367:
Athanasius -
Festal Letters
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"Now, however, that the devil, that tyrant against the whole world, is slain, we do not approach a temporal feast, my beloved, but an eternal and heavenly. Not in shadows do we shew it forth, but we come to it in truth."
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370:
Pseudo Hegesippus -
On The Ruin of
the City of Jerusalem
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370:
Gregory of Nyssa on
Virginity "Where then are those palaces?
where is the Temple? where are the walls? where are the defences of the towers? where is the power of the Israelites? were not they scattered in different quarters over almost the whole world? and in their overthrow the palaces also were brought to ruin."
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377:
Pseudo Ambrose
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386:
Chrysostom -
Homilies Against
the Jews
"In the late fourth century Chrysostom, in his apologetic works on Christianity and Hellenism, again uses the Temple's destruction as proof of Judaism's illegitimacy."
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387:
Chrysostom -
Homilies on Matthew 24
"Was their house left desolate? Did all the vengeance come upon that generation? It is quite plain that it was so, and
no man gainsays it."
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388:
Chrysostom -
Homilies on Second Timothy
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388:
Chrysostom -
St. Chrysostom's Liturgy
"Having in remembrance, therefore, this saving commandment and
all those things which have come to pass for us: the Cross, the Grave, the Resurrection on the third day, the Ascension into heaven, the Sitting at the right hand,
and the second and glorious Coming"
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390s:
Epiphanes
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390s:
Pseudo Chrysostom
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390:
Ambrose of Milan
Annotations on the New Testament: Compiled from the Best Critical
Authorities (1829)
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401:
Sulpicius Severus -
Sacred History
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408:
Jerome -
Commentary on Daniel
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410:
Jerome -
The Nativity of Christ
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412:
Orosius: Book 7 - Christian History
"After (B) the capture
and overthrow of Jerusalem, as the prophets had foretold, and after the
total destruction of the Jewish nation, Titus, who had been appointed by
the decree of God to avenge (A) the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ,
celebrated with his father Vespasian his victory by a triumph and closed
the Temple of Janus."
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Cyril of Alexandria
(375-444)
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412:
Isidore of Pelusium
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417:
Augustine -
On Pelagius
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420:
Augustine -
On Doctrine |
The Bondage of the Jews
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420: Cassian -
Conferences
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426:
Augustine -
City of God
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428:
Augustine -
Harmony of the Gospels
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455: Theodoret -
Commentary on Romans 1-8; Pages 34, 93, 158, 231, 291, 349, 407, 480,
608, 671, and 734.
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500:
Andreas
"And I saw, when he had opened
the sixth seal, and behold there was a great earthquake, and the sun became as black as sackcloth of hair, and the whole moon became as blood. And
the stars from heaven fell upon the earth, as a fig-tree casteth its green figs when it is shaken by the wind." [Apocalypse 6:12-13] "There are not wanting those who apply this passage to the siege and destruction of Jerusalem by Titus."
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507: Joshua the Stylite
- Syriac
Chronicle
"On the region of Mesopotamia also, in which
we dwell, great calamities weighed heavily in this year, so that the
things which Christ our Lord decreed in His Gospel against Jerusalem,
and actually brought to pass.." (XLIX)
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540:
Arethas
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550:
St. Remigius
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Commentary (On Rev. 7:1) "Here, then, were manifestly shown to the Evangelist what things were to befall the Jews in their war against the Romans, in the way of avenging the sufferings inflicted upon Christ."
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Oecumenius
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600: "Veronica" - The Avenging of the Saviour
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725: Irish Book
of Questions on the Gospels "One commentary, an Irish
Book of Questions on the Gospels, written about 725,
interpreted Christ's coming in Matthew 24 in light of the Judean
war, as a coming in judgment through the Roman armies."
Quoted in
Gary DeMar and Francis X. Gumerlock: The Early Church and
the End of the World
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731:
Venerable Bede
"For the greatest cause of destruction to the Jewish people was, that after slaying the Saviour, they also tormented the heralds of His name and faith with wicked cruelty."
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851:
Maurus Rabanus
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999:
St. Symeon
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Blessed Theophylact
of Ohrid (1055–1107)
Milton Terry:
"During the period extending from Gregory the Great to the time of Luther (A.D. 600 to A.D. 1500), the true exegetical spirit could scarcely be expected to maintain itself, or produce works of great merit. The monasteries became the principle seats of learning, and the treasuries of theological literature gradually found their way to them as to so many asylums. Superstition and ignorance effectually hindered the progress of critical inquiry."
(Biblical Hermeneutics, p. 661)
Alan Patrick Boyd :
"The majority of the writers/writings in this period [A.D. 70-165] completely
identify Israel with the Church." (Boyd, "Dispensational Premillennial
Analysis," p. 47.)
Gary Demar
: "Some of the earliest writers commenting on the Olivet
Discourse, most likely writing before the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D.
70, were referring to the judgment coming of Jesus, an event that the gospel
writers tell us was to take place before that first-century generation
passed away"
Gary DeMar:
"Shreds of Preterism" Among First Century Writers
(2003) "Much of
the debate over preterism comes down to when the document was
written. This is especially true for the book of
Revelation. If a document was written prior to the
destruction of Jerusalem which occurred in A.D. 70, then any
statement about future prophetic events could be a reference
to that event." |
Theology Adrift: The Early Church Fathers and Their Views of Eschatology - "In 1962, philosopher-scientist Thomas Kuhn coined the term "paradigm shift" to signal a massive change in the way a community thinks about a particular topic.. With the first destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70 and the expulsion of Jews from Jerusalem as a result of the second Jewish revolt in AD 132-135, the early Christians began to see these defeats as evidence of not only God's displeasure on Judaism, but also God's vindication of Christianity. The early Christians thus abandoned any hope for the restoration of the nation of Israel.. "
Church History's
"Preterist Assumption"
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Popular Preterism |
Biblical Minimalism and "The History of Preterism"
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The
Early Church and the End of the World
| Sketches of Church History : Chapter One - Age of the Apostles
|
Bible History Online |
The First Century: Destruction of Jerusalem |
History of the Christian Church
| Additional Church Fathers
Not Available Elsewhere
|
