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The Library

Forty Centuries of Christian Writing

1693 works catalogued century by century, from the literature the Bible was written among to the present — each with a note on what it is, why it lasted, and where to read it.

401–500

The Fifth Century

1 work

c. 410–430; authorship disputed

Latin

On the Christian Life

Attributed to Fastidius

A demanding call to moral seriousness addressed to a widow, insisting that a Christian who lives like everyone else is a Christian in name only.

Contested · Treatise

501–600

The Sixth Century

1 work

c. 530–545

Latin

On the Ruin of Britain

De Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae

Gildas · c. 500–c. 570

A furious sermon on the Saxon conquest as divine judgement, naming five British kings and denouncing them and the clergy in scriptural language.

Celtic · Polemic