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The Library

Forty Centuries of Christian Writing

1774 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.

301–400

The Fourth Century

1 work

c. 330–348; survives complete in Latin

Greek, surviving in Latin

The Acts of Archelaus

Hegemonius

A staged public debate in Mesopotamia between a bishop and Mani, judged by pagan referees, followed by a hostile biography in which Mani is made the heir of a line of frauds and dies flayed at the Persian king's order.

Early Church · DialogueMatthewGalatians2 Corinthians1 TimothyRead elsewhere

601–700

The Seventh Century

1 work

645

Greek

The Disputation with Pyrrhus

Maximus the Confessor · c. 580–662

The transcript of a public debate at Carthage in which Maximus argues that a will belongs to a nature rather than a person, so Christ must have two.

Byzantine · DialogueRead elsewhere

1501–1600

The Sixteenth Century

1 work

1523–1524

German

The Letters and Pamphlets

Argula von Grumbach · c. 1490–c. 1564

A Bavarian noblewoman challenges the University of Ingolstadt to debate her in German or Latin after it forced a student to recant, citing scripture throughout.

Lutheran · LettersRead elsewhere

1601–1700

The Seventeenth Century

1 work

1691

French

Treatise on Monastic Studies

Jean Mabillon · 1632–1707

A defence of scholarship as a legitimate monastic work against a Trappist abbot who insisted monks should do manual labour and pray, not read.

Western Monastic · EducationRead elsewhere