Skip to content

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.

101–200

The Second Century

1 work

180

Latin

The Acts of the Scillitan Martyrs

Anonymous

The bare transcript of a hearing in Carthage: a proconsul offering an easy way out, twelve Christians declining it, and a sentence carried out the same day.

Early Church · Court recordRead elsewhere

201–300

The Third Century

1 work

203

Latin

The Passion of Perpetua and Felicity

Passio Perpetuae et Felicitatis

Vibia Perpetua and an editor · Perpetua d. 203

A young Carthaginian mother's own record of her arrest, her father's pleading, her nursing infant, and four dreams — a ladder guarded by a dragon, a contest in the arena — completed by an eyewitness account of her death.

Early Church · Prison diaryRead elsewhere

301–400

The Fourth Century

2 works

c. 366–384

Latin

Against the Donatists

Optatus of Milevis

An argument that the North African schismatics have separated from a church that is catholic by definition, and that the validity of a sacrament does not depend on the holiness of the minister.

Western · PolemicRead elsewhere

397

Latin

The Canons of the Council of Carthage

The Council of Carthage

Rulings of a North African synod on clergy, discipline, and the books that may be read in church as divine scripture.

Western · CanonsRead elsewhere

501–600

The Sixth Century

2 works

c. 540

Latin

Commentary on the Apocalypse

Primasius of Hadrumetum · d. c. 560

A North African exposition drawing heavily on Tyconius and Augustine, reading the visions as the church's present struggle rather than a timetable.

Western · CommentaryRevelationRead elsewhere

c. 546

Latin

Abridgement of the Canons

Breviatio Canonum

Ferrandus of Carthage · d. c. 546

Two hundred and thirty-two canons drawn from Greek and African councils and rearranged by subject rather than by council.

Western · Canon lawRead elsewhere