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.

1301–1400

The Fourteenth Century

1 work

1367–1371

Latin

On His Own Ignorance and That of Many Others

Francesco Petrarca · 1304–1374

A reply to young Aristotelians who called him unlearned, arguing that knowing what virtue is matters less than wanting it, and preferring Cicero and Augustine to the schools.

Western · PolemicRead elsewhere

1601–1700

The Seventeenth Century

4 works

1610–1625

Latin

Theological Commonplaces

Loci Theologici

Johann Gerhard · 1582–1637

Nine folio volumes covering the whole of doctrine with exhaustive citation of scripture, the fathers, and opponents, in the full scholastic apparatus.

Lutheran · Systematic theologyRead elsewhere

1640; approved 1642

Latin

The Orthodox Confession

Peter Mogila · 1596–1646

A catechism written to answer Lucaris and to arm Orthodox clergy in Poland-Lithuania against Catholic and Protestant argument, structured like a Western catechism.

Byzantine · CatechismRead elsewhere

1675

Latin

The Helvetic Consensus Formula

The Swiss Reformed churches

A confession defending limited atonement against Saumur theology and asserting the inspiration of the Hebrew vowel points as part of the original text.

Reformed · ConfessionRead elsewhere

1679–1685

Latin

Institutes of Elenctic Theology

Francis Turretin · 1623–1687

Theology arranged as a series of disputed questions, each stating the state of the controversy precisely before answering it.

Reformed · Systematic theologyRead elsewhere