Skip to content

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.

101–200

The Second Century

1 work

c. 160–170

Greek

On Pascha

Peri Pascha

Melito of Sardis · d. c. 180

A rhetorically dazzling Easter sermon reading the Passover lamb as a figure of Christ, in surging parallel clauses built for performance rather than study.

Early Church · HomilyExodusIsaiah

1101–1200

The Twelfth Century

1 work

c. 1120–1146

Latin

The Sequences

Adam of Saint Victor · d. c. 1146

Liturgical sequences in tightly rhymed accentual verse, dense with typological images drawn from the Old Testament.

Victorine · Hymns

1301–1400

The Fourteenth Century

1 work

c. 1310–1324

Latin

The Mirror of Human Salvation

Speculum Humanae Salvationis

Anonymous

Each scene of Christ's life paired with three Old Testament or legendary prefigurations, in verse designed to be read alongside pictures.

Western · Typology

1401–1500

The Fifteenth Century

1 work

c. 1300s; block-printed from c. 1450

Latin

The Poor Man's Bible

Biblia Pauperum

Anonymous

Pages pairing a scene from Christ's life with two Old Testament prefigurations and four prophets, designed to be read as much by picture as by text.

Western · Typology