Rod Bennett

What was the early Church like? Contrary to popular belief, Rod Bennett shows there is a reliable way to know. Four ancient Christian writers--four witnesses to early Christianity --left us an extensive body of documentation on this vital subject, and this book brings their fascinating testimony to life for modern believers. With all the power and drama of a gripping novel, this book is a journey of discovery of ancient and beautiful truths through the lives of four great saints of the early Church--Clement of Rome, Ignatius of Antioch, Justin Martyr, and Irenaeus of Lyons.… (meer)

Four Witnesses; the Early Church in her own Words. Rod Bennett. 2002. This is a fascinating history of the first 200 years of the church beginning with Pentecost. The four witnesses in the title are Clement of Rome, Ignatius of Antioch, Justin Martyr, and Irenaeus of Lyon. The author intersperses the writings of these early church fathers with accounts of their lives and what is happening in the Roman Empire. He also uses excerpts from Josephus, Eusebius, and other classical and religious writers to give a very readable account of the early days of Christianity and its world.… (meer)

The theory goes like this: Just a few centuries after Christ's death, around the time the Roman Empire converted to Christianity, the true Faith suffered a catastrophic falling-away, so obscured by worldliness and pagan idolatry, kicking off the Dark Ages of Catholicism, that Christianity required a complete reboot. This theory is popular]] but it's also fiction. This idea of a "Great Apostasy" is one of the cornerstones of American Protestantism, along with Mormonism, the Jehovah's Witnesses, and even Islam. Countless millions today profess a faith built on the assumption that the early Church quickly became broken beyond repair, and needed restoration to the "pure" teaching of Jesus and the apostles. Amid imperial intrigue, military menace, and bitter theological debate, a hero arises in the form of a homely little monk named Athanasius, who stands against the world to prove that there could never be a Great Apostasy because Jesus promised his Church would never be broken With the touch of a master storyteller, Rod Bennett narrates the drama of the early Church's fight to preserve Christian orthodoxy, while powerful forces try to smash it… (meer)