Showing results by publisher "Steven Burger" in Bibles & Bible Study

The Apostolic Fathers are the Christian writers from the first and second centuries who are thought to have been disciples of the Apostles or to have been so directly influenced by the Apostles that their writings are considered echoes of genuine Apostolic teaching. Their writings form a link of tradition that binds these writings to those of the New Testament. Chief among the apostolic fathers are the three first-century Bishops: St. Clement of Rome, St. Ignatius of Antioch, and St. Polycarp of Smyrna, who were disciples of St. Peter and St. John.

Devotion to the Sacred Heart is perhaps the most widely practiced of all Catholic devotions, where the heart of Jesus is seen as a symbol of "God's endless and fervent love for all." Evidence of such devotion dates to the 11th and 12th centuries in a number of Benedictine or Cistercian monasteries. It was also widely advocated by the well-known saints Bonaventure (d. 1274) and Gertrude (d. 1302).

In the early centuries of Christianity (first to fourth century), the composition of the Bible was not fixed, as letters and manuscript were often kept separate, and different communities had different collections of texts. Many letters and sermons of the nascent Christian church in the first few centuries were persevered, even though they were not included in the New Testament.