Wisdom from the Ancients: 30 Forgotten Lessons from the Early Church

by Bryan M. Litfin

Old ideas. New insights. Timeless relevance for the church.

Studying the views and lifestyles of your forerunners in the faith can provide incredible guidance for how you live out your spiritual convictions today. In Wisdom from the Ancients , author and scholar Bryan Litfin paints a vivid portrait of the first five centuries of the Christian church, packed with fascinating history and applicable insights for modern believers.

As you encounter the wisdom of early Christians, you’ll be challenged to revisit the building blocks of your faith in light of ancient beliefs and spiritual practices. This book will help you reframe common evangelical ideas, including questions Christians face today, such as
Wisdom from the Ancients reveals life-changing lessons from the early church that you can take to heart today . When you set aside your modern perspectives and approach ancient truths with an open mind, the beliefs of the early Christians will illuminate your faith in a brand-new way.

Genres: Christian, Audiobook, Theology

256 pages, Paperback

Published February 22, 2022

About the author

Bryan Litfin received his PhD in Religious Studies from the University of Virginia and a Master of Theology from Dallas Theological Seminary. His undergraduate work was at the University of Tennessee in the field of Communications.

Bryan now works as Head of Strategy and Advancement at Clapham School, after serving for 16 years as Professor of Theology at Moody Bible Institute in Chicago and 3 years as an editor and writer at Moody Publishers. He is the author of The Conqueror (Revell, 2020), Every Knee Shall Bow (Revell 2021), the Chiveis Trilogy (Crossway, 2010, 2011, 2012), Early Christian Martyr Stories (Baker, 2014), After Acts (Moody, 2015), and Getting To Know the Church Fathers (Brazos, 2007, 2nd ed. 2016), as well as numerous scholarly articles and essays. In early 2022, he will release Wisdom from the Ancients (Harvest House).

Bryan is married to Carolyn, and they have two adult children. He enjoys writing, traveling, teaching, reading, spending time with family, and being involved in his local church.

Reviews

[Milan Homola · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was hoping for more primary source materials. It reads quickly but not deep.

[Cody Hester · Rating 5 out of 5]

This a great book for introducing the early church to someone who has little knowledge of this period of church history. I also appreciate how the chapters were short and general enough to not get lost in the weeds. Litfin’s writing style is also easily accessible for anyone. I would recommend this book for someone who wants to reflect on deep truths but not for someone who wants an in-depth study. I would love to see Litfin have more depth on these points especially with the Apostolic and Ante-Nicene fathers from a Protestant view, perhaps in another book. Overall it’s a great read, instructive, helpful, and a great introduction to the Ancient Church.

[Jordan Carl · Rating 4 out of 5]

A super fun read. It started off a little weird, almost gimmicky. Each chapter starts with an anecdote, metaphor, or “gotcha” scenario. It was off putting at first. Once I figured out what he was doing, I enjoyed the opening vignettes. I think the writing style is perfect for late middle school through high school (maybe up to first year of college). I would love to work through this book with a group of young men. It will challenge your evangelical presuppositions and help you realize that not everything in church history is “Roman Catholic”.

[Dan Waugh · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is good, but not what I hoped for based on the title. It is a good introduction to the early church - its theology, character and way of living. It's too sparse on citation and didn't wrestle deeply with any of the topics. It is a good book for someone with little or no exposure to the early church fathers and their writings.

[Matthew · Rating 4 out of 5]

As far as this goes, it is a pretty fair book to introduce the novice to various things we can learn from Christians in the first few centuries. I'd consider this to be a decent starting point for evangelicals to begin thinking about the role of tradition in the Christian life. Not the most in depth book, so as long as you're both expecting depth, I think it will be serviceable.

[Spencer Childs · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book with very practical but deep and thought provoking ideas!

[Kathy Burke · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved learning all these lessons. Coming from a strong liturgical background, which I eventually rejected because of doctrinal issues, I found this book genuinely helped me reassess some of the things I had thrown away. I didn't understand some of the roots, original beauty, and intent of many things I'd rejected. This book was well written, easy to read and understand. I appreciated learning the historical background and lessons from the Early Church.