This collection of early Christian writings sheds light not only on theological developments, but on issues of canonicity, lexicography, and ecclesiology. They are cited extensively both in lexicons (e.g., BDAG and TDNT) and commentaries (e.g., NAC and WBC). BDAG, for example, contains nearly 2,500 references to the letters of Ignatius alone! Read more about the value of the Apostolic Fathers for biblical studies.
The Logos Bible Software edition will include three diglot editions of the Apostolic Fathers with morphology added, so you're actually getting three Greek texts, three English translations, and three morphologies for each of the ancient writings...plus introductions both modern and historical. The three editions included in this product are Holmes (1999), Lake (1912), and Lightfoot-Harmer (1898). Each edition contains Greek for each of the ancient texts (Latin in a few cases where no Greek is extant), an English translation, and morphological tagging of the Greek. All introductions and bibliographies included in the original print works will also be included in the electronic edition.
We expect the Logos electronic edition to become the premier research edition for scholars and students of the Apostolic Fathers worldwide.
Apostolic Fathers and Early Church Fathers
How are the "Apostolic Fathers" different from the "Early Church Fathers"? In brief, the writings known as the Apostolic Fathers include only the texts thought to have been written by people who knew the Apostles or were one degree separated from them. English translations (Edinburgh Edition) of the Apostolic Fathers texts have been available for Libronix DLS as part of the Early Church Fathers collection, but the original Greek texts have not yet been published electronically for the system.
The Encyclopedia of Christianity 
explains the origins of the term thus, "The phrase 'Apostolic Fathers' goes back to a 1672 Paris edition prepared by J.-B. Cotelier entitled Ss. Patrum qui temporibus apostolicis floruerunt … opera. This work contained Barnabas, 1 and 2 Clement, the epistles of Ignatius and Polycarp, Martyrdom of Polycarp, and Hermas. Although the historicity is debatable, the phrase has secured a place in historical study. It now applies also to Didache, the Epistle to Diognetus, the Quadratus Fragment, and the fragments of Papias."
This article goes on to provide a concise summary of each of the texts that make up the Apostolic Fathers.
Benefits of the Logos Bible Software Edition
As noted above, the Logos edition contains three Greek texts (with morphology) and three English translations. That means you can open all six resources at once and link them to scroll synchronously...even though the texts are in a different order in each edition. For example, the Loeb edition in print (see page scans below) has Greek on the left-hand page, with English on the right-hand page. In the Libronix DLS, there is one resource for the Greek and one resource for the English that you can link together to scroll synchronously. The margin notes and footnotes are in their respective language editions. The introductions will probably be attached to the English version.
The Greek resources are displayed in an interlinear format: one line for the manuscript (the main text line), one line for the lexical/dictionary form of the word (the "lemma"), and one line for the morphology code(s). This feature uses the interlinear functionality of Libronix DLS, so you can arrange the order of these lines and display or hide each line individually. Please note that English glosses will not be included in the interlinear display; as noted above, the English is a separate resource.
You can perform simple word or phrase searches on the Greek or English text, complex proximity searches, and all other advanced searches that Libronix DLS makes possible. You can also perform morphological searches on the Greek text, looking for particular forms, grammatical constructions, or combinations of terms and morph codes.
If you own the Biblical Languages Addin, the morphological visual filter can be used to highlight words in the Greek text based on morphology. This is very helpful for identifying recurrent patterns or discourse features of the text.
As with all morph-coded texts in Libronix, you can hover the mouse over a word in the Greek text for an instant parsing tip. The texts are also lemmatized for KeyLinking so you can right-click on a word to look it up in whatever lexicon you may own.
Bible jumps (which are supplied in footnotes, since the original authors did not use citations) will preview the cited passage when you hover the mouse or open your preferred Bible directly to the passage when you click. References to the ancient writings from the introductions will be hyperlinks that jump you directly to the cited material.
Texts Included
The titles used here are from the Lightfoot edition; the other two editions contain slight variations in wording.
- The Epistles of Clement of Rome
- The Genuine Epistle to the Corinthians (I Clement)
- An Ancient Homily, commonly called the Second Epistle (II Clement)
- The Epistles of S. Ignatius
- The Epistle of S. Polycarp
- The Martyrdom of S. Polycarp
- The Didache, or Teaching of the Apostles
- The Epistle of Barnabas
- The Shepherd of Hermas
- The Epistle to Diognetus
- The Fragments of Papias (not included in the Lake edition)
- The Reliques of the Elders Preserved in Irenaeus (not included in the Lake edition; appears with Papias Fragments and disclaimers in Holmes edition)
Electronic Books Included
The Apostolic Fathers: Revised Texts with Short Introductions and English Translations
- By J. B. Lightfoot; edited and completed by J. R. Harmer
- Published 1898 by Macmillan & Co., London
This is the classic, and highly influential, edition that really focused scholarly attention on the Apostolic Fathers and made the texts accessible to a broader audience. The Logos edition will be complete with Lightfoot's edition of the Greek, his English translation, and introductions.
The Apostolic Fathers, with an English Translation by Kirsopp Lake
- From the Loeb Classical Library
- Edited by G. P. Goold
- First published 1912 by Harvard University Press, Cambridge
Contains brief introductions. This is the compact edition used for years by students everywhere.
The Apostolic Fathers: Greek Texts and English Translations
- Edited and revised by Michael W. Holmes
- Updated edition
- Published 1999 by Baker, Grand Rapids
This edition includes an in-depth introduction and a bibliography for each text and an introduction to the collection as a whole. Holmes also includes an "apparatus" of sorts, with notes on textual matters such as variations between manuscripts. The introductions to each ancient document, the bibliographies, and the textual notes make this volume essential for the serious study of early Christianity.
In 1992, Michael Holmes systematically reviewed the Greek (and in a few instances the Latin) texts originally edited by J. B. Lightfoot and J. R. Harmer in 1891. While Lightfoot and Harmer produced a magnificent work for their time, advances in the past century, including new manuscript discoveries, dictate that their work be updated. Holmes provided that updated edition complete with a critical apparatus to substantiate his textual decisions. He also revised Lightfoot's English translation to conform to current style and usage.
The 1999 edition also features updated introductions to the various writings, enhanced bibliographies with additional entries for the specialist, and in some cases additional textual witnesses.
Praise for the Print Editions
Read 5-star customer reviews at Amazon.com!
The text, translation, and notes which Holmes has provided manage to transform the work of a previous generation of scholarship into a useful resource for the modern study of the Apostolic Fathers. I gladly welcome this second edition and believe it represents a worthy and contemporary revision of the old Lightfoot-Harmer volume. This text undoubtedly should be recognized as a superior collection of materials when placed in comparison with the commonly used edition of the Apostolic Fathers that was published by Kirsopp Lake.
—Clayton N. Jefford, Journal of Early Christian Studies
Baker Book House and Michael Holmes are to be congratulated. This new edition is a worthy successor to Lightfoot with new introductions that bring the discussions up to date and enough revision of the translations to make it readable for a large audience.
—Gordon Fee
Michael Holmes has put a new generation of students in his debt. The value of The Apostolic Fathers is enhanced by new introductions, bibliographies, and notes. I welcome it warmly.
—James D. G. Dunn
Sample Pages from the Print Editions