Additional information
by Philip Schaff (Editor)
"The Council of Nicaea in 325 AD marked the beginning of a new era in Christianity. For the first time, doctrines were organized into a single creed. The Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers did most of their writing during and after this important event in Church history. Unlike the previous era of Christian writing, the Nicene and Post-Nicene era is dominated by a few very important and prolific writers. In Volume V of the 14-volume collected writings of the Nicenes and Post-Nicenes (first published between 1886 and 1889), readers will discover Saint Augustine s rebuke of Pelagianism. This doctrine undermined Augustine s beliefs because it claimed that original sin did not exist. Since there was no original sin, humans were saved or lost based solely on their own will. This further meant that Jesus, while a great teacher and model human being, did not die to save humanity, negating a large portion of Christian doctrine. Augustine believed that salvation was available only by the grace of God working in conjunction with man s decision to live a good life. Spiritual seekers and students of history will find this work a thorough defense of Catholic theology."
Back Jacket
The English reader has now, in the first three volumes of this Library, a complete collection of the historical writings of the Fathers, whose permanent value, as sources, is universally acknowledged. Several of them have never before appeared in English. The unavoidable delay in the publication of the third volume has been very annoying to the general editors and publishers, but the subscribers will be amply compensated by the addition of the writings of Rufinus, which were not promised in the prospectus. It is encouraging that this difficult and costly enterprise is beginning to be duly appreciated by competent judges on both sides of the Atlantic.
