History of Christianity

Primary Sources: Ancient Christianity

Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture
A series of commentaries on the Bible, consisting of writings from early Christian writers.
Ancient Christian Writers
Print series on the writings of various early Christian writers now published by Paulist Press.
Creeds, Councils, and Controversies: Documents Illustrating the History of the Church AD 337-461
Edited by James Stevenson and W.H.C. Frend.
Documents of the Christian Church
Edited by Henry Bettenson and Chris Maunder.
Early Christian Fathers
Website containing the 38 volumes of the Ante-Nicene, Nicene, and Post-Nicene Fathers first published in the 19th century.
Fathers of the Church
Series consisting of English translations, published by Catholic University of America Press. Many volumes are available electronically as well as in print.
A History of the Councils of the Church from the Original Documents
Covers all councils through the Second Council of Nicaea (797 CE).

Loeb Classical Library This link opens in a new window
A searchable library of Latin and Greek texts, including the Church Fathers who made use of pagan culture.

Ordained Women in the Early Church: A Documentary History
Book edited by Kevin Madigan and Carolyn Osiek; available online.
Translated Texts for Historians
Sixty volume digital library of translated historical sources, spanning 300-800AD. Geographic range covering Syria, Arabia, Armenia, Georgia, Egypt, major cities of the Roman Empire, Spain, Gaul, Italy, Britain, and Ireland.

Acta Sanctorum This link opens in a new window
The Acta Sanctorum are a principal source of research into the societies and cultures of early Christian and medieval Europe, published over a period of three hundred years by the Socit Des Bollandistes. This resource brings together materials on the lives of the saints from the beginning of the Christian era to the end of the sixteenth century.
Gregorii Nysseni Opera Online This link opens in a new window
Critical edition of Gregory of Nyssa's works based on all known manuscripts, and introduced with a discussion of the textual transmission, accompanied by annotations on the biblical, classical, and patristic sources, and indices.

The Hagiography Database
This online database was developed and is maintained by Dumbarton Oaks, and contains hagiographies on the Byzantine saints in the original language.

Library of Latin Texts CLCLT This link opens in a new window
This full text database contains Latin texts from the beginning of Latin literature (Livius Andronicus, 240 BC) through to the texts of the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965). It covers all the works from the classical period, the most important patristic works, an extensive corpus of Medieval Latin literature as well as works of recentior latinitas. The texts have been taken from the Corpus Christianorum series and from other leading editions. Series A and Series B are meant to complement one another. The Cross Database Searchtool (listed next to LLT) allows searching Series A and B together.
Past Masters This link opens in a new window
Contains the major works of Augustine, as well as other later Christian writers. Contains some English translations.

Patrologia Graeca
J.-P. Migne Patrologiae Graecae, is the electronic version of Migne's Patrologiae Graecae. It contains more than 160 volumes of Greek material (with Latin translations) relevant to the study of the history of the Christian Church from its beginnings through the Council of Florence in 1439.

Patrologia Latina This link opens in a new window
The Patrologia Latina contains 221 volumes and represents a complete electronic version of the first edition of Jacques-Paul Migne's Patrologia Latina (1844-1855 and 1862-1865).
Patrologia Orientalis This link opens in a new window
A database of the Patrologia Orientalis series of patristic texts from the Christian East, containing the original version and a searchable translation.
Sources Chrétiennes Online This link opens in a new window
Searchable database of the “Sources Chrétiennes” series, which provides critical editions of texts of the first 1400 years of the Christian Church. The editions feature French translations of texts in Greek, Latin, Syriac, Aramaic, and Georgian.