Apples of Gold
Welcome to A Setting of Silver. This podcast exists to make historic Christian writings accessible to twenty-first century listeners. If this is your first time listening, welcome! If you have the time, you’ll find great wisdom and encouragement in your faith as you walk alongside followers of Jesus in the Early Church. In the words of Arthur Cleveland Coxe, the editor of the collection of Early Church writings used in this podcast,
“If you are familiar with Scripture, you owe it largely to these primitive witnesses to its Canon and its spirit. By their testimony we detect what is spurious, and we identify what is real. Is it nothing to find that your Bible is their Bible, your faith their faith, your Savior their Savior, your God their God?”
For those who have been following this podcast for some time, thank you. I’ve appreciated encouraging comments on YouTube, questions and discussion through direct communication, and through podcast statistics knowing that there are other people in the world who have taken the time to listen to these ancient Christians.
However, as Solomon teaches, there is a time for everything - and today it is time to put this project on pause. This project began as an idea in October 2021, and over the next several years I’ve sprinted through the Early Church period from the Age of the Apostles through the Edict of Milan. Now, I want to take time to sit with their writings. God willing, over the next couple of years I will be able to write and reflect on the wisdom and work of God as revealed in the Early Church. After that, I pray that I will be able to continue this project into the next Age of the Church, running from the legalization of Christianity through the fall of Rome.
In all this work, I’m indebted to people like Eusebius, Jerome, Arthur Cleveland Coxe, and the organizers of CCEL.org. Without the faithful work of Christian scholars none of us would know the stories, the struggles, or the Savior of the Early Church. While my own contribution is minor, I’m grateful to have been able to participate in some small way in making the words of so many faithful Christians accessible today. God worked in their lives and, while not as valuable as the Bible, we learn much from the faith and practice of the many Godly men and women presented in the episodes of this podcast.
Finally, the words you will find here are wonderful, but the Bible itself is an Apple of Gold to which all of this is merely a Setting of Silver. If you are not a follower of Christ, if you are not living consistent with the historic Christian faith, if you are not a committed member of a local Church, or if you are not familiar with your entire Bible, I encourage you to begin praying to God, reading the Bible, and finding a solid Church to join. If you need help finding one, the Nine Marks and Acts 29 websites are both great places to start.
If you would like to read more of the writings of the Early Christian Fathers, please visit ccel.org to view the full collection.
