Traditions

Many churches, one long conversation

Each tradition below has a small library of its most renowned works, given whole, in an old translation that is in the public domain, with its source named on every page. We describe what a work is and why its tradition values it; we do not take sides between them.

The Fathers

The teachers of the first centuries, whom every tradition below reads. Read the Fathers.

Anglican

Scripture, the creeds and common prayer in the Church of England and the wider Communion: catechism, articles and the writers its people have loved.

Revelations of Divine Love Julian of Norwich
The Catechism of the Church of England The Book of Common Prayer
An Apology of the Church of England John Jewel
The Private Devotions of Lancelot Andrewes Lancelot Andrewes

All Anglican works (11)

Catholic

The Church of Rome and its long tradition of theology and devotion: scholastic argument, mystical prayer and spiritual guidance.

The Imitation of Christ Thomas à Kempis
The Proslogion Anselm of Canterbury
Cur Deus Homo: Why God Became Man Anselm of Canterbury
The Monologion Anselm of Canterbury

All Catholic works (29)

Lutheran

The churches of the Reformation that follow Martin Luther: the confessions and catechisms that gather their teaching.

The Augsburg Confession Philip Melanchthon
The Large Catechism Martin Luther
The Smalcald Articles Martin Luther
The Apology of the Augsburg Confession Philip Melanchthon

All Lutheran works (9)

Orthodox

The Eastern churches' reading of the Fathers, the councils and the liturgy.

The Longer Catechism of the Orthodox, Catholic, Eastern Church Metropolitan Philaret of Moscow
The Brothers Karamazov Fyodor Dostoevsky

All Orthodox works (2)

Reformed

The Reformation churches shaped by John Calvin and the Swiss and Dutch reformers: catechism, confession and systematic theology.

All Reformed works (19)