Wednesday, June 25, 2014

The AnteNicene, Nicene, and Post-Nicene Fathers on Kindle

This might be old news to some, but I just discovered a more than affordable complete set of Philip Schaff's 38 volumes (really 37 plus an index volume) on the AnteNicene, Nicene, and Post-Nicene Fathers. The volumes cover in English translation the writings of the apostolic and patristic fathers from the late 1st century AD through the 6th. The collection spans from Clement of Rome to Origen, Clement of Alexandria, Jerome, Augustine, Gregory the Great and so on (some 65 ancient authors and church fathers total). It even includes translations of the apocryphal New Testament books.
   The entire library has now been digitalized and is searchable on Kindle for $2.99. No, I did not misplace the decimal point. Yes, under $3, on amazon: 
Click here to preview and order the Kindle version

Here is a comparison. In print form, the best deal on the published bookset (retail $1100.00) can be found on CBD for $299.99:

Click here to preview and order the print set

$2.99 for the electronic edition is an incredible deal. What a tremendous resource! How is this even possible? It is because of the auspices and faithful work of the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL - the website: http://www.ccel.org/). Ecumenical in its mission, housed at Calvin College, and available online for free, the CCEL has taken a classic set and made it available to a wide reading public and researchers.
   I personally appreciate the Kindle version and while you can download PDF versions of the volumes for free at the CCEL website, on Kindle the text is crisp, clear, searchable, and easy to read. I find PDF files sometimes freeze on my Samsung Tab reader so I enjoy the Kindle version. The PDF files are, however, nice to have as an alternative to browsing through Kindle if I want to cite the translation. You can cite the English translation of ANF and NPNF following the new pagination scheme of the CCEL or the original pagination by A. Roberts, J. Donaldson, and A. Coxe. Kindle's one big flaw is that it does not keep the original pagination of a print book, so this is a bane for researchers. However, if you enjoy just reading ancient texts as I do in a leisure setting, the Kindle version of ANF/NPNF is a God-send. 
   Thought I would share this find with you. Blessings on your summer reading!

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