Faith of Our Fathers

Why the Early Christians Still Matter and Always Will

By: Mike Aquilina

Narrated by: Greg Willits

Length: 4 hrs and 54 mins

Publisher's summary

Getting to know the Church Fathers means getting to know our own roots. It means knowing more deeply who we are as we learn more and more about who they are. The early Christians are our ancestors, our common genealogy, our family. When we look to our roots, what do we see?

That's what Mike Aquilina shows you in this book. The Fathers managed to pull off an amazing achievement. They converted the pagan world in a mere two and a half centuries. They did it without any resources, without any social or political power. They did it with the most primitive communications media. Yet their Church sustained a steady growth rate of 40 percent per decade over the course of those centuries. Maybe there's something we can learn from them. This book is a journey into that world, a tour where your guides are the Fathers.

©2012 Mike Aquilina (P)2013 Mike Aquilina

Places the Fathers in Context

This is a shorter book that is a more historical description of early Christians and the challenges they faced as opposed to early church theology. I found it complimentary to "When the Church Was Young".

You will not learn a great deal on any church father, but what you know about the early church fathers will be enriched by understanding them in a deeper historical context.

great life to share with those who hurt

loved it. buying book. may God bless you
I am buying the Twelve for gifts

feeling young again
faith comes to the elderly. nu

The Early Church

Useful history on the Early Church.
Practices still used in the Mass to this day.

More about the Fathers with less sermon

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

Not really time well spent. I wanted information about the "Fathers" of the church; I feel that I could have gotten much more from a book that focused on the Fathers.

Any additional comments?

The sermon and reading list of the last two sessions had little to do with the Fathers.

Fine for beginners, but needs meat

After the first few chapters about the Church fathers the subjects range almost aimlessly, like someone trying to pad the content. It's all still educational and fascinating, but detracts from the book's cohesion and feels more like a compilation of church pamphlets, the kind you can get at the door by the handful. The author also name-drops so many books and authors, it feels more like a catalog than a book in its own right.

The narrator's showroom voice doesn't help either. There's no sense of weight to the seriousness of the topics, which makes it hard to ignore minor pronunciation errors.

I learned something

I really didn't know what the book was about or if I would enjoy. Well, I did. This book has a lot to offer. Go ahead and read it multiple times so that you can get the most out of it.

Enjoyed it!

I enjoyed listening to this book. It was well written, informative, and enjoyable. I hope that more of Mike Aquilina's books are made it audiobooks. “AUDIBLE 20 REVIEW SWEEPSTAKES ENTRY”

Early Christians and their writings

Where does Faith of Our Fathers rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Within the religious books to which I have listened, it is high. The book is enjoyable. The material is historical relevant. The author writes in a style that is easy to understand for the lay person, and the style translates well into the audio format. It is a book of early Christian history, written by a prolific and respected Catholic author.

What did you like best about this story?

The expositions on the Didache and the Apocrypha.

What does Greg Willits bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

His tone is one of respect. There is never a hint of doubt or a hidden sneer behind his reading of the material, the quoted writings from the ancient Christians, or from the Bible. He stays true to the spirit of the material. A small hiccup: pronouncing Elaine Pagels as rhyming with "haggles" rather than "bagels". All-in-all, a solid narrator.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I had no extreme reaction. I enjoyed the the author's weaving of early church history and how to tie that into our own living Faith of today.

Any additional comments?

I wish that more of Mr. Aquilina's books were available on audible, especially "Mass of the Early Christians", "The Fathers of the Church", and his trilogy written with Cardinal Wuerl: "The Mass", "The Church" and "The Feasts".

Like a really long homily with no proof

Would you be willing to try another one of Greg Willits’s performances?

I will definitely listen to the sample first. His performance here wasn't too hot, kind of dry and preachy-sounding.

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

The author clearly respects the Church Fathers and wishes to pass on his excitement to others.

Any additional comments?

I wanted a book that described the Church Fathers, gave me (as detailed as possible) stories of their lives, and gave me extensive quotes from their writings. Instead, Aquilina glosses over the actual details and does a lot of comparing of the faith of the Church Fathers with the general apathy of many in the Church today... which isn't very helpful, because he doesn't go in-depth into their lives or writings, so not much of a comparison can be made. Aquilina comes across as preachy instead of descriptive. Not what I was looking for.