Early Christian Library

The aim of the project is to study the most important documents of the early Christian literature and to make them accessible to other researchers and broader public as well. The project is being pursued by the staff of the Centre for Biblical Studies of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic and the Charles University in Prague. The single volumes of the Library are being prepared together with the publishing house Vyšehrad, Prague.

In view of the fact that this area was widely neglected in the Czech Republic during the past decades, today we are laying stress on the fabrication of the annotated Czech translations of the basic texts. The texts are being translated from the original languages (mostly Greek, Latin, Coptic) and accompanied with a commentary dealing with the Sitz im Leben and the literary and theological characteristics of the individual writings.

In accordance with our priorities, the apocryphal writings related to the New Testament have been published in two volumes (apocryphal Gospels 2001; apocryphal Acts 2003; the third volume containing the apocryphal Apocalypses and Prophecies is being prepared). The writings of the Apostolic Fathers and the Early Christian Apologies come next in succession. In a longer perspective, the electronic publication is also being planned.