Patristics: Primary Resources

Resources to research Early Church Fathers and early Church History

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Primary Texts

Acta Sanctorum from ProQuest This link opens in a new window
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Complete text of the Acta Sanctorum (Acts of the Saints). Includes volumes published between 1643-1940.
The source text for the database is that of the original edition, recommended by the Société des Bollandistes, and not the later incomplete editions published in Venice in 1734-1760 and by Palme in Paris in 1863-1870.

Christian Classics Ethereal Library
Full-text English or English translations of Christian writings from a variety of time periods. Searchable by keywords, authors and titles.
Digital Karl Barth Library from Alexander Street Press
Full-text of Barth's Gesamtausgabe. Also includes the Kirchliche Dogmatik in both German and English and other writings.
Digital Library of Classic Protestant Texts from Alexander Street Press
Full-text of important documents of the Reformation and post-Reformation eras. 1500-1700.
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Written by more than 300 Protestant authors, includes theological writings, biblical commentaries, confessional documents, and polemical treatises.
Digital Library of the Catholic Reformation from Alexander Street Press
Full-text of important documents of the Catholic Reformation. 1500-1700.
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Includes papal and synodal decrees, catechism inquisitorial manuals, biblical commentaries, theological treatises, liturgical writings, etc.

Index Thomisticus (Web version) from Fundación Tomás de Aquino This link opens in a new window
Full text (in Latin) of the works of Aquinas and 61 other related Latin works.
Intra-Text Digital Library from Intratext This link opens in a new window
Full text of religious, philosophical, literary, and scientific books, periodicals, complete works and archives. Available in more than 30 languages.
Library of Latin Texts from Brepols This link opens in a new window
Full-text of critical Latin texts. 1501-1965.
When prompted to “select your login preferences,” click on “IP recognition.”
Former Library of Latin Texts Series A and B are now combined.
Many sources originally published in the Corpus Christianorum Series Latina,Corpus Christianorum Continuation Medievalis, Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum, Sources Chrétiennes, Migne’s Patrologia Latina, Acta Sanctorum, Analecta Hymnica Medii Aevi and Biblioteca Teubneriana Latina. Includes the Vulgate and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament.

Library of Latin Texts - Tutorial from Brepols
Powerpoint tutorial showing how to search Library of Latin Texts A and B.

Luthers Werke in WWW from ProQuest This link opens in a new window
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Full-text of the Weimar Edition of Luther's complete works.
Consists of over 117 quarto volumes.
Past Masters from InteLex This link opens in a new window
Searchable full-text of works by major philosophers in their original languages.
Past Masters titles reproduce definitive print editions of the full corpora of the seminal figures in the history of the human sciences, including published and unpublished works, articles, essays, reviews, and correspondence. See Title List.
Patrologiae Graecae (Migne's) from Religion and Technology Center This link opens in a new window
A collection of Christian writings in Greek from the Patristic period to the Council of Florence in 1439.
Texts are interlaced with Latin translations.
Patrologia Latina from ProQuest This link opens in a new window
Full-text of Migne's collection of Patristic and medieval Christian Latin texts. 100 C.E.-1800

Post-Reformation Digital Library
Contains select books relating to the development of theology and philosophy during the Reformation and Post-Reformation/Early Modern Era (late 15th-18th c.). Also included are late medieval and patristic works printed and referenced in the early modern era. Project of the Junius Institute for Digital Reformation Research.