The Early Church Was the Catholic Church

When it comes to the history of Christianity, the Catholic Church makes a pretty bold claim: that the earliest Christians were Catholicsand that their beliefs and practices have continued unbroken all the way to the present-day Church. But the Last Supper was a long time ago, and for hundreds of years Protestants have been attacking Catholic claims about Christianitys historic origins, traditions, and practices. They prefer to believe that the earliest, purest Church had much more in common with their own congregations and doctrines. So, how can you be sure the Catholic Church has it right? Youll get your answer from Joe Heschmeyer (Pope Peter, A Man Called Joseph), who deftly joins the Catholic past and present in The Early Church Was the Catholic Church. Focusing on the first two centuries (before any Roman apostasy is said to have taken place) and on bedrock principles of Christian belief, authority, and worship, Heschmeyer digs deep into the words and actions of those who lived right after the apostles to refute anti-Catholic claims of how the Faith was practiced back then. Early Christianity is not some mist-enshrouded island of the distant past that was waiting for the Protestant Reformers to rediscover it. No, its recognizable and familiar: the beginning of a Spirit-guided line of faith leading directly to todays Catholic Church. If you want to learn to defend that Church at its rootsor if youre just curious about what our eldest Christian brothers and sisters believedyou can expect in these pages to be richly rewarded.