Everett Ferguson is Distinguished Scholar in Residence at Abilene Christian University. He was editor of 'The Encyclopedia of Early Christianity' (2nd ed., 1997) and is author of many works including 'Early Christians Speak' (2 volumes 1999, 2002); 'Backgrounds of Early Christianity' (3rd ed., 2003); 'Inheriting Wisdom: Readings for Today from Ancient Christian Writers' (2004); 'Church History, vol. 1: From Christ to Pre-Reformation' (2005); and 'Baptism in the Early Church: History, Theology, and Liturgy in the First Five Centuries' (2009). Ferguson received the "Distinguished Service Award" from the North American Patristics Society (2008) and the "Vestigia Award for Excellence in Early Christian Studies and Service to the Church" from the Wheaton Center for Early Christian Studies (2002).

• AcknowledgmentsAbbreviations1 Irenaeus' Proof of the Apostolic Preaching and Early Catechetical Instruction2 Catechesis and Initiation3 Christian and Jewish Baptism according to the Epistle of Barnabas4 Baptism according to Origen5 The Doctrine of Baptism in Gregory of Nyssa's 'Oratio Catechetica'6 Exhortations to Baptism in the Cappadocians7 Basil's Protreptic to Baptism8 Preaching at Epiphany: Gregory of Nyssa and John Chrysostom on Baptism and the Church9 Spiritual Circumcision in Early Christianity10 Inscriptions and the Origin of Infant Baptism11 The Disgrace and the Glory: A Jewish Motif in Early Christianity12 The Kingdom of God in Early Patristic Literature13 Was Barnabas a Chiliast? An Example of Hellenistic Number Symbolism in Barnabas and Clement of Alexandria14 Millennial and Amillennial Expectations in Christian Eschatology: Ancient and Medieval Views15 Number Symbolism in the Ancient World16 Divine Pedagogy: Origen's Use of the Imagery of Education17 Early Christian Martyrdom and Civil DisobedienceBibliography

Over the years, Everett Ferguson has been a distinguished and prolific contributor to the study of early Christianity, and especially its liturgical practices. It is therefore gratifying to see some of his output collected in these two volumes [...] Characteristic of Professor Ferguson's traditional method of scholarship has been to subject the works of individual patristic authors or particular documents to extremely detailed study of wording, and to accompany his arguments with clear quotation of the sources on which they are based, making them easy to follow [...] It will form a useful addition to the bookshelves of anyone interested in serious study of these areas of early Christianity.