Most believers are unfamiliar with the majority of what has been covered thus far. Some have an awareness of the church Fathers and Apologists discussed in the previous articles. Yet among these there is still a general ignorance of what they had to say. Even fewer have heard of the many Christian texts produced in the Post-apostolic era (beyond the 1st century). There are three texts pertinent to our discussion from this period: the Apocalypse of Peter, the Epistle of Barnabas, and the Didache. We will briefly overview these documents

The predecessors of the 4th and 5th century orators and writers presented a solid foundation upon which their successors could build. The early Apologists of the first and second Post-apostolic generations were presented with the unique challenges of defining what the Christian faith looked like without the inaugural Jesus-group leaders and teachers. They were also responsible to defend that definition, along with its beliefs and practices. The Christian community was not neutral with regard to the culture in which it found itself. Its stances and positions had to be clearly

For nearly four hundred years, anti-murder was the orthodox Christian ethic. Abortion was considered murder. Thus, infanticide in any form, be it abortion or exposure, was deemed anti-Christian. So much so that those who participated in the practice were placed outside the believing community as a consequence for their actions. Working our way back, we begin with the late 4th and early 5th century figures, Augustine of Hippo and John Chrysostom.    [Disclaimer: Our aim in these articles is to demonstrate that during the foundational centuries of Christianity, there was