rabbles, riots, and ruins: twelve ancient cities and how they were evangelized

Jerusalem, Rome, Antioch, Alexandria, Ephesus, Carthage, Edessa . . . These were some of the ancient cities that once raged against the Gospel and persecuted the Church but later came to admirable faith. Each city had its own unique commerce, culture, and institutions. Each city was different from all the others, and each became more perfectly itself through the influence of Jesus Christ.

In the pages of this book, you’ll climb the hills of these cities, sail into their harbors, look up in awe at their titanic public works, walk their streets, push your way through their bustling markets. And you’ll see how all those things shaped the expression, practice, and history of the Christianity we know today.

This is your imaginative entry into the world of the Church Fathers, the saints, and sages who converted the world to Christ. During their era--and in their hostile cities--the Church grew at a steady rate of 40 percent per decade, and practices such as abortion, infanticide, and euthanasia went from commonplace to unthinkable. The Fathers have something important to teach the modern Church about evangelization.

Among Mike Aquilina’s many works about the Church Fathers, this is his most complete and compelling overview of the Fathers’ amazing achievements.

Michael Aquilina is the best-selling author of many books on a wide range of spiritual topics. He is the executive vice president of the St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology and serves as contributing editor of Angelus News and general editor of the Reclaiming Catholic History series. He hosts the Way of the Fathers podcast and has hosted eleven EWTN television series.