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Rating: 
Summary: A Valuable Link to the Post-Apostolic Church Fathers
Review: Early Christian Writings is an excellent collection of the works of the Post-Apostolic Church Fathers. It is for anyone looking for literature that opens a window into the Post-Apostolic Early Church. The epistles included are The First Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians; The Epistle of Ignatius to the Ephesians, Magnesians, Trallians, Romans, Philadelphians, Smyrnaeans, and to Polycarp; The Epistles of Polycarp to the Philippians; along with the Epistles to Diognetus and Barnabas. The book also includes the Didache and the martyrdom of Polycarp. For some reason Louth did not include the Shepherd of Hermas and the fragments of Papias, though he does mention them as being part of Cotelier's collection of writings by the Church Fathers. If you are interested in the writings of the Church Fathers, and have never read such a collection, you can have some enjoyable and moving reading ahead of you. In reference to his pending martyrdom Ignatius writes, "I am His (God's) wheat, ground fine by the lions' teeth to be made purest bread for Christ" (Romans 4). He also says, "To die in Jesus Christ is better than to be monarch of earth's widest bounds. He who dies for us is all I seek; He who rose again for us is my whole desire" (Romans 6). The Epistle to Diognetus contains a vivid and compelling description of the early Christians. The second half of the Didache is full of interesting guidelines and instructions to the early believers on such things as baptism and fasting. Louth includes some good commentary about the fascinating account of the martyrdom of Polycarp. The translation by Staniforth is very readable. The introductions by Louth are interesting, helpful, and well written. The notes following each book provide the author's commentary of the passage, assistance on difficult passages, insight into the mindset of the writer, important historical information, and other resources for further study. These early church writings are available on the Internet but I have not found any Internet sources that provide as good a presentation of the writings as Early Christian Writings. The inclusion of The Shepherd of Hermas and the fragments of Papias would have made it a more comprehensive collection. Despite this exclusion, for those looking for such a collection, I recommend Early Christian Writings.
Rating:
Summary: It's alright, better collections await, though.
Review: I would go for a larger collection, even though this translation is more contemporary than most, there are larger collections available which is important so as to be able to compare and contrast the texts of different times. I wasn't a huge fan of it but I've read all of the texts in various different translations previous to this so I was able to compare in addition to having done quite a lot of study on the history, authors, and documents presented in this translation. far more historical background is needed in this book so as not to allow these excellent works to be simply documents or writttings, but rather writtings expressing extremely important theology and facts or history. An antique vase is only a piece of glass in a funny shape until one knows how difficult it is to make one and get that "funny" shape and the history of the vase and the culture, ideology, and person(s) responsible for expressing the artistic nature which the vase expresses, then it becomes priceless. Such it is with these writtings, more historical background needed to be given for those less informed about it.
Rating: 
Summary: Early Christian Writings
Review: Staniforth's is a superb translation of the Apostolic Fathers, the best I have ever come across. It is very readable. Each writing comes with an introdution by the editor detailing its history --- when and where it was written, etc. --- and discussing its main themes. This would make a excellent addition to the library of anyone interested in early Christianity. The texts included in this volume are 1 Clement; the 7 epistles of Ignatius to the Ephesians, Magnesians, Trallians, Romans, Philadelphians, Smyrnaeans, and Polycarp; the epistle of Polycarp to the Philippians; the Martyrdom of Polycarp; the Epistle to Diognetus; the Epistle of Barnabas (despite what one of the previous reviewers says, it's included in this volume); and the Didache. Conspicuously absent are the Shepherd of Hermas and the fragments of Papias. Both have usually been considered Apostolic Fathers, and I am a little baffled at their omission. Other recommended Penguin Classics: "The Jewish War" by Josephus, "The History of the Church" by Eusebius.
Rating:
Summary: Early Christian Writings
Review: Staniforth's is a superb translation of the Apostolic Fathers, the best I have ever come across. It is very readable. Each writing comes with an introdution by the editor detailing its history --- when and where it was written, etc. --- and discussing its main themes. This would make a excellent addition to the library of anyone interested in early Christianity. The texts included in this volume are 1 Clement; the 7 epistles of Ignatius to the Ephesians, Magnesians, Trallians, Romans, Philadelphians, Smyrnaeans, and Polycarp; the epistle of Polycarp to the Philippians; the Martyrdom of Polycarp; the Epistle to Diognetus; the Epistle of Barnabas (despite what one of the previous reviewers says, it's included in this volume); and the Didache. Conspicuously absent are the Shepherd of Hermas and the fragments of Papias. Both have usually been considered Apostolic Fathers, and I am a little baffled at their omission. Other recommended Penguin Classics: "The Jewish War" by Josephus, "The History of the Church" by Eusebius.
Rating:
Summary: A good survey of the (very) early church
Review: This book contains many post-apostolic writings of the early church. Most were written very soon after the apostolic age however. The translation and footnotes are for the most part rendered in modern English and flow well. The footnotes and introductions to each book are helpful. This would be a good book to buy if you wish to begin studying the early church.
Rating: 
Summary: Good for laypersons
Review: This collection is a decent collection and translation of the Apostolic Fathers for the general reader. I have two gripes though.
One is that the Shepherd of Hermas is not included. I would imagine this was because of its length, but the collection seems woefully inadequate without it.
The second is that the verse and chapter numbers are not given in a form that makes them the least bit usable when looking up passages that are referenced in other books.
For research purposes, I would recommend the Loeb Classical Library editions or the excellent one volume reworking of the Lightfoot edition available from Baker Books edited by Michael Holmes.
But if you're not out to be the next Jarislav Pelikan or J.N.D. Kelley, then this should do just fine for some interesting and inspiring reading.
Rating:
Summary: Good Introduction to the Apostolic Fathers
Review: Very good introduction to the writings of the apostolic fathers. However, I feel it was a major oversight for the author and/or publisher not to include the Epistle of Barnabus and Shepherd of Hermas in the book since these two documents are crucial to the study of early church literature. Apart from this obvious mistake, a very good book.
Rating:
Summary: Good Introduction to the Apostolic Fathers
Review: Very good introduction to the writings of the apostolic fathers. However, I feel it was a major oversight for the author and/or publisher not to include the Epistle of Barnabus and Shepherd of Hermas in the book since these two documents are crucial to the study of early church literature. Apart from this obvious mistake, a very good book.
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