"This is an unusual and fascinating book. It gathers six studies of important scholars of the Early Church who were formative influences on the author (...) SCM are to be congratulated on producing a book which charts the intellectual biography of this author: it is personal, informative and sometimes moving. It might also motivate some to follow Frend in the path of serious patristic scholarship." Mark D Chapman, Ripon College Cuddesdon.

"Frend's book, with its blend of biography and autobiography, does indeed trace the move from dogma to history of the last century, while it also highlights the problems of the discipline and the struggles of major scholars to combine faithfulness to their subject matter with loyalty to their Christian tradition." Alastaire H. B. Logan, University of Exeter, 2006.