'Among historians of the Early Church in Europe today, none surpasses Professor Cullmann, wrote Professor F. F. Bruce in a review of this book, adding: 'this volume of studies is assured of wide and eager acceptance.' A reviewer from a quite different religious background, Father Gervase Mathew, O.P., noted that these essays are 'marked by three rare qualities: strong sanity, exact scholarship and Christian charity'. 'All are written with the author's customary distinction, clarity and orderliness,' said an Anglican, Canon Montefiore, about this 'fine collection of brilliant essays'.

The Early Church was first published in English in 1956. For this edition five of the chapters (2-6) have been selected as being of special importance, but the original pagination has been retained for the convenience of scholars. This arrangement, suggested by the volume's editor Dr A.J.B. Higgins, has been approved by Dr Cullmann.