The theology of St. Ignatius of Antioch was wrought in struggle, not in the study. His letters, written on the road to his death in Rome, show him still inextricably engaged with life, and give clear evidence of the vitality of his work as bishop. He was deeply rooted in Christian loyalties -- deeply enough to die for his faith -- but at the same time he was so much in conversation with his generation that his own believes were shaped by that dialogue. Even today his thought has a vigor and freshness wholly lacking in most of the documents that have survived from the early second century. He revered St. Paul, but he had no hesitation in differing from him. His view of the church was as important as his theology. He saw men as divided inwardly and alienated from one another and from God. Only in the church, he believed, could life be found, because life was the divine gift. There, uniquely, men and women could learn to live in community, and slowly experience the healing of their separateness. - Preface.