Dr. Ferguson is former president of the North American Patristics Society and a member of the councils of the American Society of Church History and the Association Internationale D’Etudes Partistiques. The Early Church in Its Context: Essays in Honor of Everett Ferguson, ed. Abraham J. Malherbe, Frederick W. Norris, and James W. Thompson (Leiden: E.J. Brill) was published in 1998 to honor his work. His has been the co-editor of the Journal of Early Christian Studies and the author of several publications: These include Backgrounds of Early Christianity (Eerdmans, 2nd ed. 1993), Encyclopedia of Early Christianity, ed. (Garland, 2nd ed. 1997), Recent Studies in Early Christianity, ed. (Garland, 1999), The Church of Christ: A Biblical Ecclesiology for Today (Eerdmans, 1996), and Baptism in the Early Church: History, Theology, and Liturgy in the First Five Centuries (Eerdmans, 2009). He has traveled extensively to study and has led guided tours of both Greece and Turkey.
Collection description:
The Ferguson collection consists of over 9600 color slides taken by Dr. Ferguson while on trips to study the antiquities of Europe, Israel, Turkey, Greece and Egypt. The slides are primarily photographs of museum artifacts and include coins, sculptures, and portrait busts depicting the art and objects of ancient civilizations and early Christianity. Also included are slides of buildings related to the history of these early civilizations and the beginnings and development of Christianity. Images include those of early Christian churches, basilicas and cathedrals as well as images of modern and ancient cities and archaeological sites in Israel, Turkey, Greece, ancient Rome, and throughout Europe. The objects photographed are from exhibits at the British Museum, the Ashmolean, the Louvre and other prominent museums of Europe and the Mediterranean countries. These slides document Dr. Ferguson's travels. He used them as visual aids to his lectures on ancient world history and religion and the development and art and symbolism of early Christianity through the Middle Ages.