Dr. Sri speaks about the first-century writings of St. Clement of Rome. Why is it so important to know the historical context of the Christian Church in the first century?

Clement's writing give us a glimpse of Christianity close to the time of Christ.  I believe he wrote during the end of 1st century AD.  This is a time when Christians could not worship freely like we can today.  Today we see our freedom is diminishing.  So, understanding history can be valuable.  Even without resistance from non-Christians, unity withing Christianity has also come under attack.  To see that people have dealt with similar issues and have prevailed can give us motivation.

The writings of the first century fathers shows whether or not the teachings of the Apostles is trustworthy and consistent. In a particular sense with Clement it shows the continuity in a particular way in that he is one who is not only our fourth Pope serving from 88-99 a.d., but also was ordained Bishop by St. Peter, mentioned by St. Paul in Philippians chapter 4:3 and wrote his own Epistle to the Corinthians which was a widely distributed and read letter, considered by many to be of the same weight as Scripture into the third century before being determined not part of the canon of Scripture in the final canon of the late 300's.