Review:
AD 30 – 70
- Church infancy, Jesus’ ministry
- Pending judgement based on repentance
- expectant coming of the Lord; fulfilment of OT prophecy
- Church issues (Apostolic wisdom offered – Judizers, persecution; Jew/Gentile relations)
- Church of Jerusalem flees to the mountains
AD 70 – 110
- Asia Minor focus
- Many abandoned the faith
- Lacking Jewish “exegetical intepretation”; “Universal”
- Persecution
- Missional, evangelistic, interpersonal Church
Current – AD 110 – 150
“…Christians were not to be sought, but if brought before the authorities, they must be forced to recant or be punished – the good will of their neighbours was very important. If any believed the evil rumors about them, they would be accused and persecution would break out. For this reason it was very important to show that those rumors were untrue, and to give pagans a better and more favourable understanding of Christianity…Such was the task of some of the ablest Christian thinkers and writers, known as the “apologists” – that is, defenders””. – Justo Gonzalez, The Story of Christianity
“…the early Church was above all else a noble army of martyrs”. – Bruce Shelley, Church History in Plain Language
Strange charges against Christians – cannibalism (“agape feasts”, communion), incest and fornication (“holy kiss”, wives/husbands are sisters and brothers).
Names of the period (apologists & related persons)
Pliny to Trajan (61 – 113)
https://faculty.georgetown.edu/jod/texts/pliny.html
“…they were accustomed to meet on a fixed day before dawn and sing responsively a hymn to Christ as to a god, and to bind themselves by oath, not to some crime, but not to commit fraud, theft, or adultery, not falsify their trust, nor to refuse to return a trust when called upon to do so. When this was over, it was their custom to depart and to assemble again to partake of food–but ordinary and innocent food. Even this, they affirmed, they had ceased to do after my edict…”
Quadratus of Athens (est. 80- 129)
http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/quadratus.html
“Our Saviour’s works, moreover, were always present: for they were real, consisting of those who had been healed of their diseases, those who had been raised from the dead; who were not only seen whilst they were being healed and raised up, but were afterwards constantly present. Nor did they remain only during the sojourn of the Saviour on earth, but also a considerable time after His departure; and, indeed, some of them have survived even down to our own times.”
Aristides of Athens (est. 80 – 134)
Epistle To Diognetus (sometime after 100)
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Marcion of Sinope (85-160)
Justin Martyr (100 – 165)
Aristo of Pella (100 – 160)
Melito of Sardis (100 – 180)
Theophilus of Antioch (est. 110 – 180)
Tatian the Syrian (120-180)
Miltiades (contemporary of Tatian)
Apollinaris of Hierapolis (Wrote to Aurelius in (161–180)).
Athenagoras of Athens (133 – 190)
Hermias – (200 +)
“By reading all of these apologies, historians can see what were the main objections that pagans raised against Christianity, as well as the manner in which the most cultured members of the Church responded to them, and how Christian theology developed in the very act of responding to pagan objections”. – Justo Gonzalez, The Story of Christianity