Greek Apologists of the Second Century

Description

Distinguished church historian Robert M. Grant has written an importantintroduction to the thought and writings of the theologians whoaddressed the Greco-Roman world in the second century. He gives a fullpicture of the apologists, who taught and led important Christiancommunities even as they attempted to create sympathy and understandingamong pagan emperors and in tellectuals.Dr. Grant brings together the early church and the Greco-Roman world in which it arose. In doing so heclarifies an important chapter in the history of Christian theology. Theapologists, who were fully involvedin both church and world, illuminatethe social and cultural context of acritical period in the history ofChristianity.These apologists defended Christianityagainst the crude charges thatled to persecution and martyrdom;the most notable, Justin, became amartyr himself. Dr. Grant notes thatthe apologists are important notonly for church and state but also fortheology and for the rhetoric usedto express their thoughts. Theydefined and defended their own standas they defended Christianityagainst two charges: the first, thatChri tians were godless, havingneither images nor temples; theecond, that Christians violated sexualmores at their meetings. The apologists counterattacked byinveighing against pagan sexualmorality. They went on to developnorms of their own that reflectedbiblical and Stoic precedent.Additionally, they ~iscussed themeaning of justice in the context ofthe Roman failure to investigate theirway of life before condemningthem to death.While this book touches on manydisciplines, it will be of specialinterest to students of theology,classicists, and church historians.ROBERT M. GRANT is Professor Emeritus of New Testament and Early Christianity, The University of Chicago, and the author of Gods and the One God in the Library of Early Christianity.