Christianity in the Second Century seeks to show how academic study on this critical period of Christian development has undergone change over the last thirty years. It focuses on contributions from early Christian and ancient Jewish studies, and ancient history, all of which have contributed to a changing scholarly landscape.
Christianity in the twenty-first century is a global phenomenon. But in the second century, its future was not at all certain. Michael Kruger's introductory survey examines how Christianity took root in the second century, how it battled to stay true to the vision of the apostles, and how it developed in ways that would shape both the church and Western culture over the next two thousand years.
Tatian is a significant figure in the early Church, his work both representing and revealing his second-century context. This study offers a detailed exploration of his thought. It is also a valuable introduction to the entire period, particularly the key developments it witnessed in Christianity. Emily Hunt examines a wide range of topics in depth: Tatian's relationship with Justin Martyr and his Oration to the Greeks; the Apologetic attempt to defend and define Christianity against the Graeco-Roman world and Christian use of hellenistic philosophy. Tatian was accused of heresy after his death, and this work sees him at the heart of the orthodox/heterodox debate. His links with the East, and his Gospel harmony the Diatessaron, lead to an exploration of Syriac Christianity and asceticism. In the process, scholarly assumptions about heresiology and the Apologists' relationship with hellenistic philosophy are questioned, and the development of a Christian philosophical tradition is traced from Philo, through Justin Martyr, to Tatian - and then within several key Syriac writers. This is the first dedicated study of Tatian for more than forty years.
Through deft use of available data and texts, Wagner brings the enigmatic second century to life. Selecting five fateful challenges--issues of Creation, human nature, Jesus' identities, roles of the church, and Christians in society--he shows what was at stake for emerging Christianity and how its five key players responded. Map; glossary; bibliography.
Death in Second-Century Christian Thought explores how the meaning of death was conceptualized in this crucial period of the history of the church. Through an exploration of some key metaphors and other figures of speech that the early church used to talk about this interesting but difficult topic, the author argues that the early church selected, modified, and utilized existing views on the subject of death in order to offer a distinctively Christian view of death based on what they believed the word of God taught on the subject, particularly in light of the ongoing story of Jesus following his death-his burial and resurrection. In short, the book shows how Christians interacted with the views of death in late antiquity, coming up with their own distinctive view of death.
Paul writes that we are justified by faith apart from 'works of the law', a disputed term that represents a fault line between 'old' and 'new' perspectives on Paul. Was the Apostle reacting against the Jews' good works done to earn salvation, or the Mosaic Law's practices that identified the Jewish people? Matthew J. Thomas examines how Paul's second century readers understood these points in conflict, how they relate to 'old' and 'new' perspectives, and what their collective witness suggests about the Apostle's own meaning. Surprisingly, these early witnesses align closely with the 'new' perspective, though their reasoning often differs from both viewpoints. They suggest that Paul opposes these works neither due to moralism, nor primarily for experiential or social reasons, but because the promised new law and covenant, which are transformative and universal in scope, have come in Christ.
The book deals with thinkers and movements that were embraced by many second-century religious seekers but which are now largely forgotten or known only as "heretics": Basilides, Sethianism, Valentinus' school, Marcion, Tatian, Bardaisan, Montanists, Cerinthus, Ebionites, Nazarenes, Jewish-Christianity of the "Pseudo-Clementines," and Elchasites.
"They bring three charges against us: atheism, Thyestean banquets, and Oedipean unions." So a late second-century Christian Apologist wrote with reference to his critics. Against these and other charges the Apologists rallied. Not so, they maintained. It was not the Christians but their critics who were the atheists and the Christians were the true theists. They were atheists only insofar as they denied the fabricated gods of the cults and the immoral deities of theaters. That, they explained, was why Christians absented themselves, whatever the cost, from the imperial cult, theaters, and amphitheaters. They were not cannibals, as Thyestes was when he ate the flesh of his children. To suggest otherwise was to misunderstand Christians consuming Christ's flesh and blood at the Eucharist. Nor were they imitators of Oedipus, who entered into sexual relations with Jocasta, his Queen and, though he knew it not, also his mother. Christians did exchange the kiss of peace. They did love one another. They were not, however, incestuous. Any promiscuous love on their part extended only to a very practical love of every needy soul. This book explores these arguments, especially noting the Apologists' commitment to God's oneness, to Christians not worshipping anything made, and to humans properly caring for fellow creatures.
