Transcript 130-200 - University of St. Thomas

Apostolic Fathers and Apologists
1.
2.
3.
4.
Emperor cult.
Persecution under Trajan.
Ignatius, Letters.
Justin, First Apology.
The Murder of Julius Caesar.
The Senate declared him god
“Yet this father, this high
priest, this inviolable being,
this hero and god, is dead,
alas, dead not by the
violence of some disease,
nor wasted by old age, nor
wounded abroad...but right
here within the walls as a
result of a plot.”
Dio Cassius. Marc Antony's
funeral oration for Caesar, XLIV.
Emperor Cult
• Julius Caesar divinized
after his death
• Temples dedicated to
the genius of emperors
• Test of civil duty:
Caesar is (divine) Lord!
Julius Caesar
100-44BC
Octavian
Augustus
63BC-14AD
Ironies of history…
the cult of the emperor revived
Julius Caesar
(100-44 BC)
Vladimir Lenin (1870-1924)
Or worse still...
And almost contemporary...
Giant image of Kim Il-sung, the
father of Kim Jong Il
Persecution under Emperor Trajan
• Time: 112AD
• Place: Bythinia, Asia
Minor
• Occasion: Pliny toured
his province and
discovered a group that
looked like a secret
society
Pliny the Younger
Governor of
Bythinia 111-113
Emperor Trajan
98-117
Why are Christians a problem?
• Temples deserted
• Nobody buys sacrificial
animals
• Christians disrupt local
economy
‘Horrible’ facts about Christians that
Pliny discovered
• Christians meet on Sunday
• Sing a hymn to Christ ‘as to a god’
• Promise to each other not to act
immorally
• Eat together
• Conclusion: ‘depraved, excessive
superstition’
Trajan’s reply to Pliny
• Do not seek Christians
out
• do not consider
anonymous accusations
• Give them a chance to
sacrifice
• Punish only those who
refused to sacrifice
Temple dedicated to
Trajan in Pergamum
St. Ignatius of Antioch (35-107 AD)
• Bishop of Antioch
• Composed 7 letters on his way
from Syria to Rome
• Sentenced to be devoured by wild
beasts in the reign of emperor
Trajan
• Major issues in his
correspondence?
Ignatius’s probable travel route from Antioch to Rome
Colosseum
Colosseum
Justin Martyr and Philosopher (c. 100-c. 165)
• First Apology addressed to
Antonius Pius and his
adopted sons. How would
you date the apology? Hint:
Look up Apol. 1. 46.
• Dialog with Trypho is placed
in the time of Jewish War.
Justin’s birth place: Flavia
Neapolis (Nablus) in Palestine
Hadrian (117-138)
Hadrian sacrificing to Apollo
Bar-Kokhba’s revolt and Jewish War (132-136)
Antoninus Pius (138-161)
Pagan caricature of the Christian God (see Octavius 9. 3)
Creation ex nihilo in the Septuagint (not
Tanakh)
• The mother of the seven Maccabean brothers,
addressing her youngest son, about to be killed
by Antiochus Epiphanes IV:
“I beg you, child, to look at the heavens and the
earth and see all that is in them; then you will
know that God did not make them out of
existing things; and in the same way the human
race came into existence. (2 Maccabees 7:
28).”
Mysterious Lady addresses Hermas:
“God, who dwells in the heavens, and
made out of nothing the things that
exist, and multiplied and increased them
on account of His holy Church, is angry
with you for having sinned against me.”
Shepherd of Hermas, Vision 1. 1.
Church of Santa Sabina in Rome (5th c.).Female
figures personifying “the church of the circumcised”
and “the church of the Gentiles”
Triclinum
Mithraeum (1st c. C. E.) under the Church of San Clemente in
Rome
100
200
300
35-107 Ignatius of Antioch
69-155 Polycarp
84-160 Marcion; 100-160 Justin
105?-165? Valentinus
130?-180? Ptolemy
130-200 Irenaeus of Lyons
150-215 Clement of Alexandria
150-236? Hippolytus
160-225 Tertullian
185-254 Origen
Map 2nd c.