Program / Course 12: Patristics and Historical Theology / Lesson 1.3
What you will learn
- Define apology in its ancient sense and name several early apologists.
- List the main charges brought against Christians in the second century.
- Explain how the apologists answered those charges and what strategies they used.
- Judge what the apologies can and cannot tell a modern reader about Christian belief.
The big idea
In the second century, the word apology did not mean saying sorry. It meant a speech or writing in defense. Christians who wrote apologies were answering rumors, laws and philosophical objections raised against their way of life. They addressed emperors and educated readers, and they argued that Christians were moral, loyal and reasonable. The apologies are among the best evidence of how Christians presented themselves to outsiders, and of what outsiders found strange or threatening about them.
Key terms
- Apology (apologia)
- A Greek word for a speech of defense, as in a court. Christian apologies defended the faith and its followers.
- Apologist
- A writer who defends the faith to those outside it, or to those who doubt it.
- Atheism (in the ancient sense)
- In the Roman world, a charge against those who refused to honor the gods of the city. It did not mean denying that any divinity exists.
- Pagan
- A later word for a follower of the traditional Greek and Roman religions. It is used here as a convenient label and not as an insult.
- Emperor cult
- The practice of offering honors, and in some places sacrifice, to the emperor or his image as a sign of loyalty.
- Rhetoric
- The art of persuasive speech and writing, taught in Greek and Roman schools.
- Slander
- A false statement that damages someone’s reputation.
Background
Christianity grew within a world that had its own religions, its own philosophy and its own laws. Many Romans thought a new religion that denied the gods was dangerous, because they believed the gods protected the city. When a plague, a famine or an earthquake struck, it was easy to blame the people who refused to honor the gods. Christians were also hard to categorize. Judaism was an ancient ancestral religion that the empire usually tolerated. Christianity was neither a nation nor an old tradition, and it welcomed Gentiles who left their ancestral worship.
The apologists emerged in this setting. The earliest known examples are fragmentary or lost: Quadratus and Aristides are said to have written to the emperor Hadrian in the early second century. The best-known are Justin Martyr, Tatian, Athenagoras, Theophilus of Antioch and Melito of Sardis, who wrote in Greek. In the Latin West, Tertullian wrote his Apology around the year 197. The unsigned Epistle to Diognetus is another well-loved example.
It is not clear that an emperor ever read an apology. Many scholars think these works were aimed in practice at educated readers, including Christians who needed arguments, and perhaps at local officials. Whoever the real audience was, the writings show how Christians wished to be understood.
Step-by-step explanation
Step 1: The charges
Outsiders brought several kinds of accusation. The first was atheism: Christians refused to worship the gods or the emperor. The second was immorality in secret. Rumors said that Christians ate children at their meals, which is probably a distorted version of what was said about the Eucharist, and that they committed incest, perhaps a distortion of the way members called one another brother and sister and greeted one another with a holy kiss.
A third accusation was political disloyalty. By refusing the emperor cult, Christians seemed to withhold the respect owed to the state. A fourth was novelty. Romans prized ancient custom, and a religion with no long history seemed suspect. Finally, educated critics such as the philosopher Celsus, whose attack is known mainly through Origen’s reply in the next century, said that Christianity appealed to the uneducated and rested on a recent and foolish story.
Step 2: Answering the rumors
The apologists first denied the crimes and then pointed to the conduct of Christians. Justin and Athenagoras argue that people who believe in judgment after death, and who are taught to love their enemies, have strong reasons to avoid wrongdoing. The Epistle to Diognetus says that Christians live in ordinary cities, marry, raise children and obey the laws, while following a higher standard. It compares the role of Christians in the world to that of a soul in a body.
They also turned the charge of atheism around. Christians did not deny divinity. They denied that stone and wood images were gods, and they worshipped the one God who made all things. Philosophers such as Socrates had been condemned on similar grounds, they noted.
Step 3: Claiming the past
The charge of novelty was answered by an argument from antiquity. The apologists said that Christianity was in fact the oldest religion, since it fulfilled the writings of Moses and the prophets, which were older than the Greek poets and philosophers. Some argued that the best Greek thinkers had borrowed from Moses, a claim that modern historians do not accept. Others said that philosophers had grasped parts of the truth that were fully revealed in Christ, an approach examined in the next lesson on Justin.
This move matters. It shows that early Christians saw the Old Testament as their own book, and that they tried to show continuity with a respected past while remaining distinct from the Jewish community.
Step 4: Loyalty and prayer for the emperor
The apologists insisted that Christians were not enemies of Rome. They pointed to Scripture, in which Christians are told to honor the king and to pray for those in authority (1 Timothy 2:1-2; 1 Peter 2:17). Tertullian argues that Christians pray for emperors and for the stability of the empire. At the same time, they refused to give the emperor the worship due to God. They called the emperor a human being, great but not divine.
The tension was real. Some officials saw refusal of sacrifice as treason. The apologists tried to show that a person can be loyal to the state and still refuse to worship its ruler.
Step 5: What the apologies leave out
A reader should remember that an apology is not a full statement of doctrine. The apologists wrote for outsiders and often left out the more intimate parts of Christian life, such as the details of the Eucharist or the deeper teaching given to new believers. They emphasize the moral life and the unity of God. They say less about the Trinity, although the Son and the Spirit are mentioned. A modern reader should not conclude that anything omitted was unknown.
- Which charge against the Christians is most understandable, and which is least?
- How would you defend your own beliefs to someone who suspects your group of crimes?
- Why did the apologists stress moral behavior so strongly?
- What are the risks of defending the faith in the language of the surrounding culture?
- What does the claim that Christianity is very old accomplish for the apologists?
- How does 1 Peter 3:15 describe the attitude of a good defense?
Examples
A rumor refuted
Athenagoras, writing to the emperors Marcus Aurelius and Commodus around 177, argues that Christians, who believe that all will give an account to God, could hardly commit the crimes of which they are accused. He points out that no one has proved the charges, and that those accused were not even asked about the deeds, only about their name.
Christians in the world
The Epistle to Diognetus describes Christians as sharing the food, language and clothing of their neighbors, yet living as resident foreigners. It sets the outward ordinariness of their lives beside their distinct loyalties. Many readers find this one of the most beautiful passages from the second century.
A challenge from outside
Celsus, a pagan critic, wrote a work against the Christians, called the True Doctrine, probably in the later second century. It no longer survives as a whole. Most of it is known because Origen quoted it at length while replying about seventy years later. This is an example of how the opponents of Christianity can be known mainly through the Christian response.
Different perspectives
Catholic
Catholic teaching has a long tradition of apologetics and treats the early apologists as the first in a line of defenders of the faith. The Catechism commends the use of reason in explaining the faith, and Catholic scholars often stress the apologists’ effort to show the harmony of faith and reason.
Orthodox
Orthodox writers honor the apologists as Fathers who proclaimed the faith to the pagan world. They often emphasize that the aim was witness, not winning arguments, and they note that the apologists spoke in the language of philosophy without turning faith into philosophy.
Protestant
Protestants, especially evangelicals, often take the apologists as models for engaging culture, citing 1 Peter 3:15. Some Protestants also warn, with Tertullian a little later, against letting philosophy shape doctrine. The apologists are therefore treated both as examples and as a case study of the risks of borrowing.
Jewish and secular scholarly views
Jewish scholars note that the apologists claimed the Scriptures of Israel for the church, and that this claim sat uneasily alongside criticism of Jews in some of their writings. Secular historians read the apologies as sources on the position of a minority religion in the Roman world and on the rhetoric of defense.
Why it matters
Every generation of Christians has to explain itself to neighbors who may misunderstand it. The apologists show an early and thoughtful way of doing so: deny the false charges, point to a life that can be seen, and give reasons without losing the center of the faith. The study of their work also teaches caution, since every defense uses the language and categories of its time.
Common misunderstandings
Misunderstanding: Apology means the Christians said they were sorry.
Correction: The Greek word apologia means a defense, as in a court. The apologists were not apologizing but making their case.
Misunderstanding: The apologists wrote only to emperors who read their work.
Correction: They addressed emperors in form, but many historians think the readers were mostly educated people and fellow Christians. There is little evidence that an emperor responded.
Misunderstanding: Christians were accused only because of their beliefs.
Correction: Their refusal to join in civic religious acts, their private meetings and the rumors about them all played a part, along with local conflicts and fears.
Misunderstanding: Every claim in the apologies is historically sound.
Correction: Some arguments, such as the claim that Greek philosophers copied from Moses, are not accepted by modern historians. A reader should separate the lasting arguments from the ones tied to their time.
Knowledge check
What does apology mean in this context?
It comes from the Greek apologia, a speech of defense in court. An apology in this sense is a reasoned defense of a person, group or belief. The Christian apologists defended Christians against accusations and explained the faith to outsiders. It has nothing to do with expressing regret.
Name three charges brought against second century Christians.
Common accusations included atheism (refusing to honor the gods), immoral secret rites such as cannibalism and incest, disloyalty to the emperor, and novelty (having no ancient pedigree). Any three of these are correct. Some critics also said that Christianity appealed mainly to the uneducated.
How did the apologists answer the charge that Christianity was new?
They argued that Christianity fulfilled the writings of Moses and the prophets, which were older than the Greek poets and philosophers, so that the faith was in fact the oldest. Some added that Greek thinkers had borrowed from Moses, a claim that modern scholars generally reject.
Why should a reader not treat an apology as a full statement of Christian doctrine?
Apologies were written for outsiders and focused on conduct, the unity of God and the reasonableness of faith. They often left out the inner life of the church, including detailed teaching and worship. Silence on a topic does not prove that Christians did not hold it.
Think it through
- What do you think is the best way to answer a false rumor about your community?
- Where is the line between explaining the faith in a culture’s language and being shaped by it?
- Why did the early Christians stress being good neighbors?
- How do you decide whether an argument is still useful or tied too closely to its era?
Independent assignment
Charge and reply
In your notebook, make a two column table. In the left column list five accusations made against Christians in the second century. In the right column summarize how an apologist answered each, naming the writer. Then write a paragraph of 150 words stating which answer you find strongest and which weakest, and why. Aim for 400 to 500 words in all.
Further study
- Justin Martyr, The First Apology Read the opening chapters on the unjust treatment of Christians and the chapters on their way of life.
- Tertullian, The Prescription Against Heretics Read for Tertullian’s wariness about philosophy, and compare it with the apologists’ approach.
- Justo L. Gonzalez, The Story of Christianity Read the chapters on the early church and the Roman state.
- Origen, On First Principles (De Principiis) Note how a later writer reasoned about the faith in the language of philosophy.
- 1 Peter 3:15 Be ready to give an answer with meekness and fear.
- 1 Timothy 2:2 Prayer for kings and all in authority.
- Acts 17:22 Paul addresses the Athenians at the Areopagus.