Early Christian Literature: Christ and Culture in the Second and Third Centuries (Routledge Early Church Monographs)

281 Pages·2005·0.9 MB·English

by  Helen Rhee

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EARLY CHRISTIAN
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LITERATURE
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111 Christians in the formative period of their religion, from the mid-
first to early third centuries, sought new ways of relating their lives
to the dominant society that surrounded them. As doctrine and prac-
tice became established, hostility from the wider world was often
extreme. Christians used many literary forms to strengthen their own
self-definition. Prominent among these were the Apologies as well
as the semi-fictional Apocryphal Acts and Martyr Acts. These forms
0111 used the existing literary patterns of Greco-Roman society to present
distinctively Christian ideas, attitudes and adventures.
In this thoroughgoing study, Helen Rhee shows how the forms
of classical genre were adapted to present the superiority of Chris-
tian monotheism; the superiority of Christian sexual morality; and
Christian (dis)loyalty to the Empire. These propagandistic writings
shaped the theological, moral and political trajectories of Christian
faith and contributed largely to the definition of orthodoxy.
This outstanding work of scholarship explores issues of cultural
identity in an area which has hitherto lacked definition. In clear
0111 prose the author presents arguments that will be of equal interest
to the student of early Christianity and of Greco-Roman literary
culture and civilization.
Helen Rhee is Assistant Professor of World Christianity at
Westmont College, Santa Barbara, California. She researches on
the second- and third-century Christian literature, focusing on the
diverging Christian self-identities in relation to Greco-Roman
culture and society.
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EARLY CHRISTIAN
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LITERATURE
Christ and culture in the second
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1 and third centuries
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Helen Rhee
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11 First published 2005
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
270 Madison Ave, New York, NY 10016
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2005.
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“To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s
collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.”
© 2005 Helen Rhee
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be
reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any
electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter
invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any
information storage or retrieval system, without
permission in writing from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
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Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
A catalog record for this book has been requested
ISBN 0-203-00154-0Master e-book ISBN
ISBN 0–415–35488–9 (pbk)
ISBN 0–415–35487–0 (hbk)
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111 TO MY BELOVED FAMILY
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CONTENTS
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111 Acknowledgments ix
Abbreviations xi
Introduction 1
1 Second-century Christian literature in its
historical-cultural context 9
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Christianity in the mid-second and the early third
centuries 9
Christian interaction with Greco-Roman society 12
Literature of the second century: the Apologies, Apocryphal
Acts, and Martyr Acts 20
Triangular relationship 47
2 The superiority of Christian monotheism 49
Apologies: Christianity as true philosophy 50
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Apocryphal Acts: Christianity as true power 71
Martyr Acts: Christianity as true piety 88
Summary and conclusion 102
3 The superiority of Christian sexual morality 106
Asceticism in general: the controlling paradigm 106
Asceticism: sexual chastity and renunciation 108
Chastity, marriage, and family in Greco-Roman society:
ideology and practice 109
0111 Marriage and celibacy in the New Testament 113
Apologies: harmony with the established social order 117
1111 Tatian and encratism 123
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CONTENTS
111 Apocryphal Acts: antithesis of the social ideal and
resistance to the social order 125
Martyr Acts: renunciation of social mores 143
Summary and conclusion 156
4 Christian loyalty to the Empire 159
Imperial cult: unity of religion and politics 159
Apologies: Christian loyalty to the Empire 164
Apocryphal Acts: Christian subversiveness to the
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Empire 171
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Martyr Acts: Christian resistance to the Empire 179
Summary and conclusion 186
Conclusion 189
Notes 195
Bibliography 228
Index 260
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
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This book grew out of my Ph.D. dissertation submitted to the
Center for Advanced Theological Studies at the School of Theology,
Fuller Theological Seminary. My gratitude first goes to my super-
visor, Dr David M. Scholer, for his breadth and depth of scholarship
in Patristics and New Testament, and for his valuable friendship
and relentless support in the midst of his medical struggles. I thank
my second reader, Dr Cecil M. Robeck, Jr, for his consistent encour-
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agement and timely suggestions throughout my study, especially
deepening my critical appreciation for the early Christian martyrs.
I would also like to thank my external reader, Dr Everett Ferguson
in Abilene Christian University, for offering me constructive com-
ments and helpful suggestions.
Moreover, I wish to thank Dr S. Scott Bartchy at the University
of California, Los Angeles, for reading and providing insightful sug-
gestions on Chapter 3. I am grateful to Dr Mary Hope Griffin for
sending me her unpublished dissertation on early Christian martyr-
dom. Other distinguished scholars – Judith Perkins, Gail P.C.
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Streete and Dennis MacDonald – sent me their papers that were read
at the annual meetings of the Society of Biblical Literature.
I also want to extend my thanks to Dr James Bradley, with
whom I had the joy and privilege of working as a teaching assis-
tant for many quarters at Fuller. I would like to acknowledge other
faculty and staff at Fuller Theological Seminary who have offered
me valuable assistance and services: Dr Glen Stassen (for helping
me understand R. Niebuhr correctly), Dr Robert Hurteau and Dr
Anne Collier-Freed (as current and former program directors of the
0111 CATS), Jeannette Scholer (as a director of academic programs and
for her loving care), and all the fabulous staff of McAlister Library
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