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A HISTORY OF EARLY CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE BEFORE THE COUNCIL OF NICAEA VOLUME THREE THE· ORIGINS OF LATIN CHRISTIANITY JEAN DANIELOU Translated by DAVID SMITH and JOHN AUSTIN BAKER Edited and with a Postscript by JOHN AUSTIN BAKER LONDON PHILADELPHIA DARTON, LONGMAN & TODD THE WESTMINSTER PRESS 07646q Darton, Longman & Todd Ltd 85 Gloucester Road London SW7 4SU CONTENTS The Westminster Press Witherspoon Building Philadelphia Pennyslvania 19107 List of Abbreviations IX First published 1977 Acknowledgments Xl znd impression 1980 General Introduction XUI ©1977, Darton, Longman & Todd Ltd ISBN (Great Britain) 0 232 48197 0 PART 1 LATIN JUDAEO-CHRISTIANITY Introduction 3 Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data 1. THE TRANSLATIONS 5 Danielou, Jean. The Latin Bible 5 The origins of Latin Christianity. Translations of Judaeo-Christian Writings 8 (A History of early Christian doctrine before the Council of .The Muratorian Fragment 13 Nicaea, v. 3) Translation of Les origines du christianisme latin. 2. LATINjUDAEO-CHRISTIANITY: ANTI-JEWISH POLEMICS 17 Includes bibliographical references and index. V Esdras 17 1. Theology, Doctrinal - History - Early church, The Adversus Judaeos 31 ca.30-600. I. Title. II. Series. The De Montibus Sina et Sion 39 BT25.D2713. 230'.1'2 76-44380 3. LATINjUDAEO-CHRISTIANITY: THE CONFRONTATION WITH PAGANISM 59 ISBN (U.S.A.) 0-664-21064-3 The Passio Perpetuae 59 The De centesima, sexagesima, tricesima 63 The Sermon De aleatoribus 93 4. THE SURVIVAL OFjUDAEO-CHRISTIANITY INTHE THIRD CENTURY 99 Commodian's Theology 99 The De Pascha computus 126 The De Fabrica mundi 130 PART II CHRISTIANITY AND LATIN CULTURE Text set in 12/13 pt Photon Bembo Introduction 137 Printed in Great Britain by The Anchor Press Ltd and bound by Wm Brendon & Son Ltd, both of Tiptree, Essex 5. TERTULLIAN ANDjUDAEO-CHRISTIANITY 139 Darton, Longman & Todd Ltd 85 Gloucester Road London SW7 4SU CONTENTS The Westminster Press Witherspoon Building Philadelphia Pennyslvania 19107 List of Abbreviations IX First published 1977 Acknowledgments Xl ,2nd impression I980 General Introduction X1l1 ©1977, Darton, Longman & Todd Ltd PART 1 LATIN JUDAEO-CHRISTIANITY ISBN (Great Britain) 0 232 48197 0 Introduction 3 Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data 1. THE TRANSLATIONS 5 Danielou, Jean. The Latin Bible 5 The origins of Latin Christianity. Translations of Judaeo-Christian Writings 8 (A History of early Christian doctrine before the Council of .The Muratorian Fragment 13 Nicaea, v. 3) Translation of Les origines du christianisme latin. 2. LATINJUDAEO-CHRISTIANITY: ANTI-JEWISH POLEMICS 17 V Esdras 17 Includes bibliographical references and index. The Adversus Judaeos 31 1. Theology, Doctrinal - History - Early church, The De Montibus Sina et Sion 39 ca.30--600. I. Title. II. Series. BT25.D2713. 230'.1'2 7&-44380 3. LATINJUDAEO-CHRISTIANITY: THE CONFRONTATION 59 WITH PAGANISM ISBN (U.S.A.) 0-664-21064-3 The Passio Perpetuae 59 The De centesima sexagesima tricesima 63 J J The Sermon De aleatoribus 93 4. THE SURVIVAL OFJUDAEO-CHRISTIANITY INTHE THIRD CENTURY 99 Commodian's Theology 99 The De Pascha computus 126 The De Fabrica mundi 130 PART II CHRISTIANITY AND LATIN CULTURE Text set in I2/13 pt Photon Bembo Introduction 137 Printed in Great Britain by The Anchor Press Ltd and bound by Wm Brendon & Son Ltd, both of Tiptree, Essex 5. TERTULLIAN ANDJUDAEO-CHRISTIANITY 139 Tertullian's Reaction against Judaeo-Christianity 140 13. NOVATIAN AND THE THEOPHANIES 329 Tertullian and the Jewish Apocrypha 161 1. I Enoch 162 PART IV LATIN THEOLOGY 2. The Book of Adam 167 3. The Sibylline Oracles III 173 Introduction 341 Tertullian and Tradition 176 14. TERTULLIAN AND HISMETHOD 343 Substantia 345 6. MINUCIUS FELIXAND HISSOURCES 189 The Theology of the Octavius 189 Census 348 The Wodd and Man 198 Status 352 Gradus 356 7. TERTULLIAN AND STOICISM 209 Tertullian and Philosophy 209 15. TERTULLIAN'S SYSTEM 361 Tertullian's Stoicism 214 The Trinity 361 Tertulliari's Criticism of Platonism 223 The Creation of the World 366 The Soul of Man 371 8. NOVATIANAND THE COSMIC RELIGION 233 The Flesh of Christ 383 The Beauty of the Wodd 233 The Intermediate State 390 The Harmony of Opposites 238 The Resurrection of the Dead 395 The Cosmic Chariot 240 Freedom 245 16. THE TWO CITIES 405 Idolatry and Demonology 405 9. CYPRIAN AND THE AGEOFTHE WORLD 251 Pompa diaboli 412 The Empire as the Persecutor of Christians 419 PART III THE LATIN FATHERS AND THE BIBLE 17. CYPRIAN'S ECCLESIOLOGY 429 Introduction 261 The Essence of Christianity 429 10. THE TESTIMONIA 263 The Christian Society 432 Tertullian's Adversus Judaeos 263 Vigor Ecclesiae 440 Commodian's Testimonia 273 Militia Christi 448 Cyprian's Ad Quirinum 288 Unanimitas concordiae 453 II. TYPOLOGY 297 Conclusion The Types of Christ 298 464 Types of the Church 306 Types of the Sacraments 312 Postscript by John Austin Baker 469 Bibliography 478 12. THE EXEMPLA 321 Textual Indexes Daniel and the Three Young Men 321 a. Old Testament 487 Job 324 b. Apocrypha (Biblical) 489 Tobit 327 c. New Testament 489 d. Jewish Writings 490 e. Jewish Christian Writings 491 f. Gnostic Writings 494 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS g. Fathers of the Church 494 h. Miscellaneous Writings 503 BIFAO Bulletin de l'Institut Prancais d'Archeologie Orien- General Index 505 tale, Cairo CA Cahiers Archeologiques CCL Corpus Christianorum, series Latina, Turnhout-Paris CLCP Graecitas et Latinatis Christianorum primaeva, Nijmegen EVV English Versions GNO Gregorii Nyssae Opera JAC Jahrbuch ftir Antike und Christentum, Munster JTS Journal of Theological Studies, London NKZ Neue Kirchliche Zeitschrift, Leipzig NRT Nouvelle Revue Theologique, Tournai NTS New Testament Studies, London PG Patrologiae Graecae cursus completus, ed. Migne PL Patrologiae Latinae cursus completus, ed. Migne PO Patrologiae Orientalis, ed. Graffin-Nau, Paris RAC Reallexikon ftir Antike und Christentum, Stuttgart RB Revue Biblique, Paris RHPR Revue d'Histoire et de Philosophie Religieuses, Paris RSLR Rivista di Storia e Letteratura Religiosa, Florence RSR Recherches de Science Religieuse, Paris SP Studia Patristica SPL Supplementum, Patrologiae cursus completus, senes Latina (Migne), ed. Hamman, Paris SVF Stoicorum veterum fragmenta, Leipzig Th. Rv. Theologische Revue TU Text und Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der altchristlichen Literatur, ed. Gebhardt-Har- nack-Schmidt, Leipzig-Berlin VC Vigiliae Christianae, Amsterdam ZNW Zeitschrift ftir die neutestamentlichen Wissenschaft und die Kunde der :ilteren Kirche, Berlin ZTK Zeitschrift ftir Theologie und Kirche, Tiibingen ACKNOWLEDGMENTS PUBLISHERS' NOTE Extracts from the following copyright English translations of an- The Publishers regret that, because of the Author's death before a cient texts are used by permission of the copyright holders named full revision of his work could be completed for the English after them, to whom grateful acknowledgement is made: language edition, it has in some casesproved quite impossible to trace and include the appropriate detailed references to the work of scholars whose opinions are mentioned. With aview to asub- Early Latin Theology by S. R. Greenslade: S.C.M. Press Ltd, sequent edition, the Publishers would welcome information London, and The Westminster Press, Philadelphia. whereby such deficiencies can be remedied. The Loeb Classical Library: Minucius Felix and Tertullian: Harvard University Press and William Heinemann Ltd. The Early Christian Fathers ed. and trans. H. Bettenson: e Oxford University Press 1969. Cyprian: De Lapsis and De Ecclesiae Catholicae Unitate ed. M. Bevenot: e Oxford University Press 1971. GENERAL INTRODUCTION THIS is the third and last volume of my history of the cultural forms in which early Christianity found expres- sion. In the first volume, The Theology ofJewish Christianity, I dealt with its expression within the framework of Jewish apocalyptic ideas. In the second volume, Gospel Message and Hellenistic Culture, Iconsidered the encounter between Christiani- ty and Hellenism. In the present volume, I am concerned with the meeting between the Christian message and the Latin world. As in the case of the first two books, I confme myself here too to the first three centuries. The undertaking was, of course, fraught with difficulties and I would not wish to disguise the hypothetical nature of some of my findings. On the contrary, I would prefer to state this a little more clearly. Most histories of Latin Christianity begin with Ter- tullian, but Tertullian's work seems to have been strongly mark- ed by what had gone before. Certainly it was Greek Christian thought, both orthodox and heterodox, which was Tertullian's primary antecedent. He knew Greek perfectly; he was deeply in- fluenced byJustin and Irenaeus, was familiar with the writings of Melito and reacted against those of Valentinus and Hermogenes, Marcion and Praxeas. One question that has preoccupied me, however, was whether Tertullian's thought was not also connected with Christianity originating in a Latin environment, especially since, in my research, Icame across several anonymous works - spuria - which prompted me to ask three-basic questions. First, were these spuria originally Latin works or had they been translated from Greek originals? Secondly, what was the precise environment with which they were connected? Thirdly, were they written before the time of Tertullian? These are clearly controversial questions, but I think that it is GENERAL INTRODUCTION xv xiv GENERAL INTRODUCTION tullian. Commodian can, as Thraede has shown, be placed possible to answer them positively and this is what I hope to do between Tertullian and Cyprian, and the De Pascha computus can in the first part of this volume. First, were these works originally be dated at A.D. 340/341. Latin? It iswell known that certain Judaeo-Christian works were The other aspect of our study in this volume, that of the ~n- translated at the end ofthe second century from Greek into Latm. unter between Christianity and Latin culture, presents us with These include, for example, the Epistle of Clement and the ~~ lessserious difficulties. Tertullian knew both Latin and Gre~k Shepherd of Hermas. I believe, however, that we are justified m perfectly and, whereas it is easy to d~monstrat~ the ~atm claiming that the works that are to be discussed in this book were haracter of his secular sources from the Iiterary pomt of VIew, originally written in Latin. There is now general agreement that ~atters are more complicated as regards their philosophical the Passio Perpetuae, for example, was originally a Latin text and, aspect. Both the early and the contemporary authors quoted in according to van Damme, this would seem also to have been so his works are, for the most part, Greek - for example, Plato, in the case of the Adversus [udaeos. Everything points in the direc- Chrysippus, Albinus and Soranus. Is it possible to ~n~, i~ the tion of Latin too in the case of V Esdras. The De montibus Sina et philosophical influ~nce~in Tertullian's writing, that.dIstmc~Ivel! Sion and the sermon De centesima were also clearly Latin. Latin character which IS,after all, what we are lookmg for. ThIs Secondly, did these works come from aLatinJudaeo-Christian may, however, be the wrong question to ask. The.problem with environment? This is a perfectly reasonable question, since it is regard to Tertullian is basically similar to that in the case of well known that there were many Jews both in Rome and in Cicero, namely that these Latin authors were concerned to leave Carthage, and the gospel was first proclaimed everywhere their own mark on material which was mainly Greek. among Jews. Judaeo-Christian communities therefore certamly This does not, however, mean that the first Latin authors were existed in a Latin environment. The question is, then, whether not acquainted with the Latin philosophical works that had been these communities left any literary records. My study of a written before their time. Tertullian, for example, frequently number of texts has convinced me that they did. This is un- quotes Cicero and Seneca. The dependenc~ of. less original doubtedly so in the case of the Passio Perpetuae, V Esdras, the writers, such as Minucius Felix and Novatian, ISeven more Adversus [udaeos, the De montibus Sina et Sion and the De centesimo, marked, the former being influenced by Cicero and the latter by sexagesirna et tricesima. My reasons for claiming this will emerge Apuleius. This brings us to the thorny q~estion .of .the from the detailed examination of these texts in the first part of relationship between Minucius Felix and Tertullian. Tak~ng mto this book. account the work of Quispel and the fact that everything that To have established this, however, does not ofitself resolve the specifically characterises Tertullian's writin~s isabsent fr~m those problem of chronology. The two questions mus~be kept distinct. of Minucius, Iam inclined to conclude that It was Tertullian who What I think Ihave shown is that we can identify the particular depended on the Octavius of Minucius.. .. Judaeo-Christian works against which Tertullian reacted so Having placed these early Latin authors m their dIf~erent co~- strongly; but this does not mean that the whole of this literature texts, it is necessary to show what is specifically Latm m their antedates him. It is well known that Tertullian was an isolated work. This is to be found first of all in their biblical theology. figure in the early Church, and that Latin Judaeo-Christianity On the one hand, the Greek authors of the School of Alexandria persisted after his time. There are still problems, therefo.re, In were preoccupied with an allegorical form of exegesis, while dating some of these Judaeo-Christian works. My own VIew IS those of the School of Antioch followed a literal approach to the that the Passio Perpetuae, the Adversus Judaeos, the De aleatoribus Bible. On the other hand, however, the Latin Christians preserv- and V Esdras were written before Tertullian and that the De ed and elaborated the typology of primitive Christianity which centesima and the De montibus were of the same period as Ter- XV! GENERAL INTRODUCTION had been kept alive by Justin and Irenaeus, and the theology of history which formed its context. In this, their achievement was beyond price. At the level of systematic theology, we are faced with an un- typical situation. Tertullian, using distinctively Latin methods, created a remarkably coherent theological synthesis. He was above all at pains to emphasise the difference between the various orders of reality, the census, and to classify each of these orders in all of its aspects, the suggestus. Tertullian was more sensitive to PART ONE distinctions than to connections, being in intellectual type akin to Pascal, to whom he displays some astonishing similarities. In this LATIN JUDAEO-CHRISTIANITY extraordinary enterprise he had no successors. But his work remained as a model, and was to prove sufficient on its own to establish the greatness of early Latin theology. Finally, the Latin authors were more concerned than the Greeks with institutions of society, and closer to the heart of the Empire and the Church. They were therefore led to tackle the problems of ecclesiology, both in the concrete issuesraised by the actualities of Church life and in the Church's historical confron- tation with the ideology of the Empire. In this area the work of Cyprian displayed an originality and relevance of permanent value He succeeded in disentangling both the true structure and the fundamental mystery of the Church from the controversies within it which divided the Christian West and from the con- frontations between the Church and pagan society. These flfStexpressions of Latin theology setthe pattern for the future. The great theologians of the period that followed in the fourth century were less typical. As Latin authors, they were conscious of the need to remain constantly in dialogue with Greek culture and were strongly influenced, even fascinated by neo-Platonism. Despite the fascination that Greek Platonism has from time to time exercised over Western Christianity, however, there have been equally regular demonstrations of certain reser- vations in this respect, especially in the thought of Luther, Pascal, Kierkegaard, Newman and Barth. In tracing how the three great cultural expressions of early Christianity came to be juxtaposed, we have thus at the same time brought out the inter-relation of three permanent components of Western thought. INTRODUCTION TO PART ONE THERE can be no doubt that the gospel was first preached in the Latin world in Greek by Greek-speaking mis- sionaries. Paul wrote to the Romans in Greek, Clement used Greek in his letter to the Corinthians, and the author of the Shepherd of Hermas expressed himself in Greek in his exhortation to his brethren in Rome. The official language of the Church in Rome continued to be Greek until the middle of the second cen- tury, although Latin was to be used earlier in the liturgy at Carthage. These are indisputable facts, but they should not blind us to the further fact that, at a very early stage, there were Christians both in Rome and in Carthage who spoke nothing but Latin. Alongside the official language, Greek, which persisted for a long time, there was also a popular form of Christianity using Latin. Traces of this popular Latin form of Christianity are to be found in a Greek work like the Shepherd of Hermas. Christine Mohrmann has pointed out that there are several Graecised Latin Christian terms in this text such asAEV1:'l.OV, OUUlVEAl.OV and O1:'a1:'t,WV • There is therefore a hint in the Shepherd that a Christian spoken Latin was in existence from the beginning of the second century. No doubt it took time for this to emerge in written works, but it isnot improbable that this could have taken place from the second century onwards, both in Rome and in Carthage. What is certain is that work so developed from the literary point of view as that written by Tertullian presupposes an advanced state of Latin used among Christians.

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