Abstract A recurring claim found in early Christian apologetic and other protreptic literature alleges that Roman polytheists accused Christians of being atheists. In recent years, the historicity of this claim has come to be doubted, and in a 2017 study, Tim Whitmarsh concluded that the charge, attested only in Christian sources and discussed in terms which are thoroughly Christianizing, must be owed to Christian invention. The present note argues against this conclusion on the basis of a neglected passage in Porphyry’s De abstinentia , which offers evidence of the term ἄθεος being associated in a distinctly non-Christian context with the omission of sacrifice. The likely derivation of this association from Theophrastus may further explain why a very similar association appears in the mid-second century Apology of Apuleius and offers further support for the thesis that Christians were likely accused of atheism by polytheist critics in the second and third centuries.
Abstract This article builds upon recent scholarship by investigating Clement of Alexandria’s Stromateis as a product of the literary and pedagogical dynamics of the Second Sophistic. Rather than merely mimicking Greco-Roman miscellanists, Clement repurposes the miscellany as a Christian strategy for negotiating the boundaries of genre, pedagogy, and textual transmission. Drawing on literary-theoretical insights from Bourdieu and Skinner, the study explores how Clement embeds divine knowledge within a polymathic textual body that simultaneously conceals and reveals. The Stromateis ’ literary form reflects a commitment to preserving sacred truths and cultivating attentive reading practices. In composing the work this way, Clement positions the written word as a medium capable of transmitting apostolic instruction without forfeiting its mystery. The Stromateis thus exemplifies early Christian literary innovation, challenging second-century norms of textuality and offering a new model of Christian authorship that merges concealment, revelation, and pedagogy within the sociocultural matrix of the Second Sophistic.
Abstract This article will question the common view according to which a shared albeit pluralistic doctrine of the descensus Christi can be found in early Christian literature. Attention will be drawn to the vast dissimilitude of the various references used to support such a view. The texts diverge not only in regard to the narrative themes featured but also concerning the pragmatics of the texts, the intention of the argument supported by reference to certain narrative components attributed to a descensus Christi . Such a view of the source material will be substantiated by closely examining three texts (Irenaeus’ Adversus Haereses , the Epistula Apostolorum and the Gospel of Peter ) often thought of as featuring a version of a descensus Christi and highlighting the various problems associated with such a reading.
Abstract This article examines the Apocalypse of Peter ’s soteriological perspective, arguing that its vivid depictions of punishments in the afterlife are not meant to compel moral living; rather, they are a cornerstone of its salvation theology. While previous scholarship has emphasized the ethical and paraenetic function of the infernal punishments, this study shows that the apocalypse is addressed to persecuted Christians, demonstrating what punishments are in store for those who do not believe or abandon the faith. Against the backdrop of the second-century Roman persecutions, the apocalypse presents the final judgment and resurrection as heavenly rewards for believers facing the threat of apostasy and martyrdom. This article also reassesses the controversial passage in the Apocalypse of Peter 14, arguing that it does not advocate a doctrine of universal salvation ( apokatastasis ). Rather, the deliverance of certain condemned sinners is contingent on the compassionate intercession of the righteous. The primary purpose of the Apocalypse of Peter is not to proclaim universal restoration but to serve as a pastoral work of consolation, encouraging faithful endurance through the hope of resurrection, heavenly glory, and final communion with God.
Abstract This note seeks to challenge the reading of the Martyrdom of Paul 5:3 in the latest critical edition, by Otto Zwierlein, which favors the Ohrid manuscript; it argues that, instead, a reading similar to that found in the Hamburg papyrus and the Patmos manuscript, where Paul communes in Hebrew with the fathers (the dead patriarchs) after prayer, is most likely authentic.
The anthropological implications of 1 Thess. 5:23 have long bemused both Paul’s interpreters and the interpreters of Paul’s earliest readers, such as Irenaeus. Though consensus has emerged on Irenaeus’ interpretation and use of 1 Thess. 5:23, certain of his passages defy the standard narrative. Taking these as a starting point, the present article employs a fresh approach by offering a diachronic reading of Irenaeus’ reception of 1 Thess. 5:23. First, it shows that Irenaeus did not express his “mature” understanding of the verse – the one which most scholars take as his normative view – until after he completed Book 2 and its various discussions of philosophical anthropology. Then, it uses insights from this diachronic analysis to offer new solutions to some of the most notoriously difficult passages amongst Irenaeus’ anthropological discussions. In so doing, it provides a more cogent reading of Against Heresies , the processes by which early Christians developed their thought, and a fresh lens for viewing one of the most widely analyzed anthropological remarks in the scriptures.
This article examines Marius Victorinus' understanding of (divine) natura in relation to substantia, to determine whether he associated the term more closely with the Trinity as consubstantial, or with the three distinct persons. Recognizing interchangeability of divine "substance" and "nature" in late antiquity, scholars have recently argued that Victorinus' defense of consubstantiality implied support for a single divine nature (alongside a single power), and anticipated (Pro-Nicene) Cappadocian arguments for divine unity. Close reading of citations of natura in the theological treatises uncovers some passages where it represents unity of substantia. However, passages associating natura with distinct divine persons (subsistentiae) are far more numerous. Use of Latin leads Victorinus to use natura with a degree of complexity that has not yet been recognized. Just as he accepted divine power as both "three" and "one," he accepted divine nature as "three" and "one," individual and collective.
This paper reconsiders the evidence for Origen’s views on the authorship of the letter of James. Contrary to the prevalent assumption among scholars, the evidence does not favour the view that Origen thought the letter was written by James the brother of Jesus.
This note sheds light on the unedited homily Oratio in dominicam publicani (CPG 488 4887) attributed to John Chrysostom in an Athonite codex, of which only the first three words have been known until now.
This article will question the common view according to which a shared albeit pluralistic doctrine of the descensus Christi can be found in early Christian literature. Attention will be drawn to the vast dissimilitude of the various references used to support such a view. The texts diverge not only in regard to the narrative themes featured but also concerning the pragmatics of the texts, the intention of the argument supported by reference to certain narrative components attributed to a descensus Christi. Such a view of the source material will be substantiated by closely examining three often thought of as featuring a version of a descensus Christi and highlighting the various problems associated with such a reading.
A recurring claim found in early Christian apologetic and other protreptic literature alleges that Roman polytheists accused Christians of being atheists. In recent years, the historicity of this claim has come to be doubted, and in a 2017 study, Tim Whitmarsh concluded that the charge, attested only in Christian sources and discussed in terms which are thoroughly Christianizing, must be owed to Christian invention. The present note argues against this conclusion on the basis of a neglected passage in Porphyry's De abstinentia, which offers evidence of the term &Asos being associated in a distinctly non-Christian context with the omission of sacrifice. The likely derivation of this association from Theophrastus may further explain why a very similar association appears in the mid-second century Apology of Apuleius and offers further support for the thesis that Christians were likely accused of atheism by polytheist critics in the second and third centuries.
