Book Notes
Initial reactions to books,
unsicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought.
Back to Book Note Index
Back to Books
First Apology (c.150); Second Apology (c.155)St. Justin Martyr (Paulist Press, 1997)
245 p. First reading.
Posted 1 November 2006.
It was natural that the earliest attempts to articulate the Christian Gospel, such as those we have in the New Testament, should have used the theological language of Judaism, for such was its native soil. But as the Church spread through the Roman empire and began to win converts among Gentiles, the task of re-expressing the meaning of the new revelation, and of exploring the implications of that revelation, in a language comprehensible to its audience became a necessity. St. Justin Martyr, a Christian convert and philosopher in the Platonic tradition, was one of the first to begin this process. His writings provide a fascinating glimpse of the way second-century Christians lived and worshipped, how they understood their relationship to the pagan world, and how they 'baptized' and appropriated elements of that world to further the spread of the Christian message.
Justin's two Apologies, addressed to the Emperor and the Roman people, respectively, are essentially appeals for justice in the state's treatment of Christians. He accuses the state of persecuting the Christians without clearly understanding what they teach. Christians, for instance, were frequently accused of atheism because they refused to acknowledge the pantheon of Roman gods, but of course Christians are not atheists. One of Justin's central purposes was to defend Christians against such false accusations by explaining what Christians do in fact believe and practice. More, he wanted to defend the reasonableness of Christian faith, and demonstrate that Christianity is nobler than pagan religion. This pedagogical intent makes Justin's writings particularly revealing about the state of Christian doctrine and practice in the early Church.
Justin's defence of Christianity proceeds in a number of ways. On one hand, he draws out parallels between Christian belief and pagan belief to argue that if Christianity be judged unreasonable, then so must pagan religion. More to the purpose, however, are his arguments that Christianity is not, in fact, unreasonable. Here he relies partly on a clear presentation of the sayings and teachings of Christ, and partly on a long discourse about prophecies concerning Christ and the manner in which they were fulfilled. This method was already practiced in the New Testament documents, and has had a long tradition in the Church's apologetics.
One of Justin's leading ideas is that of the Logos, which plays a crucial role in articulating his understanding of the relationship of the Church to the history of pagan religion and philosophy. The Logos, the 'Word of God', the rational principle of Creation, is a concept borrowed from neo-Platonism. Justin, following St. John, argues that the Logos resides fully only in Jesus Christ, though it has been partially apprehended by the wise men of both Jewish and Gentile history. In this way, Justin is able to place the newly founded Christian Church in a wider context that stretches back to the world's creation, and at the same time appropriate to the Church all that is best in pagan philosophy and culture -- the 'spoils of Egypt'. For instance, he sees Socrates as a precursor of the Christians, who are persecuted for not worshiping the gods of the state, and he sees certain Platonic teachings as having echos in the writings of the Biblical prophets (Indeed, he believed that Plato knew the texts of the Pentateuch and worked under their influence.).
"Whatever things were rightly said among all people are the property of us Christians." (Apol. II, 13)
I think one can say that this briefly stated insight is one of the most important in Western history, for this expansiveness of vision is what allows the Church to be truly catholic, embracing and assimilating all that she finds to be true, good, and beautiful. Without this self-understanding, it is unlikely that she would have had the confidence to move out of her early Jewish context and into the center of world history. The world-shaping significance of this principle, which has guided the Church from Justin's time to our own, has been well stated by David Bentley Hart in a memorable essay:
“…developed
Christian theology rejected nothing good in the metaphysics, ethics, or
method of ancient philosophy, but — with a kind of omnivorous
glee — assimilated such elements as served its ends, and
always improved them in the process. Stoic morality, Plato’s
language of the Good, Aristotle’s metaphysics of act and potency
— all became richer and more coherent when emancipated from the
morbid myths of sacrificial economy and tragic necessity. In truth,
Christian theology nowhere more wantonly celebrated its triumph over
the old gods than in the use it made of the so-called spolia Aegyptorum;
and, by despoiling pagan philosophy of its most splendid achievements
and integrating them into a vision of reality more complete than
philosophy could attain on its own, theology took to itself irrevocably
all the intellectual glories of antiquity... There was no sphere of
social, religious, or intellectual life that the Church did not claim
for itself; much was abolished, and much of the grandeur and beauty of
antiquity was preserved in a radically altered form, and Christian
civilization — with its new synthesis and new creativity
— was born."
Justin's writings are also rich sources for knowledge of early Christian theology and practice. For instance, although his Apologies are not by any means systematic doctrinal statements, we nevertheless learn that Christian faith entails belief in Christ crucified and resurrected (Apol. I, 21), in the Virgin birth (Apol. I, 33), in the resurrection of the body (Apol. I, 18), the second coming of Christ, and the final judgement (Apol. I, 52). We learn that Christian morality rejects the exposure of infants (Apol. I, 27) and suicide (Apol. II, 4).
We learn, too, in a passage that should create problems for Protestants who assume the Catholic doctrine on the Eucharist is a departure from the belief of the early Church, that Christians believed the Eucharist to be truly the body and blood of Christ:
And this food is called among us
eucharist, of which no one is allowed to partake except one who
believes that the things which we teach are true, and has received the
washing that is for the remission of sins and for rebirth, and who so
lives as Christ handed down. For we do not receive these things as
common bread nor common drink; but in like manner as Jesus Christ our
Savior having been incarnate by God's logos
took both flesh and blood for our salvation, so also we have been
taught that the food eucharistized through the word of prayer that is
from Him, from which our blood and flesh are nourished by
transformation, is the flesh and blood of that Jesus who became
incarnate. (Apol. I, 66)
Perhaps most fascinating is Justin's description of a regular Sunday meeting of Christians in the second century. It is quite brief, and I think worth quoting in its entirety:
And on the day called Sunday all
who live in cities or in the country gather together in one place, and
the memoirs of the Apostles or the writings of the Prophets are read,
as long as time permits. Then when the reader has finished, the Ruler
in a discourse instructs and exhorts to the imitation of these good
things. Then we all stand up together and offer prayers; and, as we
said before, when we have finished the prayer, bread is brought and
wine and water, and the Ruler likewise offers up prayers and
thanksgivings to the best of his ability, and the people assent, saying
the Amen; and the distribution and the partaking of the eucharistized
elements is to each, and to those who are absent a portion is taken by
the deacons. (Apol. I, 67)
Anyone who has attended a Catholic Mass will immediately recognize the structure: a liturgy of the Word, a homily, communal prayers, followed by the liturgy of the Eucharist. The 'Amen' to which he refers is still an important part of the Mass, known now as the Great Amen that follows the eucharistic prayer. In Justin's day the theology of the priesthood was still not well developed, but we do see that the meeting is presided over by a particular individual, who both delivers the homily and presides over the eucharistized bread and wine. The reference to the 'memoirs of the Apostles' (later the Gospels) reminds us that this account predates the assembly of the canon of New Testament documents, and also confirms that the Church was self-consciously aware of its historical connection to the Apostles and their teaching. It is a splendid passage.
[Against suicide]
But lest anyone say, "Go then all of you and commit suicide, and pass even now to God, and do not trouble us" -- I will tell you why we do not do so, but how, when examined, we make our confession without fear. We have been taught that God did not make the world aimlessly, but for the sake of the human race; and we have stated before that He rejoices in those who imitate His nature, and is displeased with those who embrace what is worthless either in word or deed. If, then, we all commit suicide, we will become the cause, as far as in us lies, why no one should be born, or instructed in the divine teachings, or even why the human race should not exist; and if we so act, we ourselves will be acting in opposition to the will of God. (Apol. II, 4)
Back to Book Note Index
Back to Books