Defender of the Faith

Defender of the Faith: Can the Early Church Apologists Inform the Needs and Direction of the Church Today? By: Alexander D. Craven A thesis submitted to St. Mary’s University, Halifax, Nova Scotia in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Theology and Religious Studies August, 2016, Halifax, Nova Scotia © Alexander D. Craven, 2016 Approved: Dr. David Deane Supervisor Approved: Dr. Magi Abdul-Masih Reader Approved: Dr. Timothy Muldoon Examiner Submitted: August 17, 2016 Table of Contents Abstract…………………………………………………………………………………ii Introduction……………………………………………………………………………..1 Chapter One – Contextualization of the Question and Areas of Study.………………..8 1.1 – The Historical Context of the Second Century……………………….….10 1.2 – Congruencies and Differences between the Ancient and Modern Context………………………………………………………….22 1.3 – The Present State of Apologetics and its Vocabulary …………………...43 Chapter Two – Analysis of Apologetic Works………………………………………...50 2.1 – Argument from Antiquity and Ethnicity………………………………....51 2.2 – Appeals to Authority……………………………………………………..60 2.3 – The Christians and the Apologists as Citizens of the Empire……………65 2.4 – Apology and Ambient Philosophy……………………………………….71 Chapter Three – Lessons from the Second Century……………………………………89 3.1 – The Problematic Nature of Legitimization Concerning the Modern Age and Second Century Apologetic Rhetoric………………….94 3.2 -- Challenges to Apologetic Engagement and Legitimization in Secular Society……………………………………………………….107 3.3 – The Potential Pitfalls of Apologetic Language…………………………..121 3.4 – The Course for Modern Apologetics as Assisted by the Second Century Apologists………………………………………………132 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………...146 Bibliography……………………………………………………………………………151 i Abstract Defender of the Faith: Can the Early Church Apologists Inform the Needs and Direction of the Church Today? Alexander D. Craven Both the second century and the modern age are suspicious of the message and influence of Christianity within their respective cultures; the culture of religious pluralism and the prevailing civil religions of each time period suggest that tools used by the early Church fathers may prove useful in a modern context. In this thesis I will examine the extent to which the second century apologists are able to inform and assist the modern apologetic project. The second century apologists demonstrated a keen ability to navigate cultural norms and, in many cases, work within the ambient philosophical discourse of their time in order to produce a defense of the Christian message in terms understandable to an outside audience. Translating forward their ability to work within the cultural context of their time via language amenable to their audience sheds new light on potentially useful methods for modern apologists. August 17, 2016 Keywords: Apologetics, antiquity, modernity, postmodernity, Justin Martyr, Tertullian, Athenagoras, pax deorum, social action, rhetoric, Benedict Option, Dominic Option ii Introduction: Apologetics in the modern age presents a definitively unique set of challenges. In addition to the more upfront task of defending the Church and the Gospel from being deconstructed, abused, or otherwise misunderstood, the linguistic and cultural tools available in the present pluralist era, dominated by philosophical liberalism, are perhaps tools which at first feel unwieldy. Furthermore, the rhetoric of legitimate authority seems to no longer rest in institutions and traditions, but in a general popular sovereignty and in individual conscience. While not intrinsically bad things in their own right, these complications to the apologetic task are certainly challenges worth examining, and when one takes the time to examine the underlying demands which these challenges place upon the apologist, a hopeful point of comparison emerges from within the earliest stages of the Christian Tradition. The earliest apologists for the Church contended with a world which seems to bear noteworthy similarity to our own. The general structure of the Roman Empire all but necessitated a plural society, within which various religious and cultural groups moved, operated, and debated often in the interest of preserving their own legacies and heritage. The ambient Hellenistic philosophy of the time was something which placed importance on a specific and refined rhetorical and argumentative style in order for a given school to solidify itself as a legitimate presence within the body as a whole. This philosophy also, to some extent, pre-set the terminology and the methodology which would lend the greatest credibility to a given sect, and in doing so required a certain level of cultural literacy on the part of those looking to break into the conversation. The concentration of authority was more institutional than it perhaps is now, but similarly to the present day, 1 the situation could change quickly depending on the perceptions and opinions of those who wielded that authority. Perhaps most strikingly though, the outside perception upon the then-nascent Church was one of suspicion, thinking of these newly minted Christians as somehow a threat to the things held sacred by the general ethos and culture of the Roman Empire. These generalized aspects seem to point us in a direction which suggests that an examination of the second century apologists might be able to inform the needs of the present-day Church, and sculpt a methodology for apologetics in the 21st century. In the course of this thesis, I propose to look to the past in order to better inform the present. My aim is to investigate the apologetic works of three specific second century apologists, Justin Martyr, Tertullian, and Athenagoras, and determine the extent to which these early Church Fathers might be able to inform and meet the apologetic needs of the present-day Church. Ultimately through this investigation, I hope to provide some answer to the question of how the Church can bring the Gospel to a world which is, while perhaps not necessarily hostile to it in the same way the Roman Empire was towards the early Church, is nevertheless still a world which is still certainly skeptical of the Church, of evangelism, and of organized religion at large. In broader and slightly less verbose language, I propose to investigate whether the defenses made for Christianity in its infancy in some way help to establish and defend the place of the Church in the (post)modern era. Methodologically, in investigating this question I will be utilizing a mix of textual analysis, coupled with sociological and historical lenses in order to gauge how the voices of ancient Christianity can inform the Church today. The first chapter will attempt to deal on a sociological level and a historical level with both ancient and modern sources. This chapter will provide both a detailed literature 2 review coupled with a contextualization of cultural and rhetorical norms for each respective time period. The aim in doing so is to provide the foundational work necessary for a detailed understanding of the situation facing both the ancient apologists and the state of affairs governing modern Christian apologetics; this process will provide the framework for the analyses to follow in the subsequent chapters. Specifically in this chapter, I will highlight significant points of congruency between the ancient and modern eras, most notably the cultural and political situation of religion in both time periods, the presence of a general religious pluralism, and the semi-permeability of participation in various religious traditions. The investigation of these elements and their presence in both eras helps underline the logic that it is therefore possible and valuable to lift the ideas, insights, and wisdom of the ancient sources and place them in the modern period because the cultural conditions are similar enough to merit such treatment of the texts. At the same time though, it is crucial to also appropriately identify and discuss key areas of difference between the two epochs, differences which may be obvious as well as ones which may require a more nuanced and subtle understanding of the forces at play. Not least of these aspects demanding analysis is the manner of qualification applied to religious groups in order to identify them as tolerable and legitimate public voices. This discussion necessarily continues into a discussion of the secular nature of the present world, especially in light of the ancient world’s lack of any such distinction between religious and non-religious territory. These differences create situations where the second century context has difficulty relating meaningfully, but in the end, as this thesis will show, these differences do not undo or cripple the apologists’ ability to address the modern context. By the conclusion of this chapter, the reader should have a nuanced 3 understanding of the relevant cultural contexts thus enabling a greater discussion of these elements in the subsequent chapters. The second chapter focuses almost exclusively on the writings of the apologists themselves, and is divided into two parts. In the first section, the primary focus will be on a direct and critical reading of the apologetic works, coupled with analysis of how their apologetic devices and rhetoric sought to deal with the challenges of their time. Of special importance in this section are the notions of establishing the legitimacy of Christianity as participant in an ancient and ancestral tradition, the shifting methods

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