The Church in the Roman Empire Before A.D
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Please do not assume that a book's appearance in 'The Builder' library means it can be used in any manner anywhere in the world. Copyright infringement liability can be quite severe. The Webmaster Cornell University Library The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924029230063 /IDansfielb College Xectures* THE CHURCH IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE BEFORE A.D. 170. MANSFIELD COLLEGE LECTURES, 1892 THE CHURCH IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE BEFORE A.D. 170 W. M. RAMSAY, M.A. PROFESSOR OF HUMANITY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF ABERDEEN FORMERLY PROFESSOR OF CLASSICAL ARCHEOLOGY, AND FELLOW OF EXETER COLLEGE, OXFORD AUTHOR OF "the HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY OF ASIA MINOR," ETC. JV/TJI MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS SECOND EDITION—REVISED. HODDER AND STOUGHTON 27, PATERNOSTER ROW MDCCCXCIII London and Aylesbury. Printed by Hazell, "Watson, & Viney, Ld., A. M. R. PREFACE. THIS work originates from the invitation with which the Council of Mansfield College, Oxford, honoured me in the end of July 1891, to give a course of six lectures there in May-June 1892. The opinion of Dr. Fairbairn, Dr. Sanday, and other friends encouraged me to hope that faults of execution—of which I was and am painfully con- scious—did not wholly obscure a good idea in them ; and it is at their advice that the present book appears. The lectures are almost entirely rewritten (except Chap. IX.), and are enlarged by the addition of Part I. and in other respects, which need not be specified ; but they retain their original character as lectures, intended rather to stimulate interest and research in students than to attain scientific completeness and order of exposition. They exemplify to younger students the method of applying archseological, topographical, and numismatic evidence to the investiga- tion of early Christian history ; and, as I always urge on my pupils, their aim is to suggest to others how to treat the subject better than I can. viii Preface. The books of the New Testament are treated here simply on as authorities for history ; and their credit is estimated the same principles as that of other historical documents. If I reach conclusions very different from those of the school of criticism whose originators and chief exponents are German, it is not that I differ from their method. I fully accept their principle, that the sense of these docu- ments can be ascertained only by resolute criticism ; but I think that they have often carried out their principle badly, and that their criticism often offends against critical method. True criticism must be sympathetic ; but in investigations into religion, Greek, Roman, and Christian alike, there appears to me, if I may venture to say so, to be in many German scholars (the greatest excepted) a lack of that instinctive sympathy with the life and nature of a people which is essential to the right use of critical pro- cesses. For years, with much interest and zeal, but with little knowledge, I followed the critics and accepted their results. In recent years, as I came to understand Roman history better, I have realised that, in the case of almost all the books of the New Testament, it is as gross an outrage on criticism to hold them for second-century forgeries as it would be to class the works of Horace and Virgil as forgeries of the time of Nero. Some German reviewers have taxed me with unfair depreciation of German authorities. The accusation must Preface. ix seem to my English friends and pupils a retribution for the persistence with which I have urged the necessity of studying German method. None admires and reverences German scholarship more than I do ; but it has not taught me to be blind to faults, or to be afraid to speak out. I cannot sufficiently acknowledge my debt to various friends, chiefly to Dr. Sanday ; also to Dr. Hort, Dr. Fairbairn, Mr. Armitage Robinson, Mr. A. C. Headlam, etc. From the discriminating criticism of Mr. Vernon Bartlet I have gained much : the pages on i Peter were doubled in meeting his arguments. My old friend of undergraduate days, Mr. Macdonell, formerly of Balliol College, gave me especially great help throughout the first fourteen chapters. In the index I have been aided by my pupil, Mr. A. Souter, now of Caius College. A special tribute is due to two writers. Lightfoot's Ignatius and Polycarp has been my constant companion ; yet my admiration for his historical perception, his breadth of knowledge and his honesty of statement, and my grateful recollection of much kindly encouragement received from him personally, do not prevent me from stating frankly where I am bound to differ from him. Mommsen's review of Neumann explained certain diffi- culties that long puzzled me ; and the lectures attempt, however imperfectly, to apply principles learned mainly from his various writings. X Preface, As the whole work is due to my explorations in Asia Minor, I hope it may stimulate the progress of discovery in that land, which at present conceals within it the answer to many pressing problems of history ; and, perhaps, may even prevent my researches from com ing to an en d. Next to further exploration and excavation, the greatest desideratum is a society to study and edit the acta of the Eastern Saints. Aberdeen, January zy^d^ 1893, : 6 CONTENTS. PART L—EARLIEST STAGE: ST. PAUL IN ASIA MINOR, CHAPTER I. PAGE GENERAL 3 1. Plan of the work 3 : 2. The Travel-Document 6 : 3. The Churches of Galatia 8 : 4. Social Condition of Asia Minor, a.d. 50-60, 11 Note 13. CHAPTER II. LOCALITIES OF THE FIRST JOURNEY 1 1. Pamphyha 16 : 2. Pisidia and Ayo Paulo 18 : 3. Pisidian Antioch 25 : 4. Route from Antioch to Iconium 27 : 5. Iconium 36 : 6. Lystra First 47 : 7. Derbe 54 : 8. Character of Lycaonia in the Century 56. CHAPTER IIL THE FIRST JOURNEY AS A NARRATIVE OF TRAVEL . 59 CHAPTER IV. THE SECOND JOURNEY , . , . 74 xii Contents. CHAPTER V. PAGE THE THIRD JOURNEY . „ , , . 90 CHAPTER VI. EPISTLE . THE TO THE GALATTANS o , „ 97 1. Arguments founded on the Epistle 97 : 2. St, Paul's feelings towards the Galatian Churches : 3, Arguments for the North-Gaiatian theory 105 : 4. Analogy of i Peter no : 5. Change in the meaning of the name Galatia in. CHAPTER VII, ST. PAUL AT EPHESUS . , „ . • ,112 1. Demetrius the Neopoios 113 : 2. Acts xix. 23-41, 114 : 3, Demetrius the Neopoios and Demetrius the Silversmith 118 : 4. Action of the Priests of Artemis 120 : 5. Shrines of Artemis 123 : 6. Attitude of the Ephesian officials towards Paul 129 : 7. Fate of the silver shrines 134 : 8. Great Artemis 135 : 9. Text of Acts xix. 23-41, 139 : 10, Historical character of the narrative Acts xix. 23-41, 143. CHAPTER VIII. THE ORIGINAL AUTHORITY FOR ST. PAUL'S JOURNEYS : VALUE AND TEXT I^f) Christianity in 1. Rapid spread of Asia Minor 147 : 2. Distinction of : 3. Text of Codex : Authorship 148 Bezm Asia Minor 151 : 4. Text of Codex Bezcs : Europe 156 : 5. Codex Bezes founded on a Catholic Recension 161 ; 6. Postscript : Spitta's Apostelgeschichte 166. : Contents xiii PART II.—A.D. 64—170: BEING LECTURES AT MANSFIELD COLLEGE, OXFORD, MAY AND JUNE, 1892. CHAPTER IX. PAGE SUBJECT AND METHOD 171 1. Aspect of history here treated 172: 2. Connexion between Church history and the life of the period 173 : 3, The authorities : date 177 : 4. The authorities : trustworthiness 182 : 5. Results of separating Church history from Imperial history 185 : 6.