LIBERTY UNIVERSITY JUSTIN MARTYR, IRENAEUS OF LYONS, AND CYPRIAN OF CARTHAGE ON SUFFERING: A COMPARATIVE AND CRITICAL STUDY OF THEIR WORKS THAT CONCERN THE APOLOGETIC USES OF SUFFERING IN EARLY CHRISTIANITY A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE RAWLINGS SCHOOL OF DIVINITY IN CANDIDACY FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY THEOLOGY AND APOLOGETICS BY AARON GLENN KILBOURN LYNCHBURG, VIRGINIA AUGUST 2017 Copyright © 2017 by Aaron Glenn Kilbourn All Rights Reserved ii APPROVAL SHEET JUSTIN MARTYR, IRENAEUS OF LYONS, AND CYPRIAN OF CARTHAGE ON SUFFERING: A COMPARATIVE AND CRITICAL STUDY OF THEIR WORKS THA CONCERN THE APOLOGETIC USES OF SUFFERING IN EARLY CHRISTIANITY Aaron Glenn Kilbourn Read and approved by: Chairperson: _____________________________ Reader: _____________________________ Reader: _____________________________ Date: _____________________________ iii To my wife, Michelle, my children, Aubrey and Zack, as well as the congregation of First Baptist Church of Parker, SD. I thank our God that by His grace, your love, faithfulness, and prayers have all helped sustain each of my efforts for His glory. iv CONTENTS Acknowledgments……………………………………………………………………………ix Abstract……………………………………………………………………………………….x CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION…………………………………………………………..1 Personal Interest………………………………………………………………………8 The Need for the Study……………………………………………………………….9 Methodological Design……………………………………………………………….10 Limitations……………………………………………………………………………12 CHAPTER 2: THE CONCEPT OF SUFFERING IN THE BIBLE AND EARLY APOLOGISTS........................................................................................................................14 Primary Expressions of Suffering in the Old Testament……………………………..14 atsab) …………………………………………………………………….15) ﬠָצַב ka’ab )…………………………………………………………………….17) כָּאַ ב challah )………………………………………………..............................19) חָלָה anah )……………………………………………………………………..21) ﬠָנָה Primary Expressions of Suffering in the New Testament…………………………….24 Jesus Christ and Paul - πάσχω…………………………………..…………….27 Jesus Christ and Paul – θλῖψις……………………….………………………..30 Jesus Christ and Paul – σταυρός………….…………………………………...33 Similarities and Differences between Expressions of Suffering Found in the Old Testament and New Testament….………………………………………………..37 The Suffering of God…………………………………………………………………43 The Suffering of Humanity…………………………………………………………...47 v The Witness of Suffering……………………………………………………………..50 Apologetics Defined………………………………………………………….55 Evidential Apologetics in the New Testament………………………………..57 Apologetics of Justin, Irenaeus, and Cyprian………………………………....62 Summary………………………………………………………………………………66 CHAPTER 3: THE CONCEPT OF SUFFERING IN THE ANCIENT GRECO-ROMAN WORLD………………………………………………………………..68 The Concept of Suffering…………………………………………………………….68 The Concept of Suffering in the Ancient Greco-Roman World…………...…69 Towards a Holistic Definition of Suffering in Antiquity……………………..71 Plato and Suffering…………………………………………………………………....74 The Stoic Emperor Marcus Aurelius and Suffering…………………………………..77 Platonic and Stoic Suffering Divergences and Convergences………………...81 Neoplatonist Views on Suffering……………………………………………………..83 The Cultural Context of Suffering in the Ancient Greco-Roman World……………..87 Roman Pagan Spirituality in Decline…………………………………………91 Summary……………………………………………………………………………...94 CHAPTER 4: JUSTIN MARTYR…………………………………………………………97 Introduction…………………………………………………………………………..97 Social and Cultural Contexts of Justin’s Works……………………………………...97 Apologetic Works of Justin Martyr and Development……………………………...103 Genre, Style, and Structure Markers of First Apology , Second Apology , and Dialogue with Trypho ………………………………………………..….105 Philosophical Influences on Justin’s Understanding of Suffering…………..108 vi Biblical Foundations in Justin’s Understanding of Suffering……………….111 The Ethical Dimension of Justin’s Understanding of Suffering.……………115 Suffering in First Apology , Second Apology , and Dialogue with Trypho …………...120 Apologetic Uses of Suffering by Justin Martyr……………………………………...122 CHAPTER 5: IRENAEUS OF LYONS…………………………………………………..131 Introduction………………………………………………………………………….131 Social and Cultural Context of Irenaeus’s Work…………………………………….131 Genre, Style, and Structure Markers in Adversus Haereses …………………………135 Irenaeus’s Work Adversus Haereses in Philosophical and Biblical Relation to Justin’s First Apology and Second Apology ………………………………………139 The Ethical Dimensions of Irenaeus’s Understanding of Suffering within the Polemics and Apologetic of Adversus Haereses …………………………………147 Apologetic Uses of Suffering by Irenaeus…………………………………………....153 CHAPTER 6: CYPRIAN OF CARTHAGE……………………………………………....159 Introduction…………………………………………………………………………...159 Social and Cultural Context of Cyprian’s Work………………………………………159 Genre, Style, and Structure Markers in Cyprian’s Epistles ……………………...…….163 Cyprian’s Apologetic Work in His Epistles and Exhortation to Martyrdom in Philosophical and Biblical Relation to Justin Martyr and Irenaeus……………………171 Ethical Dimension of Cyprian’s Pastoral Understanding of Suffering within Epistles ’ and Exhortation to Martyrdom ……………………………………….177 Apologetic Uses of Suffering by Cyprian……………………………………………...180 CHAPTER 7: HISTORY AND WHERE THE THREE FATHERS MEET……………..185 Introduction………………………………………………………………………..…...185 vii A Concise History of the Theology of Suffering from the Early Church to the Present…………………………………………………………………….…….185 Continuity of Suffering as Apologetic Shown between Justin, Irenaeus, and Cyprian……………………………………………………………………………198 The Translatable and Untranslatable between Cultures……………………………….201 Continuity from Scripture to Apologist……………………………………………….205 Concluding Remarks…………………………………………………………………..207 Bibliography…………………………………………………………………………………..210 viii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I continue to have a great and growing depth of gratitude and love for my wife, Michelle, and my two children, Aubrey and Zack, for their sacrifice and endurance these past several years. Michelle, there are too many sacrifices, helps, and blessings for me to name. I appreciate each and every one of them but I appreciate you the most. Aubrey, thank you again for helping me organize the bibliography and doing it with a smile. Zack, thank you for putting up with all my books in your space and encouraging your dad with hugs and admiration. Thank you also to my second set of parents, Rod and Dorinda Martin, whose prayers I have depended on all this time. I would like to thank my doctoral supervisor Dr. Ken Cleaver for his piquant yet poignant commentary and invaluable help during the entire dissertation process. Thank you also to Dr. Kevin King, Dr. Carl Diemer, and Dr. Leo Percer for their earnest and hearty support of this project since day one. I am deeply grateful for each and every one of the faculty at Rawlings School of Divinity at Liberty University. You have each left an indelible impression of the quality and camaraderie that is available for anyone that enters the classroom. Thank you to Drs. Corrado Primavera and Leonardo De Chirico, and Revs. Tim Faulkner and David Hodgdon for sharpening conversations and hospitality while researching the catacombs of Naples and Rome. I would like to thank the entire congregation of First Baptist Church of Parker, SD for your willingness to support me in this journey and for the privilege of letting me walk with you through your joys and sufferings as your pastor and friend. I would like to thank Dick and Judy Kremer for their heartfelt, welcoming, and providential hospitality which made for the softest landings in the mountains of Virginia. Finally, I would like to thank my loving parents, Robert and Cheryl, who have endured much and are hopefully encouraged by what they may find in these pages. ix ABSTRACT Suffering in Early Christianity has often been highlighted in martyrdom and the stories surrounding the persecution of the Early Church. The biblical idea of redemptive suffering was not an afterthought to the Christian community or part of what Joyce Salisbury calls, “the unintended consequences of ancient violence,”1 but it appears to be part and parcel of the Early Christian community as they sought to live faithfully to Christ’s teachings. As the Early Church lived out redemptive suffering, it became apparent to the surrounding culture and critics of Christianity that their suffering was different and it pointed to something else. Through an inquiry into the understanding of suffering in the biblical tradition and patristic tradition, this dissertation seeks to bring forth the apologetic uses of suffering which Justin Martyr, Irenaeus of Lyons, and Cyprian of Carthage have written about in their various works. describes the natural (מַכְ אוֹב֙ ) With biblical presentation of suffering in the Old Testament and consequential emotional as well as physical pain and sorrow felt by those such as Job, King also describes the suffering מַכְ אוֹב֙ David, and the Suffering Servant from the book of Isaiah. This the people of God endure as in the case of their wandering in the desert. In the NT, suffering (παθήματα, πάσχων, κακοπαθίας) also denotes physical and emotional pain while the idea of suffering physical and emotional pain together (συνκακοπάθησον) is also used in the biblical tradition. In the patristic tradition the notion of suffering was at times used to describe the persecution and martyrdom the Early Church was experiencing but also was still firmly rooted in OT and NT expressions of suffering, particularly the type of suffering which Christ endured and