CHRISTIAN APOLOGISTS

The Christian Apologists is the name given to those early Church Fathers, whose principal task was to defend Christianity against paganism (worship of false gods), against the Roman state, and against Greek philosophy. Among these Christian Apologists are
the unknown author of The Preaching of Peter,
Aristides,
Quadratus,
Diognetus,
Justin Martyr,
Athenagoras,
Tatian,
Theophilus,
Irenaeus,
Hippolytus,
Felix,
Tertullian,
Arnobius, and
Lactanius.

1. The Preaching of Peter (c.100-130 A.D.)
   1. Author: unknown.
   2. Purpose:
      to defend Christianity against paganism.
   3. Contents:
      This apocryphal treatise combines philosophical discussion of attributes with the biblical view of God as Creator. Like the Apology of Aristides, this work goes on the to explain that God cannot be worshipped in the manner of the Greeks, who make idols and offer sacrifices to them, nor in the manner of the Jews.
   4. Value:
      It was widely circulated and became part of the Apology of Aristides.

2. Marcianus Aristides of Athens (Second Century A.D.)
   1. Life:
      Aristides apparently was born and lived in Athens in the Second Century as a philosopher. Until the last century Aristides was only known as a name mentioned in the writings of Eusebius and Jerome. Then in A.D. 1878 the Armenian Fathers of the Lazarist Monastery at Venice published an Armenian version of his Apology and in 1889 Rendel Harris discovered the Syriac version in a monastery on Mt. Sinai. Shortly afterwards, J.A. Robinson made the astonishing discovery that the Greek version of Aristides has been taken over almost wholly into a popular Oriental Christian romance, called "Barlaam and Josaphat." Two fourth century fragments on papyrus turned up later, neither of them bearing the title or the names of their author or recipient.
   2. Works:
      The Apology (c.140 A.D.):
      1. Purpose:
         defense of Christianity against paganism addressed to the emperor Hadrian.
      2. Contents:
         The work opens with an outline demonstration of God's existence based on Aristotle's argument from motion. He states that mankind is divided into four races -- Barbarians, Greeks, Jews, and Christians. Aristides regarded the Christians alone as possessing the truth about God, and indeed as constituting a special race originating with Christ. Having the truth, Christians are able to live holy and righteous lives. Chaldeans, Greeks, and the Egyptians have all erred. The Jews are praiseworthy in the adherence to the one true God, but Jewish religion is a superstition with respect to rites and ceremonies. He criticizes the Jews for their failure to accept Christ. Finally he praises Christianity chiefly because of its (Jewish) morality.
      3. Value:
         The treatise was addressed, not to Emperor Hadrian as Eusebius said, but to his successor Antoninius Pius. His discussion reflects the widespread interest in the history of religions in the early second century.

3. Quadratus of Asia Minor (Second Century, A.D.)
   1. Life:
      Quadratus is thought to be the bishop of Athens following the martyrdom of Publius.
   2. Works:
      Apology (124/125 or 129 A.D.)
      The occasion of its writing may be the visit of Hadrian to Athens in the winter of A.D. 124/125.
      1. Purpose:
         It argued for better treatment of Christians by the state.
      2. Contents:
         Other than a brief fragment quoted by Eusebius this work is considered lost, though some suggest that it is preserved in the Epistle to Diognetus.
      3. Value:
         It reflects the impact on the Christian Church of the imperial policy and rescripts against Christianity by Hadrian and his predecessor Trajan.

4. The Epistle to Diognetus (c.129 A.D.)
   1. Author:
      Quadratus or Pantaenus (?) This epistle may preserved the Apology of Quadratus. Though written in the second century, it is never mentioned in antiquity or in the Middle Ages. It was preserved at Strasbourg in a single manuscript with the works of Justin Martyr, but was burned on August 24, 1870 during the Franco-Prussian War. Our knowledge of it comes largely from three sixteenth century transcripts.
   2. Purpose:
      It defended Christianity against paganism and argued for better treatment of Christians by the state.
   3. Contents:
      The epistle invites a certain Diognetus to consider the superiority of Christianity over paganism and Judaism. It seeks to answer the questions: What is the nature of Christian worship and how does it differs from other forms of worship? What is the nature of Christian love? Why has Christianity appeared so late in human history?
   4. Value:
      While the style is good, the argumentation and apologetics are not very profound. Because of the Epistle's peculiar history some critics regard it as a brilliant forgery, while others have looked on it as a showpiece, without any real relationship to the life of the Early Church. But the real beauty of its picture of the Christian life, the freshness of its language, and the undeveloped character of its theology all combine to guarantee the authenticity of the Epistle as an expression of early Christian piety. It disregards Hebrew prophecy and shows a contempt for Greek philosophy.

5. Flavius Justin, The Martyr (c.100-165 A.D.)
   1. Life:
      Justin was born of pagan parents at Flavius Neapolis, formerly Shechem, in Samaria, and modern Nablus. The family were evidently Gentile citizens of a Roman colony in Samaria. Though not Jewish, Justin brought from his Palestinian home a consciousness of the Jewish background of the faith that he ultimately adopted. He appears from his youth to have been intent on finding intellectual peace and satisfaction. He study the leading philosophers of his day: Stoicism, Aristotelianism, Pythagoreanism, and Platonism. He became convinced that the complete truth lay elsewhere. At last after a conversation with an old man he discovered that Christianity was the "one sure worthy Philosophy." He became a Christian in A.D 132. He then sought to proclaim his new found faith and bring educated pagans to Christ through philosophy. He taught it in many of the leading cities of the ancient world, and he seems to have spent considerable time in Rome, where Tatian was one of his students. Justin as Christian apologist attempted to defend the Christian faith against misrepresentation and ridicule by showing that Christianity was the embodiment of the noblest concepts of Greek philosophy and was the Truth par excellence. He was called the "the Philosopher." He suffered martyrdom sometime between A.D. 163 and 167, being beheaded in Rome under Junius Rusticus.
   2. Works:
      1. First Apology (155 A.D.):
         1. Purpose:
            This work is addressed to the Emperor Antoninus Pius and his son Verissimus, and to the philosopher Lucius. His purpose is to show that the teaching of Christ and the prophets is alone true and older than any other writings.
         2. Contents:
            He asserts that the divine Logos had been in the world from the beginning, and that those who lived according to "reason," whatever their race, were Christians before Christ. Greek philosophy was a preparation for truth fully revealed in Christ. The Greek philosophical doctrines are not untrue but partial, and therefore are insufficient. Justin maintained that the Logos that illuminated the Greek philosophers resided fully in Jesus Christ. Therefore, Christianity was not a new revelation, but was supremely the full revelation of the truth because Christ was Himself the incarnation of the whole divine Logos. The coming of the Christ was to save men from the power of demons and to teach the truth. Justin frequently states that Christ saves mankind by His death on the cross and by His resurrection. He argued that the truth of Christianity is attested to
            (1) by the way in which prophecies more ancient than Greek philosophy have been fulfilled in the coming of Christ,
            (2) by the moral excellence of its doctrine, and
            (3) by its good effects upon believers in Christ.
         3. Value:
            Justin was the first Christian writer after Paul to express the universal implications of Christianity. With his distinctive concept of the Logos, he summed up the whole history of mankind as finding its consummation in Christ.
      2. Second Apology (165 A.D.):
         1. Purpose:
            This more shorter work attempts to defend Christians from unjust persecution. It was evidently written at a moment of crisis for the Christians of Rome, when martyrdoms were occurring and Justin expected his own to follow shortly. Eusebius dates this Second Apology and Justin's martyrdom early in the years of Marcus Aurelius, and there is no reason to doubt the correctness of this information. The Acts of Justin and other martyrs describe the events; Justin and six others were arrested, probably at the house of Martinus, and brought before the prefect Rusticus. Justin had the chance to make the confession that he longed for. But as soon as he had spoken of the Father, Son , and Spirit, the perfect, "who seems to have been bored at the prospect of a sermon," tried in vain to get more information about Christian meeting places. Then came the fatal demand for sacrifice, after which condemnation and execution followed as a matter of course.
         2. Contents:
            This Second Apology refers to the First Apology. In his First Apology Justin argues that everything good and true is really ours as Christians by right; this thought is developed more explicitly in this apology, adopting the term, familiar to Stoics, of the "spermatic word," the divine force which, as it were, impregnated the universe. (Apol. II. chs. 10; 13; compare John 1:9). Although Justin is not deeply interested in the cosmic action of the Logos, he sees the Logos as the prophetic Spirit that speaks through the prophets the Word of God.
         3. Value:
            Much of Justin's history and exegesis no longer appeals. But Christians can never renounce his central theme, that everything good and true is really ours as Christians.
      3. Dialogue with Trypho (153 A.D.):
         1. Purpose:
            The work is Justin's attempt to win Jews for Christ as well as the Gentiles.
         2. Contents:
            It narrates Justin's conversation with a learned Jew, Trypho, and certain of his friends. It closes with an eloquent appeal to Trypho to accept the truth and "enter upon the greatest of all contests for your own salvation, and to endeavor to prefer to your own teaching the Christ of Almighty God."
         3. Value:
            This writing shows Justin's desire to win Jews for Christ as well as Gentiles.

6. Athenagoras of Athens (late Second Century A.D.):
   1. Life:
      In many ways Athenagoras was the ablest of the Greek Apologists, but his works remained almost completely unknown in Early Church. Apart from a citation in a third century writer, Methodius of Tyre, and a misleading reference in a most unreliable historian of the fifth century, Philip of Side, Athenagoras' work is passed over in silence by the Church Fathers. Neither Eusebius nor Jerome mention him, and we are left to deduce from his writings what we can know about him. He was apparently born and lived in Athens during the second century. He was not creative thinker nor was he a profound scholar. But he was rhetorician, combining a graceful style with some originality and considerable knowledge. He was well acquainted with the leading ideas of the current philosophers and his outlook betrays the essential spirit of his age, eclecticism.
   2. Works:
      1. A Plea Regarding Christians (176-177 A.D.)
         1. Purpose:
            This apology was presented to Marcus Aurelius. In it he defends Christian doctrines and practices and attacks the pagan religions, especially their penchant for polytheism. He quotes Greek poets and philosophers in support of monotheism and presents an a priori argument for the existence of God.
         2. Contents:
            In his Plea Athenagoras answers three current charges brought against Christianity: atheism, incest, and cannibalism. It is with the first of these that the large body of the work is concerned (chs. 3 to 30). The others are treated rather summarily at the end (chs. 31 to 36). The case against atheism is the central point, for, with this proved, the moral calumnies are in principle disposed of. This division of material, moreover, reflects the rhetorical skill of Athenagoras. These charges were a natural result to the Christian message. To deny the traditional gods, to stand in opposition to the syncretic temper of the age, and above all to claim to practice a religion which dispensed with the most essential element of any religion, that is, sacrifice, could not but have provoked the accusation of atheism. Furthermore, the denial of the close association of the gods with race and soil must have made it extremely hard for the pagans to take the Christian message seriously. The Christians were not a racial or national group who venerated the traditions of their forefathers. This new religion seemed to the pagans to be undermining every element of their ancient religions. And the charges of incest and cannibalism arose from the fact that only the baptized were permitted to attend the Eucharist. And what was done in secret by such people was considered quite likely to be immoral. Moreover the fragmentary knowledge which the pagans gained by hearsay about the meaning of the Lord's Supper, that is, the eating and drinking of the body and blood of Christ, quickly led to the suspicion of cannibalism. Also the Christian emphasis on love and brotherhood was easily distorted into the practice of incest.
         3. Value:
            In his hospitable attitude toward Greek philosophy and culture Athenagoras shares Justin's view, which stands in marked contrast with that of his Syrian contemporary, Tatian.
      2. Treatise on the Resurrection
         1. Purpose:
            In this treatise Athenagoras defends a doctrine which the cultured pagans found difficult to accept. The general Greek view of matter and the body as evil or as the source of evil made the resurrection of the body as unimportant.
         2. Contents:
            Athenagoras' lucid discussion is addressed to the philosophers, and the argument is kept entirely on their ground. The incarnation and the resurrection of Christ are ignored. He does, however, stresses the divinity of the Logos and the triadic nature of God.
         3. Value:
            This treatise is deficient in that its argument ignores the incarnation and the resurrection of Christ. But this is understandable to a certain extent in terms of the audience that Athenagoras wished to address.

7. Tatian, The Assyrian (Second Century A.D.):
   1. Life:
      He was educated in Greece and lived in Rome, where he became a disciple of Justin Martyr. After Justin's death he retired to Syria, where he became the founder of a movement later called the Encratites (a named derived from the Greek enkrateia, "self-control"), which had certain extreme ascetic practices including vegetarianism. Tatian's chief claim to fame is his Diatessaron (from a Greek musical term, meaning "a harmony of four parts"), which was a harmony of the four gospels and was used as a liturgical book in the Syrian Church until the fifth century. For a time it threatened to replace the Gospels themselves.
   2. Works:
      Address to the Greeks (c.160 A.D.):
      1. Purpose:
         Like his master, Tatian engaged in the defense of the faith against pagan misrepresentations.
      2. Contents:
         But his "Address to the Greeks" marks a retrograde step when compared with Justin's apologia. Unlike the latter's tolerant and courteous attitude toward Greek learning and culture, Tatian had only mockery and contempt for pagan philosophy. Later Tatian became a Gnostic of the Valentinian persuasion. In the Christian forms of Gnosis there are instances where the Christian elements are clearly a superficial addition to a system already complete. But in other cases, as in those of the Alexandrian teachers, Basilides and Valentinus, the Christian elements are fundamental. Yet all Gnostic systems depend upon a fundamental principle that is at variance with Christianity. The central tenet of Gnosticism is that the body is basically evil, and in no sense the creation of a good God. It led Gnostics to dispute the underlying message of the Old Testament, and to contrast the creator-God with the God revealed in Jesus Christ (Marcion). As a consequence the Old Testament was rejected, and the new Christian books were substituted in its place. The Gnostics were the first to give New Testament passages the authority once enjoyed by the Old Testament (Basilides), to write a new Testament commentary (Heracleon), and to make a Gospel harmony (Tatian).
      3. Value:
         Tatian's attitude toward Greek learning and culture is characteristic of a certain school of Christian apologetics among whom is Theophilus of Antioch and Tertullian, who found nothing good and true in Greek philosophy.

8. Theophilus of Antioch (late Second Century A.D.)
   1. Life:
      Theophilus was the bishop of Antioch.
   2. Works:
      Ad Autolycum (c.180 A.D.):
      Of his works only his Apology, addressed to a pagan friend Autolycus, has survived.
      1. Purpose:
         This work seeks to show the superiority of the Christian revelation over pagan mythology. Theophilus seeks to defend the prophets against the philosophers.
      2. Contents:
         Theophilus' doctrine of the Godhead presented in the three books of his Ad Autolycum was an important development beyond his Christian predecessors. Proceeding from a theology influenced by Middle Platonism, he distinguished between two phases of the Logos: the logos endiathetos is the Logos innate in God and the logos prophorikos is the Logos brought forth from God for the purpose of creation. Like Justin Martyr, Theophilus regarded the Old Testament theophanies as having been in fact appearances of the Logos. Theophilus was the first theologian to use the word Triad (trias) of the Godhead. He described the Father with His Word and His Wisdom as the Triad. He was particularly critical of the Platonic notion of the eternity of matter, arguing that, if it were true, God could not be the creator of all things, and therefore His "monarchy," that is, His position as the sole first principle, must go by the board. He says little concerning the person of Christ, but he clearly regarded him as the second Adam. But there is no special emphasis on the redemptive work of Christ. The stress instead is on upon the disobedience of the first Adam and the obedience of the second Adam by following whose example we may be saved.
      3. Value:
         Eusebius called this apology "elementary." But Theophilus' doctrine of the Godhead was an important development beyond his Christian predecessors. Like other Christian apologists his overriding preoccupation had been with the unity of God; the struggle with paganism (polytheism) and Gnosticism. While theologians were obscurely aware of distinctions within the one indivisible Godhead, they showed little disposition to explore the eternal relations of the Three, much less to construct a conceptual and linguistic apparatus capable of expressing them.

9. Irenaeus (c.125-202 A.D.):
   1. Life:
      He was probably born in Smyrna in Asia Minor, where as a boy he listened to Polycarp. He perhaps studied and taught at Rome before moving to Lyons. As a presbyter in 177/8 A.D. he mediated on his church's behalf with Bishop Eleutherus of Rome over the Montanists. On his return he succeeded Bishop Pothinus (who had died in the persecution of 177/8 A.D.), probably without episcopal consecration. He represented an important link between East and West, corresponded widely, and protested against Pope Victor's excommunication of the Asian Quartodecimans. His diocese included also Vienne and possibly congregations further afield (he was Gaul's sole monarchical bishop) and involved him in speaking Gallic (Celtic). He encountered Gnostic activity and devoted five books to the Detection and Overthrow of Falsely-named Knowledge (Gnosis), usually called Against Heresies (Adversus Haereses). His Demonstration of the Apostolic Preaching, rediscovered in an Armenian translation in 1904, is both catechesis and apologia, expounding Christian theology and the christological proofs from OT prophecy.
   2. Works:
      Adversus Haereses (189/190 A.D.):
      1. Purpose:
         To detect and overthrow Gnosticism.
      2. Contents:
         In general this work follows a logical order, although it is not always clear in detail. Book I describes the Gnostic heresies, sometimes sarcastically, and Book II shows their absurdity. In Book III the basis of Christian doctrine in Scriptures and tradition is laid, and its essential points, the unity of God and redemption through Christ, are enlarged upon in detail. Book IV defends against Marcion the unity of the two covenants, and Book V resumes the discussion of redemption and concludes with discussion of last things and the earthly millennial Kingdom of God. Through Polycarp Irenaeus claimed connection with the apostolic generation and the traditions of the Elders, and in his time the Spirit still dispensed charismata and the bishop was still a presbyter. Against the Gnostic scriptures, traditions, and successions he erected the apostolic pillars of catholic orthodoxy. The unity of Father, Son, and Spirit in both creation and redemption (including the millennial resurrection of the flesh) is strongly emphasized, and in his concept of "recapitulation" he develops Paul's Adam-Christ parallel (extending it to Eve-Mary) and views the Incarnation as the climactic summation of God's dealings with mankind in creation, education, and salvation, and the unification of the whole human race in Christ.
      3. Value:
         Relying heavily upon the writings of the apostle Paul and the fourth gospel, Irenaeus vastly increased the influence of the Johannine gospel in Christian thought, enlarging the meaning logos so that the common designation of the term came not to be the divine reason, but the voice of God as given in His revelation in Jesus Christ. Also this work is invaluable in recording Gnostic teachings, especially of the Valentinians. Irenaeus drew on Gnostic works and their earlier refutations, mostly lost, and he was himself heavily used by later antiheretical writers.

10. Hippolytus (c.160-c.236 A.D.)
    1. Life:
       Very little is known of his life, but he was teacher in Rome and became a presbyter under Bishop Zephyrinus whom he accused of compromise with the Sabellius. Perhaps his theological views was affected by his opposition to Callistus, the archdeacon, who himself became pope in A.D. 217. Hippolytus set himself up as an antipope and continued as such until deported in A.D. 235 by Emperor Maximin during a period of persecution. In exile he was reconciled to the pope, and after his martyrdom his body was brought to Rome with honor by the church. In the centuries following his death his identity was confused and he was equated with various people. After many years of oblivion he was given prominence again by the discovery near his tomb in Rome of a (headless) statue of him enthroned as a bishop (erected by his followers who later merged with the Novatians?). Inscribed on the statue were a table for computing the date of Easter and a list of his writings. Among them which survive in translation are Philosophumena (the title given to parts 4-10 of his longer Refutation of all Heresies), and the Apostolic Tradition which preserves for us a conservative picture of the Roman church order and worship at the end of the second century. He also wrote a Commentary on Daniel which is the oldest Christian Bible commentary to survive in its entirety.
    2. Works:
       Philosophumena
       1. Purpose:
          Hippolytus followed his teacher Irenaeus in writing against Gnosticism, which he described as a mixture of Greek philosophy and astral religion.
       2. Contents:
          Hippolytus taught a Logos doctrine inherited from Justin Martyr. He distinguished two states of the Logos, the one eternal and immanent in God, the other temporal and exterior to God. By his opponents he was called a ditheist. In disciplinary matters he was rigorist who strenuously opposed the mitigation of the penitential system in order to cope with the entry into the church of a large number of converts. Also he seems to have been the first scholar to construct an Easter table that was independent of contemporary Judaism.
       3. Value:
          This work is of value for its description of the Gnostic sects.

11. Minicius Felix (Late 2nd or early 3rd century A.D.)
    1. Life:
       Little is known concerning Minicus Felix except that he lived in North Africa, where Tertullian also lived.
    2. Works:
       Octavius
       1. Purpose:
          It is a dialogue written in Latin to show the unity between Christianity and Greek philosophy. He attempts to show not only that Christians are philosophers (lovers of wisdom) but that the philosophers, when they do their work properly, are Christians.
       2. Contents:
          This elegant, attractive defense of Christianity, which takes the form of a dialogue between a pagan, Caecilius, and a Christian, Octavius. Caecilius echoes the general calumnies against Christians, and Octavius corrects these views, stressing at the same time the virtues of Christianity.
       3. Value:
          The relationship between this work and Tertullian's apology is very close. There are such striking similarities that some interdependence is almost certain, but it is impossible to say which work is earliest. There are a sufficient number of similarities between the Plea of Athenagoras and this work to suggest that the latter might have known Athenagoras' work. He does not, however, mention Athenagoras.

12. Tertullian (c.155/160-c.220/222 A.D.)
    1. Life:
       Tertullian (Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus) was born at Carthage in North Africa and lived in Rome, working as a lawyer, until his conversion to Christianity in A.D. 195. At that time he returned to the Carthage, where he served as Presbyter. He was the most vigorous and uncompromising of the early Christian Apologists. His Christian writings cover the period from A.D. 197 to the papacy of Callistius, 218-222 A.D. He is often called the "Father of Latin Theology", because of his contribution to the making of a Latin theological terminology and his great influence on the doctrine of the Church in the West. His legalistic concepts of sin as debt and of righteousness as meritorious reward came to dominate the understanding of salvation in the Western Church. Later in his life he adopted Montaism as an interpretation of Christianity most congenial to his views. He died in old age, not before A.D. 220.
    2. Works:
       Tertullian is known almost exclusively through his writings. Not all his works have survived; none of his works written in Greek (on baptism, games, and shows, and on veiling of virgins) have survived, but thirty-one of his works written in Latin remain, the first significant corpus of Christian Latin literature. (The lost Latin works are Ecstasy, Paradise, Fate, The Hope of Believers, Flesh and Soul, and Against the Apellians.)

       His principal Latin writings are:
       To the Martyrs (197 A.D.), which is a brief exhortation to Christians facing martyrdom;
       Apology (c.197 A.D.), which is magnificent defense of Christianity in which he is principally concerned with removing the political and social charges commonly brought against Christianity;
       Prescription of Heretics (De Praescriptionibus Haereticorum, 203 A.D.), in which he disposes of all heresy in principle, removing the necessity of arguing against each in particular, denying them the appeal to the Scriptures, which rightfully belong only to the churches founded by the apostles;
       Against the Gnostics,
       Against Valentinus,
       Against Marcion,
       Against the Marcionites,
       On the Flesh of Christ,
       On the Resurrection of the Body,
       the Scorpiace (Serpent's Bite)
       are attacks on Gnosticism (c.204-207 A.D.);
       On the Soul (De Anima, c.206 A.D.) is a lengthy learned rebuttal of Gnostic psychology and a positive presentation of Tertullian's doctrine of the soul;
       Against Praxeas (c.210 A.D.), which is against the modalist Praxeas and is the most advanced exposition to this date of the doctrine of the Trinity;
       and a number of Montaist works written between 210 A.D. and 222 A.D., among which are
       On Flight in Persecution (213 A.D.),
       On Monogamy,
       On Fasting, and
       On Chastity (De Pudicitia).

       From the first, Tertullian's practical works advocated a withdrawal from pagan society. His move to Montanism intensified this rigorism. For example, after reluctantly condoning remarriage in To His Wife (c.200 A.D.), he condemned it outright in On Monogamy (c.210 A.D.). And again, once he tolerated flight from persecution, but later in his On Flight in Persecution (213 A.D.) he outlawed any "unspiritual" avoidance of martyrdom.

       Most of the writings of Tertullian are moral and disciplinary. From his early period, that is, up to about 206 A.D., and before there are any traces of Montanism, come On the (Lord's) Prayer, On Baptism, On Patience, On Penance, On Women's Dress, To his Wife, On the Virgin's Veil. They are homiletic-catechetical in form.

       In his apologetic writings Tertullian opposed the blending of Greek philosophy and Christianity ("What has Jerusalem to do with Athens, the Church with the Academy, the Christian with the heretic?"). He held that reason and revelation are contradictory ("I believe because it is absurd."), and vigorously attacked the Greek philosophy, as well as Gnosticism in particular, and paganism generally. In this Tertullian differs from the strategy of most Christian Apologists who emphasized, in greater or lesser degree, a harmony between philosophy and the Christian faith. On Tertullian's view, that the Son of God died is to be believed because it is a contradictory, and that he rose from the dead has certitude because it is impossible. Yet, curiously, his doctrine of the relation of the body and soul, and of God and the world, he adopts a Stoic materialism where both God and the soul are view as spiritual matter. "Everything which exists is a bodily existence sui generic. Nothing lacks bodily existence but that which is non-existence"; "for who will deny that God is a body, although 'God is a Spirit'? For Spirit has a bodily substance of its own kind, in its own form". Tertullian seems here to be maintaining a materialistic doctrine and holding that God is really a material being, just as the Stoics considered God to be material. Some, however, have suggested that by "body" Tertullian often meant simply substance and that when he attributes materiality to God, he is really simply attributing substantiality to God. On this explanation, when Tertullian says that God is a corpus sui generis, that God is coprus and yet spiritus, he actually means that God is a spiritual substance; his language would be at fault, while his thought would be acceptable. One is certainly not entitled to exclude this explanation as impossible, but it is true that Tertullian, speaking of the human soul, says that it must be a bodily substance since it can suffer. In his Apology he gives as a reason for the resurrection of the body of the wicked that "the soul is not capable of suffering without the solid substance, that is, the flesh". It is probably best to say that, while Tertullian's language often implies materialism of a rather crass sort, his meaning may not have been that which his language would often imply. When he teaches that the soul of the infant is derived from the father's seed like a kind of sprout, he would seem to be teaching a clearly materialistic doctrine but this "traducianism" was adopted partly for a theological reason, to explain the transmission of original sin, and some later writers who are inclined to this same view, did so for the same theological reason, without apparently realizing the materialistic implications of the doctrine. Tertuallian's materialism provided a reasonable explanation for this "traducianism".

13. Arnobius (c.300 A.D.)
    1. Life:
       He was a teacher of rhetoric from Sicca in Numidia, he was converted from paganism to Christ.
    2. Works:
       Adversus Gentes (A.D. 300)
       1. Purpose:
          Like Minicius Felix he had a low opinion of Greek philosophy and human reason.
       2. Contents:
          His defense of Christianity concentrated on exposing the errors of pagan worship and mythology. The divinity of Christ he based primarily on the miracles, and he advocated hope in Christ as the only real basis for immortality. Despite his respect for pagan philosophers like Plato, he argued that the soul is not immortal by nature. He refuted the Platonic pre-existence of souls by presenting the case of a man isolated from birth. Such a person, he claimed, would show no signs of intellect.
       3. Value:
          As a recent convert he lapsed occasionally into unorthodoxy; he said, for instance, Christ is not coequal with the Father.

14. Lactanius (4th Century A.D.)
    1. Life:
       Lactanius was born in Italy, educated in North Africa under Arnobius. He was converted in Nicomedia around A.D. 300. He was the tutor to Constantine's son, Crispus, and, as an adviser to Constantine, he was called "the Christian Cicero."
    2. Works:
       1. Institutiones Divine, 7 vols.
       2. On Death from Persecutions
       3. On the Anger of God
       4. On God's Workmanship.
    3. Value:
       His thought contained Chiliast and Manichaean emphases. He argued against the value of Greek philosophy. Fragments of truth lie scattered through the philosophers which could yield a coherent body of doctrine in accord with Christian faith, but it is impossible to sift them out without the aid of revelation.

APPENDIX

1. Introduction Chs. 1-12.
   1. A plea for a fair hearing Chs. 13.
   2. An answer to the charges against the Christian Chs. 4-12.
      1. The name Chs. 4-6.
      2. Some Christians are convicted criminals Chs. 7-8.
      3. Christians do not sacrifice to the gods Chs. 9-10.
      4. Christians look for a kingdom Chs. 11-12.
2. Argument for the truth of Christianity Chs. 13-67.
   1. Introduction Chs. 13-14.
   2. Digression: the teachings of Christ Chs. 15-17.
   3. Arguments for the possibility of the facts of the Christian faith Chs. 18-22.
      1. Immortality Ch. 18.
      2. Resurrection Ch. 19.
      3. Hell Ch. 20.
      4. Ascension Ch. 21.
      5. Incarnation Ch. 22.
   4. Main Argument Chs. 23-60.
      1. Introduction Chs. 23.
      2. Digression: Proof that demons are responsible for the slanders and alleged godless deeds of Christians Chs. 24-29.
      3. Main argument from prophecy with digressions Chs. 30-53.
      4. Paganism is demon inspired imitation of Christianity Chs. 54-58.
      5. Greek philosophers borrowed from prophets Chs. 59-60.
   5. The Nature of Christian worship Chs. 61-67.
3. Conclusion Ch. 68.