Justin Martyr's
First Apology is an excellent example of the arguments Christian writers used to win over the hearts and minds of the people of the Roman empire. Skim through this work at the link
here. Do you see here anything that seems to you especially likely to win support for Christianity, or at least to convince the philosophically-minded emperor to by sympathetic to Christians?
He said judge them case by case do not just condemn them. At least give them a fair trail they are people too. He said the reasons Christians do the things they do is because they are being watched by God. If they do not follow it is like us disobeying our Gods. Christians believe in all their things because it was in the prophecies. I think overall this would make them at least think twice about the trail and start to get away the weird rumors.
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ReplyDelete“For we forewarn you to be on your guard, lest those demons whom we have been accusing should deceive you, and quite divert you from reading and understanding what we say. For they strive to hold you their slaves and servants; and sometimes by appearances in dreams, and sometimes by magical impositions, they subdue all who make no strong opposing effort for their own salvation.”- Chapter 14. The demons misrepresent Christian doctrine. I believe that this is would be attractive to people because it could explain to them why the persecutions happened that it was demons who drove it. The emperor could see it as cover to lighten up on the Christians by saying it has been demons that killed them and that they are not that bad.
ReplyDeleteHe really pushes for fair trials in this writing. He asks to make a decision based on sound judgement, and to not just make a decision because that is how it had always been done in the past. If they are going to condemn someone, do it because there is sound reason behind it. He asks not to judge them based on evil wishes or because of the desires of other people, but to look over the whole case and make a fair and well thought out decision. I think everyone can agree that it is not fair to just quickly judge someone unfairly, just because that's the way it has always been done. If you are going to condemn them, do it because you feel there is sound reason for it to be done.
ReplyDeleteI really like how he points out the folly of idol worship in chapter 9. He address that these idols a nothing more then shells which people attach Gods name to but he also addresses that we worship more then a statue but an actual man. I feel that this wold be a way to draw people to Christianity simply because it is compelling to believe a actual human to be God as apposed to a statue.
ReplyDeleteJustin Martyr's First Apology was very similar to Athenagora's plea for the Christians. But, it was different in its writing style and also some of its contents as well. Justin addresses specific examples of what the christians were being accused of and then provides specific evidence in order to refute those accusations. This is what helps make his first apology so convincing.
ReplyDeleteOne of the points that me makes that may convince some people to be a little more sympathetic is that the people who are Christians should not be judged as a group but should be investigated as individual people. This also makes the point that these accusations against them should be investigated and not just immediately believed without proof. He makes another point that I think would help near the end of Chapter 4. He points out that not all philosophers have always taught the exact same thing. He says that some even taught atheism but they were not condemned the way that the Christians are for being accused of atheism. This might have been able to help convince some people that they should be more sympathetic to the Christians that are being accused of these things.
ReplyDeleteMallory Schlechter