Christianity in the Second Century

The Case of Tatian

Emily J. Hunt

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2003
• ISBN:
  9781134409884
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Religion

Tatian is a significant figure in the early Church, his work both representing and revealing his second-century context. This study offers a detailed exploration of his thought. It is also a valuable introduction to the entire period, particularly the key developments it witnessed in Christianity.
Emily Hunt examines a wide range of topics in depth: Tatian's relationship with Justin Martyr and his Oration to the Greeks; the Apologetic attempt to defend and define Christianity against the Graeco-Roman world and Christian use of hellenistic philosophy. Tatian was accused of heresy after his death, and this work sees him at the heart of the orthodox/heterodox debate. His links with the East, and his Gospel harmony the Diatessaron, lead to an exploration of Syriac Christianity and asceticism.
In the process, scholarly assumptions about heresiology and the Apologists' relationship with hellenistic philosophy are questioned, and the development of a Christian philosophical tradition is traced from Philo, through Justin Martyr, to Tatian - and then within several key Syriac writers.
This is the first dedicated study of Tatian for more than forty years.

1
CHRISTIANITY IN THE SECOND CENTURY

The nature of second century Christianity is actually quite difficult to pin down with any accuracy. Sources from the second century itself are sparse, and later church historians present partial and often contradictory accounts, which are clearly biased and marked with an agenda of a later time. This confusion is further reflected in modern scholarship, and many different perspectives on second century Christianity have been presented.

Nevertheless, some sort of initial survey is necessary in order to begin the process of locating Tatian within the second century. A comprehensive overview is, of course, impossible within the space of a single chapter; nor would it be appropriate within this context. Thus the following survey of second century Christianity will focus on what is of importance for placing Tatian, and extra weight will be given to issues that are of particular relevance.

Christianity and Judaism

The first significant shift that began to shape early Christianity was its struggle to define itself against its Jewish roots. Christianity had, of course, begun its existence as a Jewish sect which believed that Jesus was the Messiah.¹ It would appear that the first real change in Christianity’s evolution began with Paul and his mission to the Gentiles, which is outlined in the Pauline Epistles.² Paul’s proposal to accept the conversion of Gentiles to Christianity without the enforcement of Jewish conversion requirements³ seems to have initiated Christianity’s development away from Judaism, although it was some time before the consequences of Paul’s actions were felt within Palestinian Christianity.

It is difficult to give a date for the split between Christianity and Judaism, and even the way in which the split is defined has been the cause of much controversy amongst Jewish and Christian scholars. The separation itself was gradual, and occurred at different rates in different locations. For instance, in the communities that were particularly receptive to Pauline ideas and where there were few Christians of Jewish descent, the split was probably very quick. However, in Palestine, the heart of Jewish Christianity, the separation was very slow, and some Jewish Christians may never have made the break. In areas where the presence of the hellenized Jews of the Diaspora was strong, the issue of separation becomes very complicated. Moreover, the fact that, besides the Epistle of Barnabus, there is very little textual evidence to highlight this development within early Christianity means that our picture of the separation from Judaism is very unclear indeed.

However, something of the parting of the ways can be made out from certain historical events centred on Palestine. In 70 CE, the Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed. This had serious ramifications for Jewish religious life, since religious activity had been centred on the Temple. From a Christian point of view, the destruction of the Temple was interpreted in some circles as a just punishment for the Jewish rejection of Jesus.

Around 85 CE, a benediction against heretics (minim) began to be read in synagogues. Although there is still some debate about whether ha-minim refers specifically to Christians,⁴ it is almost certain that Jewish Christians were included in this anathema. Schiffman has suggested that the purpose of the benediction was not actually to excommunicate Jewish Christians from the Jewish faith (since, according to the halakic concept of Jewish identity, Jewishness was based upon race, not right or wrong belief), but rather to prevent Jewish Christians from functioning as Precentors, since a Christian was unlikely to curse himself.⁵ However, the benediction certainly made many Christians feel unwelcome in the synagogues, and there is evidence in the New Testament which suggests that by the end of the first century, Christians were already having to come to terms with their exclusion from Jewish worship.⁶

In the years between 70 and 132 CE, tensions in Palestine began to build, and Messianic and apocalyptic hopes within Palestinian Judaism were high. This culminated in the Bar Kokhba revolt of 132–135. Bar Kokhba was perceived by many Jews as a Messianic figure. The Jewish Christians, who believed that Jesus had been the Messiah, therefore rejected Bar Kokhba and refused to take part in the revolt. As a result, Bar Kokhba and his followers turned against the Jewish Christians, and some were even killed.⁷

The failure of the Bar Kokhba revolt had far-reaching implications for Judaism, and for Jewish Christianity. Jerusalem was taken over by the Romans and renamed ‘Aelia Capitolina’, and in 135 the Emperor Hadrian issued an edict that banned all Jews from entering the city. This included Jewish Christians, and so the new church that was established in Jerusalem became a Gentile church, which no longer fulfilled the halakic requirements for Jewish identity. From a Jewish perspective, it was at this point that Christianity and Judaism finally split.

The remaining Jewish Christians were very few; following the hostilities of Bar Kokhba and his followers, few converts could be found from within Judaism, whilst Roman enforcement of the prohibition on circumcision after the war discouraged Gentile converts. Thus, rejected by Jews for their Christian beliefs, the remnants of the Jewish Christians of Palestine became increasingly isolated. Ire-naeus, who talks of a sect called the ‘Ebionites’, may attest to their existence at the end of the second century.⁸

Something of the tension between Christianity and Judaism of the mid-second century can also be seen in one of the extant works of Tatian’s teacher, Justin Martyr (c.100–165 CE). Justin’s Dialogue with Trypho, written between 155 and 160 CE, purportedly records a conversation that occurred in Ephesus with a Jew named Trypho, and is part of the ‘Adversus Judaeos’ tradition of early Christianity.⁹ Whether Trypho was real or whether he was a fictional character introduced by Justin, the debate itself clearly represents Justin’s attitude to the problem of Christianity’s relationship with Judaism.

Trypho is introduced as a ‘Hebrew of the circumcision, a refugee from the recent war’,¹⁰ and a little later Trypho’s companions speak of ‘the war waged in Judaea’.¹¹ The war would appear to be the Bar Kokhba revolt of 132–135. This would place Trypho as an exiled Palestinian Jew, although from the reverence that he shows towards philosophy,¹² Trypho would still seem to be strongly influenced by hellenism.

The main issues that Trypho raises during the course of the Dialogue are the Christian rejection of circumcision; their failure to observe the Jewish law, the Sabbath and feasts; and the basic question of Jesus’ messiahship and its discrepancy with Jewish expectations (especially Jesus’ crucifixion). Justin confronts some of these issues by presenting a spiritualized interpretation of their relevance for Christians; thus the Jewish practice of circumcision is represented in Pauline terms as a circumcision of the spirit, and the Jewish law and covenant is superseded by the new law and covenant of Jesus.¹³ Justin supports his claim to Jesus’ messiahship by citing a great quantity of Old Testament prophecy that he claims relates to Jesus.

During the course of this debate, however, Justin mentions his attitude towards Jews and Jewish Christians more directly. When asked by Trypho whether those who follow the Mosaic law would be saved, Justin states:

They who are obliged to obey the Law of Moses will find in it not only precepts which were occasioned by the hardness of your people’s hearts, but also those which in themselves are good, holy, and just. Since they who did those things which are universally, and eternally good are pleasing to God, they shall be saved in the resurrection, together with their righteous forefathers, Noe, Henoch, Jacob and others, together with those who believe in Christ, the Son of God.¹⁴

When asked whether Jewish Christians would also be delivered, Justin replies:

But if some [Jewish converts], due to their instability of will, desire to observe as many of the Mosaic precepts as possible – precepts which we think were instituted because of your hardness of heart – while at the same time they place their hope in Christ. . . then it is my opinion that we Christians should receive them and associate with them as kinsmen and brethren.¹⁵

Yet despite this apparently tolerant attitude towards Jewish practices, we find some anti-Judaic overtones present in the Dialogue,¹⁶ and Justin is particularly damning of lapsed Jewish Christians and of Jewish Precentors who pronounced the benediction against heretics in the Synagogues.¹⁷

The whole tenor of Justin’s attitude towards Judaism in the Dialogue is one of patronizing benevolence; the Jews are presented almost as children, unable to remain faithful to God (hence the laws), and for the most part unable to mature to the full faith of Christianity.¹⁸ Justin is clearly conscious of a sharp separation between Judaism and Christianity, and yet he willingly acknowledges Christianity’s Jewish roots, and actively seeks to convert Trypho and his friends to the Christian faith.¹⁹

Christianity and the hellenistic world

Christianity’s separation from its Jewish roots necessarily had repercussions for its relationship with the Graeco-Roman world. With the increase in the numbers of Gentile converts the ‘Jewishness’ of early Christianity began to be lost, but the Gentile converts brought with them a new set of religious and cultural presuppositions, rooted in their hellenistic backgrounds. Clearly Christianity also had to define itself in relation to the Graeco-Roman world.

Christianity’s struggle for self-definition was, however, somewhat complicated by the hostile attitude of the Graeco-Roman world. Christianity was perceived as something of a threat to the existing social and political order. On a religious level, Christians were considered disruptive because they rejected the polytheistic system by asserting the supremacy of their own God, and refused to take part in the imperial cult – a refusal that was tantamount to treason.²⁰

Although similar behaviour was tolerated in Jews, this seems to be due to the esteem in which antiquity was held; the Jews could appeal to the great age of their religion, which excused them from Graeco-Roman expectations of piety. By the end of the first century, however, the majority of Christians had split away from Judaism, and no longer took part in Jewish religious ceremonies and festivals. They could not therefore benefit from the indemnity extended to the Jews. Moreover, Gentile converts had chosen to abandon the religion of their ancestors in order to join this upstart movement.

The Graeco-Roman response to Christianity in the second century was extremely hostile. Persecutions were both frequent and fierce, and were not only encouraged by the Roman Emperors, but also often initiated by them.²¹ Christian executions were ordered without trial and, from the time of Nero, admission to bearing the name ‘Christian’ was sufficient to merit death. This state of affairs is clearly attested to by Justin Martyr in his second Apology. Here he tells the story of a Christian woman whose conversion leads her to reject her previous life, and eventually to divorce her adulterous husband. The jealous husband accuses her of being a Christian, and then turns on her Christian teacher Ptolemaeus. Ptolemaeus is convicted after confessing his allegiance to Christianity, and, together with two Christian bystanders who protest the sentence, is summarily executed.²²

Thus, second century Christians had a twofold task; they had to defend Christianity against this onslaught from the Graeco-Roman world around them, but on a deeper level they sought to reconcile their Christian faith with their hellenistic roots. The result was a series of apologetic writers who attempted to defend and justify the Christian position, and yet also struggled to define themselves with relation to the hellenistic world. This is exactly what we find in Justin Martyr’s Apologies and in Tatian’s Oration to the Greeks.

Justin Martyr’s Apologies and in Tatian’s Oration to the Greeks.
Since this book is largely concerned with exploring the Christian philosophical tradition in Tatian, we will return to consider the issues surrounding Tatian’s relationship to the Graeco-Roman world in detail. In approaching these issues, however, some important distinctions must be made. Both Justin and Tatian, and indeed the other apologists, do not just present us with hellenistic backgrounds; they belonged to the hellen...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Acknowledgements
• Abbreviations
• Introduction
• 1: Christianity in the second century
• 2: Tatian and Valentinianism
• 3: Tatian and Justin Martyr
• 4: Tatian and Hellenistic Philosophy
• 5: Tatian and the development of a Christian philosophy
• 6: Tatian And Syriac Christianity
• Conclusion
• Appendix
• Notes
• Bibliography