Early Church Keyline Blog 2023
Saturday, April 8, 2023
Tertullian (extra credit)
Tertullian's Apology is a strong defense of the Christian faith, but it sometimes seems more than a bit provocative. Read Chapters 1 and 50 at the link here (and any chapters in between that appeal to you). What's your overall impression? Is this work more likely to make the Roman authorities think twice about torturing and executing Christians, or is it more likely to irritate them? Or does it do something of both? How would you have reacted to this work if you had been a Roman official directly or indirectly involved in the trials of Christians?
Athenagoras (extra credit)
Please skim through Athenagoras' Plea for the Christians. Like Justin, Athenagoras defends Christians against the incest and cannibalism slanders. He also uses pagan sources to point toward Christian truth. What do you see in this work that might have been especially helpful in drawing educated pagans toward Christianity, or at least in making them more tolerant of Christians?
Justin Martyr (extra credit)
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?
Eusebius Book X

Deuterocanonicals (extra credit)

Note what you find particularly interesting in the selection you read. Would you ever read through the Deuterocanonicals on your own? Why, or why not?
If you have fallen behind on the blogs, you meet do additional entries on other Deuterocanonical books. [Please note: the link I give here has a pretty idiosyncratic list of the Apocrypha. "Bel and the Dragon" and "Susannah" are usually just called "additions to Daniel" and that's where you will find them in most Catholic Bibles.]
New Testament Apocrypha (extra credit)

Please choose either one of the Apocryphal books or the Apostolic Fathers (the first nine on the link here). What is your evaluation of this book? Is it a book to die for? Does it seem to you useful and/or interesting? Or is it a book you wouldn't mind seeing burned by government officials? Why?
If you have fallen behind on the blogs, you may do multiple entries for extra credit here.
If you have fallen behind on the blogs, you may do multiple entries for extra credit here.
Eusebius Book VII (extra credit)

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