Description
In Early Christian Apologetics, D.H. Williams offers a comprehensive presentation of Christian apologetic literature from the second to the fifth century, considering each writer within the intellectual context of the day. Williams argues that most apologies were not directed at a pagan readership. In most cases, he says, ancient apologetics had a double object: to instruct the Christian and to persuade weak Christians or non-Christians who were sympathetic to Christian claims. Traditionally, scholars of apologetics have focused on the context of persecution in the pre-Constantinian period. By following the links in the intellectual trajectory up though the early fifth century, Williams prompts deeper reflection on the process of Christian self-definition in late antiquity. Taken cumulatively, he finds, apologetic literature was in fact integral to the formation of the Christian identity in the Roman world.
Table of Contents
PrefaceAbbreviationsIntroductionI Matters of Definition and QualificationII The Roman World of Early Christianity III Construction of Christian Self-Definition IV Persecution and the Ambiguity of Roman Law V Earliest Christian Responses VI Christian Faith and Intellectual Culture VII Hellenized Antagonism Toward Hellenism VIII Philosophy as Protagonist IX Brilliant Diatribe X Apology as Dialogue and Appeal XI Clash of the Giants: XII Divine Judgment in Vindication and Salvation XIII Apologist Par ExcellenceXIV Apologetic as Exhortation XV The Unexpected Pagan Emperor XVI Cities in ConflictXVII Final Anti-Pagan PolemicsEpilogue
