Read it in Rome: Miracles, Documents, and an Empire of Knowledge in Justin Martyr’s First Apology
Roman ruling ideology stressed imperial control of knowledge, as well as of material and people. A range of evidence from across the empire suggests that these knowledge claims were commonly accepted, and often mobilised, by ruled communities. In his First Apology , written in Rome in the 150s and a...
| Subtitles: | Justin of Rome: Apology, Empire and Identity |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Published: |
2024
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| In: |
Zeitschrift für antikes Christentum
Year: 2024, Volume: 28, Issue: 1, Pages: 21-48 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Iustinus, Martyr, Heiliger -165, Apologia prima
/ Reference
/ Roman Empire
/ Archive
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| IxTheo Classification: | CD Christianity and Culture KAB Church history 30-500; early Christianity NAB Fundamental theology |
| Further subjects: | B
Justin Martyr
B Pilate B acta B Census B First Apology B Documents B Petition |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (kostenfrei) Volltext (kostenfrei) |
| Summary: | Roman ruling ideology stressed imperial control of knowledge, as well as of material and people. A range of evidence from across the empire suggests that these knowledge claims were commonly accepted, and often mobilised, by ruled communities. In his First Apology , written in Rome in the 150s and addressed to the Roman emperor, Justin Martyr leverages these ideals for his own knowledge claims concerning the life of Jesus and his fulfilment of Hebrew Bible prophecies. It has already been recognised that Justin engages with the machinery of empire through packaging his Apology as a petition presented to the emperor. On the other hand, his citation of Roman documents at several points in the text has been neglected. A close examination reveals the importance of these citations to Justin’s project, in which he utilises the supposed fidelity of Roman documents, and the idea of the emperor as a guarantor of collected knowledge, to authenticate his Christian claims. Finally, proceeding from suggestions about an internal audience for Christian apologetics, it is argued that these references should be seen as alleviating the concerns of an internal Christian readership, and not as overtures to non-Christian Graeco-Romans. |
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| ISSN: | 1612-961X |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Zeitschrift für antikes Christentum
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1515/zac-2024-0002 |
