Justin the Seer: Viewing Christian Truth in the Second Century

This article argues that a central component of Justin Martyr’s thought is his ocularcentric orientation. In his Apologies and Dialogue with Trypho , Justin draws on several ancient discourses of vision to produce a new worldview centered on Christ’s incarnation. For Justin, the incarnate Logos embo...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Abbott, Philip (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Check availability: HBZ Gateway
Interlibrary Loan:Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany)
Published: 2025
In: Zeitschrift für antikes Christentum
Year: 2025, Volume: 29, Issue: 2, Pages: 224-243
Further subjects:B Senses
B Justin Martyr
B Epistemology
B Sight
Online Access: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
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Summary:This article argues that a central component of Justin Martyr’s thought is his ocularcentric orientation. In his Apologies and Dialogue with Trypho , Justin draws on several ancient discourses of vision to produce a new worldview centered on Christ’s incarnation. For Justin, the incarnate Logos embodied all previous enlightenment and visually revealed the full manifestation of truth. Christ also performed miracles that visibly proved his divinity. Furthermore, he established the Christian tradition whose validity was still visibly evident in Justin’s day. For Justin, this observable evidence for Christian truth included the valiant lives and martyrdoms of Christians, powerful exorcisms performed in Christ’s name, the expansion of Christianity among all nations, and the fulfillment of prophetic scripture. According to Justin, all these phenomena visually proved the truth of Christianity, which was inherently an ocular movement.
ISSN:1612-961X
Contains:Enthalten in: Zeitschrift für antikes Christentum
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1515/zac-2025-0015