After the Apostles
Paul Roberts
- 7 minutes read - 1373 wordsPre-Reading
What became of the apostles?
Peter and Paul John
… very little information on the others.
The Church after the Apostles
Church was originally a Jewish sect. Judea and Syria – this influence remained. Further afield, more ‘gentile’, but what did this mean?
The ‘tunnel of evidence’ from the New Testament epistles until the first clear records of post- apostolic activity (about 30-40 years).
It also depends on the contested dating of some later parts of the New Testament, but since we cannot date for sure, then hard to pin as evidence.
The Jewish War
Initially, Rome was tolerant of Jewish religion, which it couldn’t absorb into its own pantheon. Originally governed by puppet-kings, notionally Jewish (the Herods).
Direct Roman rule of Jerusalem led to greater friction. 66AD descration of the Temple and the outbreak of war. AD69-70: leadership of Titus – recapture of Judea and siege of Jerusalem. The final siege of Masada. Good historical sources in Josephus and Tacitus.
What about Jewish Christians at that time? Scantier evidence: Eusebius (4th Century) – fled to Pella in Macedonia. Probably either reabsorbed into mainstream Judaism or persecuted out of the community. Other possible references: synoptic gospels (‘abomination which causes desolation’) and letter to the Hebrews. Jews were expelled from Jerusalem after the Bar Cochbar rebellion in AD135.
Increasing mutual rejection between Judaism and Christianity. Jews: non-Jewish heresy. Christians: Jews were rejected by God for crucifying Jesus, Church was the New Israel. Loss of the centre of Jerusalem. The shift towards Rome and other major centres in the Empire.
‘The Apostolic Fathers’
This is a title given to the earliest Christian writers outside the New Testament. These are:
The First Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians
The Epistles of Ignatius
The Epistle of Polycarp to the Philippians
The account of the Martyrdom of Polycarp
The Epistle to Diognetus
The Epistle of Barnabas
The Didache (The Teaching of the Apostles)
1Clement
Dated AD96. Elements of Jewish teaching (‘Aggadah’). Mentions ‘Apostolic Succession’. Mentions Peter and Paul being martyred and hints that Paul may have reached Spain before returning to Rome.
The Epistles of Ignatius
Ignatius was a bishop from Antioch and had been summoned to face trial for his faith in Rome, c. AD107. Letters to Churches in Asia: Ephesus, Magnesia, Trallia, Rome, Philadelphia, Smyrna and one to Polycarp.
Importance of martyrdom. 3-fold ministry. Reserving the presidency of communion.
The Epistle of Polycarp to the Philippians and the Martyrdom of Polycarp
Polycarp was ‘disciple of John’ (according to Irenaeus). Lived until very old and died AD155, so an important link between Church of the Apostles and the 2nd century. Martyrdom: evidence of the importance of relics of the martyrs.
The Epistle to Diognetus
Earliest example of apologetics: dated early decades of 2nd century. Contents: critique of pagan religion, critique of Judaism, the characteristics of Christians and Christian community and a basic introduction to the God whom Christians believe and the nature of Jesus Christ. The description of Christians is interesting: ‘to put it in a straightforward way, Christians are in the World as a soul is in the body …’
The Epistle of Barnabas
Pseudonymous (ie. not by the person it was claimed to be from). Use of allegory in its treatment of the Old Testament – eg. ‘Milk and Honey’. Treatment of OT to make it directly applicable to Christians.
The Didache
‘Didache’ is the Greek word for ‘teaching’. The full title of the work is ‘The teaching of the Apostles’
Two main sections: basic Christian instruction, centred around the ‘Two ways’ (of life and of death); second section is a manual of church order.
Date: between AD80 and AD130. Place? Probably Syria – notable Jewish elements.
The Church in a Pagan World
State Religion
Pagan ‘state religion’ – mythology of a pantheon. Stories and myths – Jupiter (Zeus), Venus (Artemis), etc. etc. Anthropomorphism. Intellectuals didn’t take seriously. National cult, reinforcing identity rather than serious ‘faith’. Replicated with local pantheons (eg. Greece).
Humans and fate: randomness, luck, destiny. No sense of purpose or logic. No basis for a life philosophy.
Emperor joins the pantheon with Augustus: reinforcing power by deifying the emperor.
Mystery Religions
Came from wider expansion of the Roman empire: eg. Isis, Osiris, Cybele, Zoroastrianism. Still maintained the mythic element, but less to do with State, more to do with personal commitment. Rites of initiation. Took stronger part of interior life and discipline. Gave sense of personal meaning, relationship with the divine and ethical set of demands.
Philosophy
Classic philosophers: Socrates, Plato, Aristotle – broad range of subjects, including God (they were monotheists on rational grounds). This is not ‘religion’ but dealt with religious ideas and the nature of reality. Had potential to develop into mysticism, eg. Stoicism.
The Word: basis of understanding and thought. Root of rationality in humanity. What about a transcendent ‘Word’? Stoicism (from Zeno of Citium, 4th century BC). Stoics referred to the Word in a transcendent sense as Word/fire. Subject only to itself, with its own independent will. Also thought of as Fate. ‘To live according to the Word’ - pre-existed all of the creation, but also indwelled it all. Logos spermatikos.
cf. John’s Gospel’s prologue
Philo of Alexandria
Jewish thinker/philosopher: 20BC – AD50. Laid the foundations of Christian philosophical thinking.
Mystic: informed by his Jewish faith. Highly Hellenised. Greek scripture (Septuagint) and influence of Stoicism on his understanding of his faith and interpretation of the Bible. Mixed the two.
Philo and the Logos: conflates with the Biblical idea of the Word of God (in the Old Testament – he was a Jew!). God is knowable as abstract perfection, but God is also creator, created from non- being and giving structure/order/rationality to creation. This inherent rationality of creation is named the Logos or Reason of God. Philo can then import Platonic ideas in his understanding of the Logos: Idea of ideas, first-begotten son of God, mediator of God, a kind of ‘second God’.
Scripture was the word of the Logos, which could be interpreted by the same mystical processes by which we know the Logos ourselves. This involved allegory (see above on Epistle of Barnabas), a mystical process, not merely just trying to read the basic level of meaning, but an underlying spiritual meaning. This allegorical approach lay at the heart of later Christian approaches to the Old Testament, to make it relevant to the Christian faith.
To summarize
End of the First Century: a watershed. Judaism in defeat. Collapse of Jerusalem. Death of the Apostles.
Christian sets out on the sea of history for the first time on its own. It had to engage directly with pagan society, traditions, beliefs and philosophy.
It needed institutional structures, patterns of practice and, increasingly, its own, distinctive theology which could intelligible in the pagan environment.
This led to new interpretations and teachings of the faith: some of which we know as the early heresies (next week).
Bibliography
Chadwick, Henry. The Early Church. Revised edition. Penguin History of the Church ; 1. London ; New York: Penguin Books, 1993. Chapter 1.
Freeman, Charles. A New History of Early Christianity. New Haven, Conn. ; London: Yale University Press, 2009. Chs. 11 and 12
Frend, W. H. C. The Rise of Christianity. London: Darton, Longman and Todd, 1984. Chs. 4 & 5
Frend, W. H. C. The Early Church. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1965. Chs. 1, 2 & 4.
Grant, Robert M. Augustus to Constantine: The Rise and Triumph of Christianity in the Roman World / Robert M. Grant ; Foreword by Margaret M. Mitchell. 1st ed. Louisville, Ky. ; Harrow: Westminster John Knox, 2004. Chs. 1 and 2
Louth, Andrew. Early Christian Writings: The Apostolic Fathers / Translated by Maxwell Staniforth ; with Introductions and New Editorial Material by Andrew Louth. Translated by Maxwell Staniforth. Penguin Classics. Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England ; New York, N.Y., U.S.A.: Penguin Books, 1987. (Full text of the Apostolic Fathers)
Stevenson, James, and William H.C. Frend. A New Eusebius: Documents Illustrating the History of the Church to AD 337. Rev. ed. / edited by J. Stevenson, With additional documents by W.H.C. Frend. London: SPCK, 1987. pp. 1 – 65