Use of Greco-Roman Philosophy

  1. The Spirit of Early Christian Thought by Robert Louis Wilken published by Yale University Press, 2003:
  2. “…it was not until the middle of the second century that Christians began to compose literary works consciously addressed to outsiders. The authors of these books are called apologists, and in this context the term apology means a defense and explanation of one’s way of life and beliefs. The early apologists were faced with the daunting task of presenting Christianity for the first time to a society that knew nothing of the Christian religion.” [pg. 4] “Among the earliest apologists the most sophisticated was Justin Martyr. … He practiced philosophy before becoming a Christian and after his conversion remained a philosopher and continued to wear the philosopher’s garb. Justin settled in Rome, the home of a vibrant Christian community, and there taught the ‘word of God,’ as an ancient historian put it, and used his pen to defend his new faith to other philosophers in the city. … Christian thinkers had to address two sets of critics simultaneously, one representing the cultural traditions of Greece and Rome, the other the people from whom Christianity had sprung and whose Bible (what Christians call the Old Testament) they made their own.” [pp. 4-5]
  3. https://www.jstor.org/stable/3886282

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