The Seeds of Dialogue in Justin Martyr (original) (raw)
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"This may be the most important book on Justin Martyr’s work in a century." - Daniel Boyarin, University of California Berkeley, USA.
"Matthijs den Dulk’s outstanding Between Jews and Heretics sheds new light on the central questions of Christianity in the second century: mutual self-definition among rival groups, the development of heresiological discourse, literary images of Jews and Judaism, and appropriations of the Septuagint and of traditional philosophy. Its innovative reading of Dialogue with Trypho persuasively shows how all these themes converge in Justin Martyr’s project of inventing what he considered true Christianity. This is essential reading for all historians of early Christianity." - David Brakke, The Ohio State University, USA "Taking the title Dialogue with utmost seriousness, Den Dulk has written a truly innovative book on Justin’s work while grounding his arguments in both meticulous historical philology and in critical theory. This important book situates the Dialogue in the vibrant milieu of religious diversity, inside and between Christianities and Judaisms of the second century CE, and significantly contributes to our understanding of these religious identities." - Galit Hasan-Rokem, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel "[den Dulk] advances scholarship on several core issues of second-century CE Christianity, including heresiology, the relationship between Judaism(s) and Christianities, and Christian identity articulation ... This is a masterful work that is sure to influence scholarship on early Christianity for years to come." - Religious Studies Review 2019 "Den Dulk skillfully examines Justin’s contemporary social, historical, and religious contexts and offers a rich and close reading of the Dialogue based on its focus on heresiology. Given that Justin belonged to a complex social context that required negotiation between various contemporary cultures and religions, Den Dulk rightly points out that the Dialogue must be read not as a monotonous evangelical text for Jews but as a multifaceted text pursuing a variety of purposes. Den Dulk’s refreshing interpretation shows modern readers Justin’s cultural intersection with Judaism and his contemporary Christians and redefines him as the expert of heresiology." - Chang Seon An, Boston University - Review of Biblical Literature 2019 "There is much to applaud in his book: the courage to risk the promotion and defense of new labels for early Christian groups, away from the non-native label of “Gnosticism” is just one reason... Den Dulk does an excellent job at conveying the second-century fluidity of Christian identity, and the ever-negotiated role of Jewishness without Jews, and of the Septuagint without its Jews in early Christian literature." - Edward Iricinschi, Ruhr University Bochum, Germany – Vigiliae Christianae 2019 "[A] measured step forward in “refiguring the second century”—hat relatively under-researched age in which the foundations of both Judaism and Christianity in their extant forms were laid... [The book] is a sustained, disciplined balancing act of close literary analysis of the complex and seemingly contradictory features of the Dialogue with a keen eye on its literary and historical setting, without giving in to the temptation of assigning it to one of the settled positions in the crucially important late second century CE." - Peter J. Tomson, KU Leuven, Belgium - Journal for the Study of Judaism 2019 Justin Martyr’s Dialogue with Trypho is the oldest preserved literary dialogue between a Jew and a Christian and a key text for understanding the development of early Judaism and Christianity. In Between Jews and Heretics, Matthijs den Dulk argues that whereas scholarship has routinely cast this important text in terms of "Christianity vs. Judaism," its rhetorical aims and discursive strategies are considerably more complex, because Justin is advocating his particular form of Christianity in constant negotiation with rival forms of Christianity. The striking new interpretation proposed in this study explains many of the Dialogue’s puzzling features and sheds new light on key passages. Because the Dialogue is a critical document for the early history of Jews and Christians, this book contributes to a range of important questions, including the emergence of the notion of heresy and the "parting of the ways" between Jews and Christians. The book is available in OA format and can be downloaded in full.
The Dialogue with Trypho, along with the First and Second Apologies, is a second-century Christian apologetic text, usually agreed to be dated in between AD 155-160. It is seen as documenting the attempts by theologian Justin Martyr to show that Christianity is the new law for all men, and to prove from Scripture that Jesus is the Messiah. The Dialogue with Trypho and the two Apologies are universally accepted by scholars as authentic works of Justin. Though they are preserved only in the Sacra parallela, they were known to Tatian, Methodius of Olympus, and Eusebius and their influence is traceable in Athenagoras, Theophilus of Antioch, the Pseudo-Melito, and especially Tertullian. Eusebius speaks of two Apologies, but he quotes them both as one, which indeed they are in substance. The identity of authorship is backed up not only by the reference in chapter 120 of the Dialogue to the Apology, but by the unity of treatment. Zahn showed that the Dialogue was originally divided into two books, that there is a considerable lacuna in chapter 74, as well as at the beginning, and that it is probably based on an actual occurrence at Ephesus, the personality of the Rabbi Tarfon being employed, though in a Hellenized form. The following are early church fathers and apologists of the first and second centuries. The first eight or nine documents are also known as the Apostolic Fathers. The writers known as the church fathers represent the ancient orthodox church as opposed to other elements of ancient Christianity such as Gnosticism. These are the church fathers and apologists. Church Fathers: Didache Church Fathers: Epistle of Barnabas Church Fathers: Clement of Rome Church Fathers: 2 Clement Church Fathers: The Shepherd of Hermas Church Fathers: Ignatius of Antioch Church Fathers: Polycarp Church Fathers: The Martyrdom of Polycarp Church Fathers: Epistle to Diognetus Church Fathers: Fragments of Papias Church Fathers: Quadratus of Athens Church Fathers: Aristides Church Fathers: Justin Martyr Church Fathers: Claudius Apollinaris Church Fathers: Minucius Felix Church Fathers: Melito of Sardis Church Fathers: Hegesippus Church Fathers: Dionysius of Corinth Church Fathers: Athenagoras of Athens Church Fathers: Irenaeus of Lyons Church Fathers: Rhodon Church Fathers: Theophilus of Caesarea Church Fathers: Theophilus of Antioch Church Fathers: Maximus of Jerusalem Church Fathers: Polycrates of Ephesus Church Fathers: Pantaenus Church Fathers: Clement of Alexandria Church Fathers: Tertullian Church Fathers: Serapion of Antioch Church Fathers: Apollonius Church Fathers: Caius Church Fathers: Hippolytus of Rome Church Fathers: Origen TheologyTags: Abraham, Apologists, Apostle Paul, Apostolic Fathers, Christianity, Church History, Dialogue with Trypho, Early Christianity, Early Church, Early Church History, First Apology, Gentile Problem, Gentiles, History of Christianity, History of Reception, Identity, Interpretation, Judaism, Justin Martyr, Matthew Thiessen, New Testament, New Testament Studies, Parting of the Ways, Paul, Pauline Studies, Philosophy, Platonism, Pneuma, Reception, Reception History, Spirit, Stoicism, Transformatio English Versions: Wikisource-logo.svg Justin Martyr (1885). "Dialogue with Trypho" . In Roberts, Alexander; Donaldson, James (eds.). Ante-Nicene Christian Library. Vol. II. Translated by Reith, George. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark.. Justin Martyr (1995). Dialogue with Trypho, a Jew (PDF). Translated by Spade, Paul Vincent., from the Greek text in van Winden 1971. Greek Versions of Dialogue of Trypho: van Winden, J. C. M. (1971). An Early Christian Philosopher: Justin Martyr's Dialogue with Trypho. Philosophia patrum. Vol. 1. Leiden: E. J. Brill. Bobichon, P. (2003). Dialogue avec Tryphon: édition critique (in French). Vol. 1. University of Fribourg. ISBN 978-2-8271-0958-6. Khazarzar, Ruslan (ed.). "Τοῦ ἁγίου Ἰουστίνου πρὸς Τρύφωνα Ἰουδαῖον Διάλογος". khazarzar.skeptik.net (in Ancient Greek)
Care or Prayer? Justin Martyr's Dialogue with Trypho 1.4 Revisited
Justin Martyr reports (and rejects) the curious argument that the practice of prayer is mutually exclusive with God’s providential care for individual beings. Pépin has demonstrated that the same argument, probably of Middle-Platonic provenance, is extant in Maximus of Tyre. A closer look shows its ambiguous stance towards Stoicism, with which it might have some affinity (in Maximus’ use) but could also target (in the use known to Justin); the problem is that we possess little data on Stoic prayer. The approach of early Christian philosophers to prayer, however, shows deep indebtedness to Stoic ideas about providence and freedom in an attempt to theorize and defend traditional Christian practice. Thus even this brief survey of early Christian material not only reveals the Stoic hue of emerging Christian philosophy, but also that the Stoa probably had similar ideas as did Christian thinkers about the consonance of providence and prayer.
Loftier Doctrine: The use of Scripture in Justin Martyr’S Second Apology
Perichoresis, 2014
Over the past century many scholars have questioned integrity and composition of Justin Martyr’s Second Apology. One frequent criticism is that Justin quotes from a variety of sources in Greco- Roman philosophy, but never once quotes scripture. As a result scholars assume that the Second Apology reveals Justin’s real indebtedness to philosophy that diverges from his broader theological and scriptural concerns expressed in his other works. This article challenges these notions by arguing that scripture is essential Justin’s Second Apology and that the lack of any extended quotations of scripture is no basis to disparage his theological perspective. Careful analysis of Justin’s Second Apology demonstrates that he regularly appeals to the authority of scripture and provides numerous echoes and allusions to scriptural passages. Furthermore, in terms of his theological framework, these echoes and allusions are actually more important than mere quotations. They demonstrate that Justin doe...
Antiquity and Novelty in Justin Martyr's First Apology
”Må de nu förklara…” Om bibeltexter, religion, litteratur. Festskrift till Staffan Olofsson, 2016
This article explores how Justin Martyr, in his First Apology, addresses the problem of novelty in the ancient world. The recent arrival of Christianity constituted an apologetic problem to early Christian writers, but the strategies used by them to solve it varied. Unlike writers such as Aristides and the author of the Kerygma Petrou, who embrace the newness of Christianity and turns it into something positive, Justin recognizes the problem and takes it seriously. The article argues that Justin presents the Christian faith through a language of both antiquity and newness, where old age is credited to the philosophy or religion as such and newness to its full experience. Published (chapter) in Rosmari Lillas-Schuil, Gunnar Samuelsson, Georg Walser, Tobias Ålöw (eds.): ”Må de nu förklara…” Om bibeltexter, religion, litteratur. Festskrift till Staffan Olofsson. Gothenburg: LIR, 2016 (249-259).
The Apologetic and Literary Value of the Acts of Justin
Phronema 34:1, 2019
The purpose of this article is to outline the consistent apologetic function and literary value of the acta describing the trial and execution of St Justin Martyr and his disciples in Rome (aspects which have largely been overlooked by scholarship hitherto). To this end, it will examine whether the most authentic recensions echo the apologist's understanding of the rapports between Christianity and pagan philosophy. Moreover, it will discuss the editors' articulation of Christian identity through their representation of Justin and his disciples, including the influence of the New Testament in this regard. It will also highlight the editors' censure of paganism via their negative depiction of Quintus Junius Rusticus (a descendant of a Stoic martyr, an influential philosopher himself, and the urban prefect who served as Justin's judge).
Justinian legal and non-legal sources, as well as those that are traditionally considered apocryphal, form the basis for researches in several disciplines of science. The source matter is rich in various-in terms of content-issues that will interest many researchers. Apart from Corpus iuris civilis, the Justinian sources are present in official and private collections and source lists. The apocryphal sources, which relate to the time of Justinian I, come from historical, hagiographic and other records, also from literary sources. In the vast majority those are Greek sources or those that are translated into Greek from other languages and cover a period of several centuries (from the sixth century till the sixteenth century). They contain "purely legal" threads and can serve the reconstruction of a legal source or its critical interpretation. From the records of historiographers and hagiographers, among others, the dialogues of a legal and doctrinal character, in which Justinian most probably participated, are known. The issues of the post-Chalcedon canon of faith appear in, perhaps false, Justinian discourses: with St. Saba-according to the sixth century life of the saint; with a monk Zoras-in two different chronicles from the sixth century (i.e. according to John, the Bishop of Ephesus and his Syrian hagiography of nuns and monks from Mesopotamia, and according to the twelfth century records of the Jacobite Patriarch of Antioch-Michael the Syrian); with Persian theologians-in the anonymous Histoire nestorienne from the ninth century; with Constantine, the Bishop of Laodicea-in the above-mentioned Chronicle of Michael the Syrian; and with the Pope, St. Agapetus-according to three records (i.e. Liber pontificialis from the fifth or sixth century, the Chronicle of John of Ephesus from the sixth century, and according to hagiographer from the twelfth century, Michael the Syrian). The subjects of these considerations are three dogmatic dialogues with the participation of Emperor Justinian.