Early Christianity - Origins and Evolution to AD 600
Ian Hazlett (Editor)
Number of quotes: 15
Book ID: 77 Page: 112
Section: 2E2
Almost every survey starts with some account of Antony the Egyptian hermit, who was born around 250 and probably lived for more than a hundred years.
Quote ID: 2117
Time Periods: 34
Book ID: 77 Page: 113
Section: 2E2
This initial concentration on Egypt is probably justified. Organized asceticism was in a very real sense an Egyptian invention.
Quote ID: 2118
Time Periods: 3
Book ID: 77 Page: 115
Section: 2E2
With time, the writings of the commentators themselves acquired canonical status within the ascetic world. Chief among them was Origen, the great theologian of Alexandria (d. 254).….
The pioneers of the ascetic movement were instructed at the most detailed level by this great thinker.
Quote ID: 2119
Time Periods: 23
Book ID: 77 Page: 120
Section: 2E2
The Platonist view of matter and spirit, the Epicurean delight in secluded comradeship, the Stoic emphasis on interior detachment and tranquility: all had their part to play in the formation of the Christian ascetic.
Quote ID: 2120
Time Periods: 01234
Book ID: 77 Page: 121
Section: 2E2
The very notion that virtue can be acquired by following a rule of life has a certain Jewish complexion.
Quote ID: 2121
Time Periods: 12
Book ID: 77 Page: 122
Section: 2E2
Realizing, therefore, that there can be no straightforward account of Christian asceticism and of the emergence of the monastic life, we end with two consoling emphases. First, we must sharpen our skills in relation to the texts. The texts are tendentious. Their apparent reportage is an illusion. We must let them hint more loudly at the variety they attempt to deny or undermine. Second, we must investigate a wealth of antecedent: pagan, of course; but heterodox also; and above all, Jewish.
Quote ID: 2122
Time Periods: 234
Book ID: 77 Page: 136/137
Section: 2D1
1 Clement, a letter to the Corinthian church written from Rome round about AD 96, endeavouring to sort out problems of leadership and authority in that turbulent church. Clement appears to act as secretary to the Roman Presbyters, but tradition soon suggested he was the third pope in a direct line from Peter.
Quote ID: 2123
Time Periods: 1
Book ID: 77 Page: 138
Section: 4A
…the second-century apologists initiated the tradition and set the fundamental patterns of defense against criticism and slander.
Quote ID: 2124
Time Periods: 2
Book ID: 77 Page: 138
Section: 4A
Justin Martyr, who donned the philosopher’s garb and set up as a teacher in Rome, seeing Christianity as the fulfilment of the philosophical quest for truth.
Quote ID: 2125
Time Periods: 2
Book ID: 77 Page: 175
Section: 4A
By the second century, Christian writers had begun to restate their faith as a coherent theology, drawing largely upon Greek thought, which was by far the most important intellectual influence on the Roman Empire.
Quote ID: 2126
Time Periods: 2
Book ID: 77 Page: 175
Section: 2B2,4B
Early Christian monuments echo contemporary Graeco-Roman styles, influenced by the great Greek masterpieces of the fourth century BC; thus the earliest portraits of Christ depict him as a handsome youth not unlike the Greek Apollo.
Quote ID: 2127
Time Periods: 45
Book ID: 77 Page: 176
Section: 4B
The attitude of St Cyprian is instructive; on becoming a bishop he threw away his pagan books, and professed that he owed nothing to paganism, while continuing to write the impeccable formal prose which he had learnt from his pagan schoolmasters. Tertullian, Jerome and others show a similar combination of affected distain with actual indebtedness.
Quote ID: 2128
Time Periods: 345
Book ID: 77 Page: 185
Section: 1A
In conclusion: Christianity developed out of a Jewish sect into a world religion through the use of its Greek inheritance, by moulding its beliefs into a coherent system which could appeal to thoughtful men and leaders of society, without losing the element of faith and personal commitment exhibited by simpler believers.
Quote ID: 2129
Time Periods: 456
Book ID: 77 Page: 234
Section: 4A
Christians had long been regarded as immoral as well as impious, but Fronto’s charges of Thyestean feasts and Oedipodean intercourse added precision to the general distrust. The first Christian apologist to answer these specific charges is Athenagoras, who probably presented his Legation on behalf of the Christians to Marcus Aurelius in Athens in 176. (14)
Quote ID: 2130
Time Periods: 2
Book ID: 77 Page: 234/235
Section: 4A
Lucian comments that Christianity accept all the injunctions of ‘that crucified sophist’ without rational demonstration, including his command that they all be brothers and share everything: as a result any sharp operator can quickly make himself rich from them.
Quote ID: 2131
Time Periods: 2
End of quotes