The philosopher Justin Martyr is considered as one of the most influential public figures in early Christianity. He was a staunch proponent for “faith” and “reason”. The roles of Justin can be summed up as witness, lover of Christ and defender for Christians. This research will observe his argumentations concerning Christianity, his apologetics, and the impact on past and present Christian history.
Justin’s Life
Justin Martyr, was an early Christian apologist. Born of pagan parents of Flavia
Neapolis (in modern- day Israel) around 100 C.E. He manifested a serious religious interest from an early date. After studying with STOIC, Peripatetic (Aristotelian) Pythagorean, and Platonist teachers, he experienced a conversion from Greek to Hebrew
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But this Stoic neither offered nor sought knowledge of God, and therefore left him, to turn to a disciple of Aristotle. The Peripatetic philosopher was put off because the philosopher was too eager for fees. Justin moved on and sought out a well-known Pythagorean, who became to concern with academic preliminaries rather than the true objects of philosophy. He also tried Platonism as he advanced his knowledge.
Justin Martyr lived the life of an educated pagan, but showed intellectual force in his rejection against most of the established schools of philosophy. Justin continued his quest to allow himself to hope that he would without delay come to the vision of God. As his first love was truth, his first hatred and fear was pretense. Martyr did not want to be called a man of words, because he loved truth and trust
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Justin’s writing presents painstaking logic, reconciling faith and philosophy. He maintained that the ethics and Logos principles of Stoic philosophy had much in common with Christianity. According to Justin, and men like Plato, Socrates, and Abraham were “Christians” before Christ.
Justin’s Apologies
The first apology consists of sixty-eight chapters defending Christian’s right to exist and answer Pagan accusations; described early church worship and how the ordinances were performed. Justin does not set forth any Trinitarians doctrine in the Apologies. But he states, he worshiped the Father as supreme in the Universe. He uses the language of Christian experience and worship rather theological reflection. The Holy Spirit was for Justin the guide of spiritual endeavor, and the source of the spiritual gifts in the Church
Justin was interested in the activity of demons or spirits, which he believed were everywhere active in the Universe. He categorized them as fallen angels who had
The medieval theologian Julian of Norwich was a mystic, writer, anchoress and spiritual director for her time. She is gaining in popularity for our time as she provides a spiritual template for contemplative prayer and practice in her compilation of writings found in Revelations of Divine Love. The insightful meditations provide the backdrop and basis for her Trinitarian theology’s embrace of God’s Motherhood found in the Trinity. Her representative approach of the all-encompassing unconditional love of a mother who nurtures, depicts Christ as our Mother ascending to the placement of Second hood within the Trinity while giving voice to the duality of God.
The life of Jesus is one that is often discussed and debated among scholars and authors since the time Jesus walked this earth. Gerd Theissen’ s work, Shadow of the Galilean, takes the unique perspective of a grain merchant who has been enlisted by Pilate to find out information on various religious sects and report back to him. After Andreas, the grain merchant’s, first report he is given the task of finding out more about this Jesus who is gaining quite a following. Pilate and the Romans want to know if he is a threat to them. This book follows Andreas as he goes on a journey to find out more about Jesus from various sources for his report to the Romans.
Paul the Apostle, was a famous preacher of first century Christianity and was God’s tool used to spread the light of the gospel to the Gentiles. Paul is credited fir having written many books in the New Testament of the Bible. He was born an Israelite to a clan of the tribe of Benjamin, speaking the Aramaic and Hebrew tongues from infancy. He was an enthusiastic student and a stringent devotee of the Torah. He was the man that later had a peculiar meeting with the Lord Jesus Christ while on the road to Damascus. His life and duty were considerably altered and in turn eventually changed the course of the development of Western Civilization and culture.
With this in mind, the objective of this essay is to focus on the main ideas of each theologian, and discuss how each theologian’s ideas are compensatory to the other. This is important because even though each theologian’s writings were inspired by the harsh realities of the societies, and also by the effect each writer experienced in their moment in history, their critiques specifically of Christian institutions remain a consistent amongst all three writings. Furthermore, not only are their critiques consistent, but their goals for providing new frameworks for the future of the Church and Christian discipleship are consistent as well.
contrast the God of Epictetus, and the God of Augustine, and in the end, my stand will
Moehlman, Conrad Henry. How Jesus Became God; an Historical Study of the Life of Jesus to the Age of Constantine. New York: Philosophical Library, 1960. Print.
Logos plays a relatively minute role in this paper due to logos being about rational or logical appeal and because this essay is about Thomas’s religious beliefs and the belief in God is not based rational or logical facts, it is based on faith and faith does not fall under logos. Also logos is hard to have in this case because everyone has different religious beliefs causing a religious statement to be true fact for some and ghastly lie to other. This makes religion views seen as that of opinion which ...
Thesis: the historical Jesus was a Galilean man who who lived during the first Century A.D. and gained fame through chicanery and tricks, which ensured him as the basis of modern day Christianity.
Greatness is nothing more than a vague idea with the understanding that someone has achieved a level of success, admiration, or inspiration that has significances upon our ideas and values. The issue with greatness is it can be misleading and applied to people and situations that when looked back upon or seen from a different light are not elements we want to see mixed in with the development of these ideas or values. Ignatius of Loyola has these characterizes where when viewed as parts and sections it presents itself with concepts that would appear to be of greatness, but truly strengths of guise revealed to be mere illusions and nonsensical strengths and characteristics.
9. Trafton, Jennifer, et al., eds. "Justinian I and Theodora I." Christianity Today. Christian History, n.d. Web. 30 Apr. 2014. .
We do not know for certain when Irenaeus was born, but his birth probably came around 120/140 A.D. His birthplace was Smyrna in Asia Minor and his parents were Greek by nationality. He studied as a child under Polycarp from about 129 until Polycarp died in 155. Polycarp had been a student of the Apostle John. Therefore, there was only a one-generation gap between the apostles of our Lord and Irenaeus. In around 177, he was chosen by the imprisoned Christians in Lugdunum, to take a letter concerning the Montanist heresy to Eleutherus of Rome. While in Rome, he studied in Justin Martyr’s school about the year 178. Yet, unlike Just Martyr, Irenaeus did not appreciate the philosophical approach to Christianity and the Bible, but he still used philosophy in some of his writings. In addition, Irenaeus did seem to take some of his material from Ignatius and Theophilus.
Roles of the Catholic Church in Western civilization has been scrambled with the times past and development of Western society. Regardless of the fact that the West is no longer entirely Catholic, the Catholic tradition is still strong in Western countries. The church has been a very important foundation of public facilities like schooling, Western art, culture and philosophy; and influential player in religion. In many ways it has wanted to have an impact on Western approaches to pros and cons in numerous areas. It has over many periods of time, spread the teachings of Jesus within the Western World and remains a foundation of continuousness connecting recent Western culture to old Western culture.-
Francis of Assisi is one of the most influential personalities in the entire world. In the book ‘Francis of Assisi: Performing the Gospel Life,’ Cunningham recounts the life of this humble monk who lived in the medieval times, and shaped the Christian life, which spread in Western culture throughout the rest of history. I believe Cunningham accurately accounts for the life of Francis of Assisi, and in doing so; he provides a trajectory of the Christian faith from its early and historical proponents through its fusion with western culture, and its subsequent spread throughout the world.
This paper will outline specific points in Saint Augustine’s Confessions that highlight religious views following the fall of Rome. Though Augustines views on religion may not reflect that of most people in his time period, it still gives valuable insight into how many, namely Neoplatonists,, viewed God and his teachings.
Marcus Aurelius was a famous philosopher in 121 through 180 C.E. He lived a hard life and even though he was surrounded by crowds he was considered a recluse. He was known for his kindness and mercy. The last years of his life were spent on a military campaign. It is said that these years were the hardest and loneliest. However, instead of becoming bitter and angry Aurelius wrote The Meditations. This was a diary or journal of his personal thoughts. He believed that by writing this it was his duty to his soul. The Meditations, is a popular piece of stoic literature. In this paper I will be describing how Aurelius used stoicism in book two of The Meditations and what I liked and did not like about what he said.