Second Century and Self-De¿ nition
Lecture 3
Jesus of Nazareth both is, and is not, the founder of Christianity.
I
n the beginning of the 2nd century of the common era, Christianity was an
identi¿ able presence across the Roman Empire whose development was
natural and organic but also bore the marks of its ¿ rst creative expansion.
The most obvious feature was the dominance of Gentile Christianity and of
Greco-Roman culture. Christianity was more successful in attracting Gentiles
than Jews, and after the Jewish War of 67–70, Jewish Christians were less
visible. Sociologically and symbolically, Christian churches resembled
Greco-Roman schools more than Jewish synagogues. As communities began
to exchange and collect their writings, the question of how Christianity did
or did not connect to Judaism was inevitable. The Christian martyr Justin’s
dialogue with the Jew Trypho, written around 135 A.D., marks the last face-
to-face encounter of Christianity and Judaism for a long time.
The sparse literature of the early 2nd century reveals a movement that was
diverse and sometimes divided, concerned for moral teaching and practice,
and eager to offer a defense against attackers. Bishops (such as Ignatius
and Polycarp) emerge as intellectual and moral leaders of communities,
but the voice of prophecy was still alive (Hermas). Letters written between
communities show less concern for doctrine or theology than for moral
behavior and unity (see 1 Clement). The danger of being Christian is
revealed by martyrdom (see Ignatius and Polycarp) and apologetic literature
(Diognetus, Justin).
The second half of the 2nd century generated forms of diversity that challenged
the Christian movement in fundamental ways and demanded a more explicit
form of self-de¿ nition. A strong tendency toward cosmic dualism and
religious asceticism appeared in the 2nd century in a variety of forms. It is not
entirely an internal Christian phenomenon, although its effects on Christianity
are impressive. It is not entirely “heterodox” in character, being found as well
in popular Christian writings that do not challenge common convictions (see
Infancy Gospel of James, Acts of Paul). The blanket term Gnosticism covers
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12
Lecture 3: Second Century and Self-De
¿ nition
a wide range of Christian ascetical and dualistic tendencies that powerfully
challenge the nature of the religious movement.
One form of the challenge moved in the direction of contracting traditional
texts and tenets. The Assyrian apologist Tatian advocated a complete rejection
of the world through an ascetic lifestyle. He proposed the Diatesseron as a
single witness, instead of the four Gospels. Marcion of Sinope proposed a
radical dualism that identi¿ ed the God of the Old Testament with evil and,
in his Antitheses, called for the rejection of the Old Testament and all of
the New Testament except 10 letters of Paul and a shortened version of
Luke’s Gospel.
