LIBERTY UNIVERSITY JOHN W. RAWLINGS SCHOOL OF DIVINITY
Greek and Latin Apologists
A Paper Submitted to
the Faculty of the School of Divinity
in Candidacy for the Degree of
Doctor of Education in Christian Leadership (Ed. D) Department of Christian Leadership and
Church Ministries
By
Mary Gracias
Lynchburg, Virginia
9/2022
Greek Apologists
The earliest of this group was St. Quadratus, who addressed an apology for the faith to the
emperor Hadrian about 124; apart from a single fragment, it is now lost. Other early Apologists
who are mere names known to scholars are Aristo of Pella, the first to prepare an apology to
counter Jewish objections, and Apollinaris, bishop of Hierapolis, said to be the author of
numerous apologetic works and also of a critique of Montanism. An early apology that has
survived intact is that of Aristides, addressed about 140 to the emperor Antoninus Pius; after
being completely lost, the text, Apology for the Christian Faith, was rediscovered in the 19th
century.
The most famous Apologist was St. Justin Martyr, who was converted to Christianity after
trying various philosophical schools, paid lengthy visits to Rome, and was martyred there
(c. 165). Justin’s two Apologies are skillful presentations of the Christian case to the pagan
critics, written to the emperors Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius. His Dialogue with Trypho is
an elaborate defense of Christianity against Judaism.
Justin’s attitude to pagan philosophy was positive, but his pupil Tatian could see nothing
but evil in the Greco-Roman civilization. Indeed, Tatian’s Discourse to the Greeks is less a
positive vindication of Christianity than a sharp attack on paganism. His
contemporary Athenagoras of Athens, author of the apologetic work Embassy for the
Christians and a treatise On the Resurrection of the Dead, is as friendly as Justin to Greek culture
and philosophy. Two others who deserve mention are Theophilus of Antioch, a prolific publicist
whose only surviving work is To Autolycus, prepared for his pagan friend Autolycus; and the
anonymous author of the Letter to Diognetus, an attractive and persuasive exposition of the
Christian way of life that is often included among the works of the Apostolic Fathers.
As the 2nd century advanced, a more confident, aggressive spirit came over Christian
Apologists, and their intellectual and literary stature increased greatly. St. Clement of
Alexandria, for example, while insisting on the supremacy of faith, freely drew on Platonism
and Stoicism to clarify Christian teaching. In his Protreptikos (“Exhortation”)
and Paidagōgos (“Instructor”), he urged pagans to abandon their futile beliefs, accept the Logos
as guide, and allow their souls to be trained by him. In interpreting Scripture, he used an
allegorizing method derived from the Jewish philosopher Philo, and against gnosticism he
argued that the baptized believer who studies the Scriptures is the true gnostic, faith being at
once superior to knowledge and the beginning of knowledge.
The critique of gnosticism was much more systematically developed by Clement’s older
contemporary, St. Irenaeus of Lyon, in his voluminous Against Heresies. While countering the
Valentinian dualism that asserted that spirit was good and matter evil, this treatise makes clear
the church’s growing reliance on its creed or “rule of faith,” on the New Testament canon, and
on the succession of bishops as guarantors of the true apostolic tradition. Irenaeus was also a
constructive theologian, expounding ideas about God as Creator, about the Son and the Spirit
as his “two hands,” about Christ as the New Adam who reconciles fallen humanity with God,
and about the worldwide church with its apostolic faith and ministry, a concept that theology
was later to take up eagerly.
Latin Apologists
One of the earliest Latin Apologists was Marcus Minucius Felix. Written for educated non-
Christians, the arguments of his dialogue Octavius are borrowed chiefly from Cicero, especially
his De natura deorum (“Concerning the Nature of the Gods”), and Christian material, mainly
from the Greek Apologists. The distinction of the treatise lies in its classical refinement rather
than in its originality.
Brilliant as a stylist and controversialist, the North African lawyer Tertullian was the first
Latin theologian of considerable importance. His Apology remains a classic of ancient Christian
literature, and his numerous moral and practical works reveal an uncompromisingly rigid moral
view. Although later becoming a Montanist himself (a follower of the morally rigorous and
prophetic sect founded by Montanus), he wrote several anti-heretical tracts, full of abuse and
biting sarcasm. Yet, in castigating heresy, he was able to formulate the terminology, and to
some extent the theory, of later Trinitarian and Christological orthodoxy; his teaching on the
Fall of Man, aimed against gnostic dualism, in part anticipates St. Augustine.
Roughly contemporary with Tertullian, and like him an intellectual and a rigorist, was St.
Hippolytus of Rome, a Greek-speaking Roman theologian. He, too, had a vast literary output,
and, although some of the surviving works attributed to him are disputed, it is probable that he
wrote the comprehensive Refutation of All Heresies, attacking gnosticism, as well as treatises
denouncing specifically Christian heresies. He was also the author both of numerous
commentaries on Scripture and (probably) of the Apostolic Tradition, an invaluable source of
knowledge about the primitive Roman liturgy. His Commentary on Daniel (c. 204) is the oldest
Christian biblical commentary to survive in its entirety.
