The First Apology of Justin Martyr

Description

The First Apology was one of the first writings of Christian apologetics lectured by Justin Martyr to the Roman Emperor Antoninus Pius. In addendum to debating against the torture of people for the sole reason of being Christian, Justin also addresses the Emperor with a justification of the Christian philosophy and an informative explication of current Christian customs and traditions. This book and the Second Apology, has been quoted as among the first standards of Christian apology, and several scholastics accredit this book to making a new category of apology from what was a usual Roman authoritative system.

Justin Martyr was born in Flavia Neapolis now Nablus, a Greek-speaking village in Syria Palaestina within the Roman Empire. In the Dialogue with Trypho, Justin narrates how he arrived to Christianity after formerly going across the schools of Stoicism, Peripateticism, and Pythagoreanism. After his curiosity in Platonism, Justin finally changed his religion to Christianity after meeting an elderly man, which Justin outlines in the Dialogue as “a love of the prophets, and of those people who are friends of Christ [that] possessed me.” The comparison of Christianity with philosophy is crucial for Justin, as it discusses the consequence of the Apologies in upholding Christianity in philosophical terminologies.

The First Apology occurred from 155 to 157 CE, grounded on the basis to Felix as a current ruler of Egypt. Robert Grant held that this Apology was made as an answer to the Martyrdom of Polycarp, which happened alongside as the Apology was indited. This connection would explicate the reason why the Apology strongly concentrated on castigation by burning; a basis to Polycarp’s death by fire. It is also typically presumed that the Second Apology was mainly part of the wider First Apology, though there is skepticism within scholars regarding this matter.
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