Justin’s Debate with Crescens the Stoic
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Runar M. Thorsteinsson
Abstract
Justin Martyr probably wrote his Second Apology as a private petition (βιβλίδιον, libellus) to the Roman authorities, conveying his defence on behalf of oppressed Christians. But that does not explain the heavily theological/philosophical content of chapters 4-13, including Justin’s detailed arguments against Stoic cosmo-theology in these chapters. The 2 Apology also contains a reference to a previous public debate between Justin himself and a philosopher called Crescens, whom Justin calls a “Cynic,” and who has therefore been so identified ever since. The present essay argues that the content of Justin’s philosophical/theological discourse in 2 Apology 4-13 is precisely based on his previous encounter with Crescens. Moreover, it is argued that Crescens was not a Cynic. Rather, he was a Stoic philosopher, thus belonging to one of the two most prominent philosophical schools of the time-the other being (Middle) Platonism. This conclusion places Justin, a former Platonist, at the heart of the ongoing debates among the philosophical schools, the foremost of which, according to Justin, was Christianity.
© 2014 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin/Boston
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Titelei
- Zur Biographie des Bischofs Fortunatian von Aquileia
- More Sahidic Fragments from the Life of Shenoute Attributed to Besa
- „Bevor der Hahn zweimal krähen wird ...“
- Justin’s Debate with Crescens the Stoic
- Die Anfänge des Melitianischen Schismas
- Asceticism and syneisaktism in Asterius’ Liber ad Renatum monachum
- “Defining Sacred Boundaries”
- Recruitment and conflict in sixth-century Antioch: A micro-study of Select Letters 6,1,5 of Severus of Antioch
- Rezensionen
- Kurzanzeigen
- Stellenregister für Band 17/Index for Volume 17
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Titelei
- Zur Biographie des Bischofs Fortunatian von Aquileia
- More Sahidic Fragments from the Life of Shenoute Attributed to Besa
- „Bevor der Hahn zweimal krähen wird ...“
- Justin’s Debate with Crescens the Stoic
- Die Anfänge des Melitianischen Schismas
- Asceticism and syneisaktism in Asterius’ Liber ad Renatum monachum
- “Defining Sacred Boundaries”
- Recruitment and conflict in sixth-century Antioch: A micro-study of Select Letters 6,1,5 of Severus of Antioch
- Rezensionen
- Kurzanzeigen
- Stellenregister für Band 17/Index for Volume 17
