The Second-Century Apologists. Alvyn Pettersen

they the bishop of an ancient see or a young, breast-feeding mother in Carthage—could find themselves addressing in their daily life.

      Questions for reflection

      and discussion

      1 Given that to many minds good governance, effective administration, better finances, and enhanced infrastructure generally lead to a state’s peace and prosperity, to what extent was Celsus correct when he maintained that whatever Christ­ians receive in this world, they receive from the state alone?

      2 In what sense, if any, may people properly speak of the God of Christ­ianity being wrathful?

      3 What place in religion is there for the practice of propitiating, or appeasing, the divine?

      4 Some early Apologists saw the empire as the enemy of the church, while others recognized that even a non-Christ­ian emperor could be, and often was, a minster of God. How may these very different perspectives contribute to the thinking of contemporary churches as they contemplate how better to relate to their governments and peoples?

      5 How radical should conversion to Christ­ianity be? Should, for example, Christ­ian parents insist upon their children being educated only in a church school, or, indeed, only in a school of a particular Christ­ian denomination? Or, in what ways should members of the armed forces, upon converting to Christ­ianity, reconsider their position?

      1. Aelius Aristides, Panegyric to Rome, 26. 70.

      2. Aelius Aristides, Panegyric to Rome, 26.100.

      3. Pliny, Letters, 10.97.

      4. Athenagoras, Plea, 1.2.

      5. Irenaeus, Against the Heresies, 4.30.3.

      6. See Origen, Against Celsus, 8.67.

      7. See Acts 17:23, which tells of the apostle Paul noticing such an inscribed altar.

      8. Pliny, Letters, 10.96.

      9. Acts 19:23–27.

      10. Virgil, Aeneid, 4.173–97.

      11. Pliny, Letters, 10.96.1.

      12. Pliny, Letters, 10.31, and 10.33.

      13. Pliny, Letters, 10.97.

      14. Justin, Apology, 1.68.

      15. Tertullian, On Idolatry, 10.

      16. See 1 Corinthians 7:20–24.

      17. The Martyrdom of Polycarp, 9.3.

      18. Pliny, Letters, 10.96,5-6.

      19. See Hebrews 6:4–6.

      20. Martyrdom of Perpetua and Felicitas, 1–21.

      21. Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, 6.15.18–25. See also Romans 13:1–4.