The Book of Acts observes that persecution against the early church was mainly incited by hostile Jews. This is not anti-Semitic because the early church itself was Jewish in the first instance so that we are speaking of Jews opposed to Jews. The Book of Acts also observes that in general Roman authorities and Roman law even provided a measure of protection for Christians.
Indeed, Roman authorities were initially somewhat indifferent to The Way, Christianity, as a new religion. But this changed as Christians became known as a people who refused to worship Roman deities, especially the Roman emperor. This resulted in Christians being accused of being a treacherous people who undermined the foundations of society by their “atheism”. Their refusal to participate in popular and State-mandated religion led to charges that they hated mankind and rumours began to circulate, based on lamentable misunderstandings of such things as language used for describing Christian relationships and the Lord’s Supper, that behind closed doors Christians engaged in incest, infanticide and ritual cannibalism. Since it was normative to see religious explanations for natural disasters, Christians were often treated as the scapegoats. Again their refusal to participate in pagan religion being cited as the underlying cause of such calamities.
With language evocative of the rhetoric used in the New Atheism movement, we come across early depictions of Christianity as:
- “strange and unlawful” (Senatorial decree of the year 35).
- “deadly” and “hateful” (Tacitus).
- “wicked and unbridled” (Pliny).
- “new and harmful” (Suetonius).
- “mysterious and opposed to light” (from “Octavius” by Minucius).
In the late 2nd century AD, an apology called the Epistle of Diognetus was written by someone who styles himself Mathetes, meaning simply “a disciple”. It is not clear who Diognetus was. Some identify him with one of the emperor Marcus Aurelius’ tutors, though a stronger candidate is Claudius Diogenes, a procurator of Alexandria. At any rate one of the key reasons why this letter was written was to argue that far from being a threat to society, Christians make the most essential and integral contribution to the wellbeing of society. So Chapter 5 states:
For the Christians are distinguished from other men neither by country, nor language, nor the customs which they observe. For they neither inhabit cities of their own, nor employ a peculiar form of speech, nor lead a life which is marked out by any singularity. The course of conduct which they follow has not been devised by any speculation or deliberation of inquisitive men; nor do they, like some, proclaim themselves the advocates of any merely human doctrines. But, inhabiting Greek as well as barbarian cities, according as the lot of each of them has determined, and following the customs of the natives in respect to clothing, food, and the rest of their ordinary conduct, they display to us their wonderful and confessedly striking[9] method of life. They dwell in their own countries, but simply as sojourners. As citizens, they share in all things with others, and yet endure all things as if foreigners. Every foreign land is to them as their native country, and every land of their birth as a land of strangers. They marry, as do all [others]; they beget children; but they do not destroy their offspring.[10] They have a common table, but not a common bed.[1] They are in the flesh, but they do not live after the flesh.[2] They pass their days on earth, but they are citizens of heaven.[3] They obey the prescribed laws, and at the same time surpass the laws by their lives. They love all men, and are persecuted by all. They are unknown and condemned; they are put to death, and restored to life.[4] They are poor, yet make many rich;[5] they are in lack of all things, and yet abound in all; they are dishonoured, and yet in their very dishonour are glorified. They are evil spoken of, and yet are justified; they are reviled, and bless;[6] they are insulted, and repay the insult with honour; they do good, yet are punished as evildoers. When punished, they rejoice as if quickened into life; they are assailed by the Jews as foreigners, and are persecuted by the Greeks; yet those who hate them are unable to assign any reason for their hatred.
This chapter is full of irony. Though Christians are the best of citizens they are targeted and persecuted.
The next chapter builds on this by using a telling metaphor to express how essential Christian presence is to the wellbeing of society around them:
To sum up all in one wordwhat the soul is in the body, that are Christians in the world. The soul is dispersed through all the members of the body, and Christians are scattered through all the cities of the world. The soul dwells in the body, yet is not of the body; and Christians dwell in the world, yet are not of the world.[7] The invisible soul is guarded by the visible body, and Christians are known indeed to be in the world, but their godliness remains invisible. The flesh hates the soul, and wars against it,[8] though itself suffering no injury, because it is prevented from enjoying pleasures; the world also hates the Christians, though in nowise injured, because they abjure pleasures. The soul loves the flesh that hates it, and [loves also] the members; Christians likewise love those that hate them. The soul is imprisoned in the body, yet preserves[9] that very body; and Christians are confined in the world as in a prison, and yet they are the preservers[9] of the world. The immortal soul dwells in a mortal tabernacle; and Christians dwell as sojourners in corruptible [bodies], looking for an incorruptible dwelling[10] in the heavens. The soul, when but ill-provided with food and drink, becomes better; in like manner, the Christians, though subjected day by day to punishment, increase the more in number.[11] God has assigned them this illustrious position, which it were unlawful for them to forsake.
I was listening to a talk by Michael Nazir-Ali, one of the Lords Spiritual in the House of Lords. He made much of the way in which Jesus had described the community of his disciples as “the salt of the earth” and “the light of the world.” He noted the distinction between the invisibility of salt and the visibility of light. Salt used in cooking cannot be seen in the food that sits on one’s plate yet it contributes significantly to the tastefulness of one’s food and its absence cannot go unnoticed.
Nazir-Ali went on to describe the increasing incidence of discrimination against Christians that is occuring in Western societies. He gave a number of examples to illustrate his point. One concerned a Christian lady who served on an Adoptions Board. She asked, on grounds of conscience, to be absented from those situations involving same sex couples. No latitude was given to her. She was required to step down from the Board. In the West, as Nazir-Ali pointed out, it is becoming increasingly problematic for Christians even to be in positions where they can function like salt in society. Nazir-Ali argued that the second of Jesus\’ images is becoming more relevant for Christians – to shine as lights in a dark world.
Posted September 24, 2010
www.facetofaceintercultural.com.au
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