Course Content (Syllabus)
In the framework of this lesson we examine the philosophical allusions in the text of the New Testament and the Apologies of the 2nd c. AD that were written by Christian intellectuals - Justin, Athenagoras, Tatian, Theophilos of Antioch and Clemens of Alexandria. Special emphasis is laid on the cultural developments of the Graeco-roman World in the time of the The New Testament as well on the Dialog between pagans and Christians in the age of Antoninian dynasty.
1) The trial of Jesus and the trial of Socrates: a comparison of their nature and ultimate consequences
2) “I am a Jewish Man, a Tarsian of Cilicia” (Acts 21:39): The Hellenistic base of the personality of the Apostle Paul
3) The speech of Paul at the Areopagus of Athens in front of an audience of Epicureans and Stoic philosophers (Acts 17:21-23)
4) Echoes of philosophical ideas in the Pauline epistles of the New Testament (natural law, self-sufficiency, consciousness, etc.)
5) Christianity in the eyes of an idolater: Tacitus, Suetonius, Pliny, Galen, Lucian, Celsus
6) Anti-pagan critiques of the Christian Apologists of the second century AD
7) The controversy over divine and theogonic myths in antiquity (or the philosophers against pagan religion)
8) Towards a typology of the philosopher in antiquity
9) The teaching in relation to the spermatic Logos of Justin the philosopher and martyr
10) The other Apologists of the Church (Aristides, Quadratus, Tatian, Athenagoras, Theophilus of Antioch, Epistle to Diognetus)
11) Titus Flavius Clemens the Alexandrian
12) The Stromata of Clement and the origins of a “Christian philosophy”
13) Conclusions and survey of contemporary literature
Course Bibliography (Eudoxus)
-Ν. Τζιράκης, Απολογητές (Συμβολή στη σχέση των Απολογιών με την αρχαία ελληνική γραμματεία), Αθήνα 2003
-W. Windelband - H. Heimsoeth, Εγχειρίδιο Ιστορίας της Φιλοσοφίας, τόμ. A΄ (Η Φιλοσοφία των Αρχαίων Ελλήνων, η Φιλοσοφία των ελληνιστικών και ρωμαϊκών χρόνων), μτφ. από τα γερμανικά Ν.Μ. Σκουτερόπουλος, Αθήνα 20014
Additional bibliography for study
1. Απολογηταί, εισ.-μτφ.-σχόλ. Π.Κ. Χρήστου, τόμ. 1-2, στη σειρά: Έλληνες Πατέρες της Εκκλησίας, Θεσσαλονίκη 1985-'86
2. Κλήμεντος Αλεξανδρέως άπαντα τα έργα, εισ.-μτφ.-σχόλ. Π.Κ. Χρήστου, τόμ. 1-2, στη σειρά: Έλληνες πατέρες της Εκκλησίας, Θεσσαλονίκη 1992
3. Σ. Αγουρίδης, Ο Χριστιανισμός έναντι Ιουδαισμού και Ελληνισμού κατά το Β' αι. μ.Χ. (Αποστολικοί Πατέρες και Απολογητές), Αθήνα 1997