The Literary Genre and Purpose of Justin's Second Apology: A Critical Review with Insights from Ancient Epistolography

摘要

The Apologies of Justin Martyr are among our most important sources for the state and development of early Christianity in the second century. In the Apologies, Justin, who is often said to have initiated the first serious dialogue between Christianity and Greco-Roman philosophy, attempts to define and explain to the outside world what the Christian teaching and way of life are, and what they are not. Because of this normative tenor of the writings, modern readers sometimes tend to approach their content as more-or-less timeless articulations that are only vaguely connected to the historical circumstances in which they were written. But as with most writings from antiquity, the content of Justin's Apologies, including questions of theology, philosophy, and ethics, is intimately bound to their historical context, as recent scholarship on Justin has shown very well. However, the historical questions of the literary genre, intended audience, occasion, and purpose of the Apologies are still debated among scholars, including the question of the exact relationship between the First and the Second Apology. To critically deal with these questions, all of which are interrelated, is of utmost importance for our understanding of Justin Martyr and his writings, and thus of second-century Christianity in general.