Required reading
Ante-Nicene Fathers (Volume 3) (Available from Amazon or free here) - Read 'Ad Nationes' Book I.
My summary
Today we read an apology for Christians addressed to the nations.
Much of the content is familiar to what we've read from Tertullian before.
Tertullian speaks about the heathen ignorance of Christianity, clearing up many misunderstandings.
But he also speaks about how the heathen are guilty of the very things they condemn Christians for, such as:
(i) the cause of public disasters;
(ii) condemning the pagan gods;
(iii) idolatry;
(iv) infanticide;
(v) irreverence toward Caesar;
(vi) contempt of death.
What grabbed me
I liked Tertullian's use of logic: 'According to the blindness of their folly men praise what they know, (and) blame what they are ignorant of; and that which they know, they vitiate by that which they do not know. It occurs to none (to consider) whether a man is not good and wise because he is a Christian, or therefore a Christian because he is wise and good, although it is more usual in human conduct to determine obscurities by what is manifest, than to prejudice what is manifest by what is obscure.'
It certainly is remarkable that many 'good' people are Christians.
Could it be that Christianity makes people behave better? Our culture often hates to answer such a question.
Next week's reading
Read 'Ad Nationes' Book II and the Appendix.
Now it's your turn
Please post your own notes and thoughts in the comments section below.
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