A while back, Tim Keller (click here for a bio) wrote an article for the Gospel Coalition website which reviewed a couple of books by Larry Hurtado which described early Christianity. In particular, Hurtado focused on traits of the early Church which might have caused it to be persecuted more than any other religion in that time period.
After mentioning how Christianity became such an identity itself for Christians in contrast to what other religions did not provide for their followers, Keller, drawing on Hurdato's work, goes on to list and briefly describe 5 traits that the Early Church which distinguished it nt from the rest of Roman society (click here for the article).
Before commenting on those traits, what came to mind was a question of how accurate was the article. I thought about that knowing how American Christians like to glorify their own nation beyond what the facts allow for, that the same could be done for their faith.
The first trait listed by Keller is that the Early Church was multi-racial. This is kind of a tricky description because while the Early Church period Keller is describing goes back to the 1st century, the concept of race did not occur until the mid 17 century AD. So the more precise way of describing the Early Church would be multi-ethnic.
We know from the New Testament that Christianity started as a Jewish sect but then included Gentile believers. And that there was sometimes a strain since the Gentile believers were not expected to follow the Law of Moses not just as strictly as Jew believers did, but they were not expected to strictly follow the Law of Moses. In particular, the parts of the Law of Moses that not followed strictly by Gentile believers but were followed by Jewish believers regarded circumcision, the Sabbath, and food restrictions. The New Testament mentions how not strictly following the Law of Moses became a point of contention not just for Jews who didn't believe in Christ, but even for some who did (see Acts 21). In addition, there is a story from the book of Acts where Hellenistic Jewish widows were being neglected in the distribution of food. That was soon addressed and is described in Acts 6.
Other than that, all I had left to support or challenge this claim was the Epistles from the New Testament. And those Epistles preach an acceptance of multiple ethnic groups.
The second trait was that the early Christians practiced forgiveness even despite persecution. But something must be added here. The persecution of Christians was not the constant status for Christians during the first 3 centuries that preceded the time when Christianity became legal. Except for the time of Nero, whose attacks on the Church were temporary, persecution of Christians stemmed from more local sources than from Rome. Some time after Nero, the punishing of Christians for their faith occurred on a more passive basis in that they were not searched for, but they were punished if found. It wasn't until the 3rd century that an active persecution of Christians were ordered by Rome. But it was ordered then on an on and off basis depending on the Emperor in charge.
Christians did suffer persecution during those 1st 3 centuries. Sometimes their suffering was due to their association with Judaism and other times they were persecuted for perceived crimes. Where Christian practices and beliefs cause conflict was in the Christian rejection of other gods and reluctance to serve in the Roman army.
The next trait, for which I did not find anything was that the Early Church was known for how it helped the poor and suffering.
The fourth trait was the Early Church's regard for the sanctity of life. Here, the abortion issue comes to mind. And it is with that issue that perhaps there is more distinctions that come into play than what many Christians might first assume. First, along with Paul's writings to the Corinthians, there was a pattern of discouraging women from marrying in order to help spread and promote the teachings of the Gospel.
As for abortion, it was Roman Emperors from the early 200s that declared abortion to be illegal. They did that with having the rights of the fathers in mind more than respecting life in the womb. Christian legislators who were in power later on kept those laws intact. What should be noted is that 2 Christian Synods, one in 314 AD and the other in 407 AD decreased the penalties for having an abortion.
Where early Christians demonstrated their high regard for life though was in the rescuing of infants left out to die of exposure.
The final trait mentioned was that early Christians practiced a sexual counterculture in that they restricted practicing sex to that within a heterosexual marriage. Much of that view of the early Church came from the New Testament. What is not mentioned there is that sex was sometimes discouraged in marriage except for procreation.
What is the purpose of this review? It is this, that we Christians tend to idealize our past to make a present point. And it isn't that there were big distortions about our past made in Keller's article. It is, on the other hand, that more nuance and a more complete look at our past reveals some discrepancies with what Keller wrote. And thus when we look at our past as Christians, we want to do thorough research so as to see the past for what it was, not to see it for the purpose of trying to make a present point.
References
- https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/5-features-early-church-unique/
- https://timothykeller.com/author
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