Christianity and Classical Culture in the Third Century

The Church's faith is held, confessed, and lived invariably in a friction-full relationship to the world. What then can we learn about Christian identity and faithfulness now by considering such faithfulness in an older era? 

We may find it difficult to name many figures or events in the Church of the third century. This is understandable as this is a period bracketed on one side by the close of the apostolic era and the first years of the church's expansion and on the other side by the famous and critically important councils of the fourth century. But it was in the third century that the Church arguably started to gain a true sense of its call to follow Christ inasmuch as it had started to see and to experience the differences between the demands of the Christian faith and the demands of Roman culture. 

Here in the friction between being Roman and being a Christian, the faith began to take on a more stable form as, in a real sense, counter-cultural. The cost of discipleship, therefore, also started to become clear. Not only in the more famous context of persecution, but also in mixed families, the workplace, and in the political and economic spheres. The third-century may seem to be a strange world compared to our own, but it is one with which we may find we have a lot in common. 

Like episode seven in our series a number of months ago, today's episode features a selection from Dr. Mark Graham's Greystone full-course module on Christianity in Late Antiquity. Dr. Graham's module explores the backdrop and context, as well as key figures, major historical moments, and central practices of Christianity during this watershed period of history. As you listen to these lecture segments included as today's episode, remember they are selected out from a larger series of lectures, which will provide the context for the things said in today's episode. But as you listen, also consider what difference these reflections might make to you in your grasp of the Christian faith, including the Reformed faith in particular, and of the work of God and the Church throughout history. Imagine too what difference it might make to what you already do know. 

If you enjoy today's content, please consider listening to the full course which is available with all other courses and events at greystoneconnect.org. Doing so, you may learn far more about your own family history as a Christian, and what you learn may reconfigure, in a lasting way, what you thought you already knew.