Jared Secord, PhD Greek and Roman History, University of Michigan
'Being A Greek Christian Under Rome: Irenaeus of Lyons and 'the Middle of the World'
Long neglected by nearly all besides patristic scholars, Christian authors of the second and third centuries have of late been the focus of innovative work from a number of different perspectives. Now – like their counterparts from the fourth century and later – Tertullian, Justin Martyr, Ignatius of Antioch, and others are being studied in their broader cultural and intellectual contexts.
This paper begins with a brief review of this trend, particularly the several attempts to find a place for Christian authors in the ‘Second Sophistic.’ It then moves to consider the case of Irenaeus of Lyons, who was born and educated at Smyrna in the thick of the Second Sophistic, but spent most of his life in the West. The approach I take to Irenaeus focuses on his ‘mental map,’ his view of the world with special reference to Christianity’s place in it. The map which emerges displays the at times paradoxical interplay of Hellenism and Christianity in Irenaeus’ thought. So Irenaeus can trumpet Christianity’s success in reaching even the least-civilized barbarians, irrespective of the languages they speak. Yet he has ambivalent feelings towards Gaul, and especially towards Latin, which he calls a barbaron dialekton. Irenaeus also has little regard for the Holy Land of his day, which is ‘foreign’ to him. Rome, instead, is at the center of Irenaeus’ world, but because of the city’s bishops, not its emperors. The Romans, Irenaeus says, keep the roads and the seas safe for travel, but he has no use for them otherwise, and even less for Latin culture. This was another way to be Greek under Rome.