Hierocles the lover of truth and Eusebius the sophist

Hägg, Tomas

doi:10.1080/00397679208590864

Cited by 83 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…In Book 5 of the Institutiones he presents an allegation against the use of force in religious matters and in 72 Lactantius Divine Institutions 5.2.12-17. Eusebius's authorship of the Against Hierocles has been denied by Hägg 1992, who attributes it to another Eusebius, probably a sophist writing in Pontus. Hägg's proposal is followed by Barnes 2001: 151-152.…”

Section: Apologetics Religious Freedom and The Lawmentioning

confidence: 93%

Persecution, Apology and the Reflection on Religious Freedom and Religious Coercion in Early Christianity

Marcos

2012

Zeitschrift Für Religionswissenschaft

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As it had been the current situation throughout the history of the ancient Mediterranean world, a plurality of religious groups and traditions coexisted under the Roman Empire, without any theoretical discourse over religious freedom having ever been formulated. Religious cohabitation changed dramatically with the spread of Christianity. As a monotheistic, exclusivist religion with a universalistic scope, Christianity was incompatible with the traditional religious practices of the Greco-Roman world as well as with the religious demands of the Roman state. Persecutions originated a great deal of apologetic literature, in which Christians defended themselves from pagan criticism, claimed legitimacy and, as an argument for that, reflected on the idea of religious freedom, which at the turn of the second century Tertullian considered as one of the natural rights of the individual. Following closely the arguments of Tertullian and his rhetorical techniques, Latin apologists developed a more elaborated discourse on the illegitimacy of religious coercion and about the advantages of persuasion, a set of ideas assumed in the so-called Edict of Milan and in other "edicts of tolerance" at the end of the Tetrarchy. This paper studies the formation and early development of the Christian discourse on tolerance in its apologetic and polemic setting, and its impact on the rhetoric used in legal documents to justify the end of the persecutions.Zusammenfassung: Unter der Herrschaft des Römischen Reiches lebten religiöse Gruppen und verschiedene Traditionen neben-und miteinander, ohne dass ein theoretischer Diskurs über Religionsfreiheit geführt werden musste: Religiöse Pluralität gehört zur Normalität der antiken Mittelmeerwelt. Die religiöse Nachbarschaft verändert sich dramatisch mit der Ausbreitung des Christentums. Die neue Religion als eine monotheistische und exklusivistische Religion mit universalem Anspruch vertrug sich nicht mit den traditionellen Praktiken der griechisch-römischen Welt und stand im Konflikt mit den religiösen Erfordernissen des Römischen Staates. Die Verfolgungen verlangten umfassend apologetische Texte zur Verteidigung gegen die pagane Kritik. Sie forderten für ihre Legitimität die allgemeine Religionsfreiheit. Tertullian verlangt sie um 200 n. Chr. als natür-liches Recht jedes Individuums. In seiner Argumentationslinie entwickelten die lateinischen Apologeten das Argument weiter gegen religiösen Zwang und für die Überzeugung. Das sog. Mailänder Edikt (i. J. 313) Konstantins und andere

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Section: Apologetics Religious Freedom and The Lawmentioning

confidence: 93%