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Quote by Larry Hurtado

“In the Marquette Lecture volume, I focus on the question in the title. I emphasize the social and political costs of being a Christian in the earliest centuries, and contend that many attempts to answer the question are banal. I don't attempt a full answer myself, but urge that scholars should take the question more seriously.”

Quote by Larry Hurtado

Author

Larry Hurtado is an influential scholar in the field of religious history and early Christian studies. His research focuses on the Christian literature of the second and third centuries, particularly on the relationship between Christianity and Greek Roman culture. Hurtado's works have been widely praised in the academic community and have made significant contributions to understanding the development of early Christianity. more

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“In Destroyer of the gods I focus on several major features of early Christianity that made it distinctive, even odd or bizarre .We don't today realize just how different early Christianity was in that context.”

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“I offer early Christianity as a case-study to show that the phenomena that we group under "religion(s)" comprise a somewhat artificial category, and that "religions" are not "all the same."”

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“In its Roman-era setting, for example, Christianity was so different that critics of the time referred to it as a "superstition" (meaning a bogus or dangerous religion).”

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“Some modern scholars contend that in terms of what "religion" was in that [Roman-era setting], you can't even call Christianity a religion.”

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“Galen recognized, with some considerable puzzlement it seems, that Christians exhibited the virtues that he associated with the discipline of philosophy.”

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“[Christians] practiced moderation and chastity in marriage, for example, and Galen was puzzled at how they were able to do so. His comments are a kind of back-handed compliment, I suppose.”

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“Galen's observations reflect one of the distinctive features of early Christianity. Roman-era religion was mainly about ritual actions vis-à-vis the gods, and there was little to do with ordering behavior otherwise.”

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“Early Christianity, like Roman-era philosophical traditions, laid emphasis on everyday behavior, about how to live your life.”

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“Justin's testimony about becoming a Christian is that he had been searching various philosophical traditions of the time, and then accidentally encountered a man who posed questions that pointed Justin [Martyr ] in a new direction.”

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“Justin Martyr says that he was impressed in his study of the Old Testament, at the seriousness and contents of these writings, and became convinced that Jesus fulfilled these texts.”

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