BY STEPHEN BENKO
1984 Bloomington, IN: University of Indiana Press, 180 pages
AGINCOURT LIBRARY 270.1 BEN
A Book Review by Joseph Ng
January 2003
What was it really like for the first Christians? What was their world like—did they face problems of religious discrimination, chronic freeloaders, or outright persecution? What kind of reputation did they carry among their neighbours? Do we know the martyrs? What about the rest of the Christians—assuming not every Christian wound up a martyr?
Stephen Benko manages to milk key historical documents from the second and third centuries to evoke a vivid picture of life in those days, which I enjoyed thoroughly. Yet, there are several chapters later in his book that are disturbing.
Pagan Rome comprises six chapters:
1. The Name [“Christians”] and Its Implications
2. Portrait of an Early Christian
3. The Charges of Immorality and Cannibalism
4. The Kiss
5. Magic and Early Christianity
6. Pagan Criticism of Christianity and Ethics
The book opens with an exciting account, if indeed ancient history can be considered exciting, of what it meant to be called (never mind what it means to be!) a Christian. Important ancient documents are discussed, such as those by Governor of Bythinia-and-Pontus Pliny theYounger, Roman Emperor Trajan, and Sartirical Rhetorician Lucian of Samosata.
The second chapter discusses the life and adventures of one Peregrinus Proteus (110 – 165). Accused of adultery and other sexual sins as a rich teenager in Asia Minor, and even of patricide, he goes into exile in Palestine and becomes a Christian and a church leader. He is jailed for being called a Christian, and the church members went to great lengths to comfort him. Miraculously set free, he goes home to Asia Minor and donates his entire property to his hometown of Parium, before setting off on a long journey. During this peregrination, Peregrinus is inexplicably excommunicated by the church (Benko thinks it is for eating idol food) and becomes a member of a group of ascetics known as “Cynics.” No longer a Christian and outspoken as a full-blown Cynic, Peregrinus drives his strange career to a spectacular, fiery apex at the Olympic Games of 165 at the foot of Mount Olympus. His life thus becomes a field day for sartirist Lucian of Samosata and a vignette of early Christianity, particularly of its close fellowship and rampant odium in pre-Constantinian Rome. Lucian’s ripe take-off on Christians after Peregrinus’ final antics are worth a look:
The poor wretches have convinced themselves, first and foremost, that they are going to be immortal and live for all time, in consequence of which they despise death and even willingly give themselves into custody; most of them. Furthermore, their first lawgiver [Christ] persuaded them that they are all brothers of one another after they have transgressed once, for all by denying the Greek gods and by worshipping that crucified sophist himself and living under his laws. Therefore they despise all things indiscriminately and consider them common property, receiving such doctrines traditionally without any definite evidence. So if any charlatan and trickster, able to profit by occasions, comes among them, he quickly acquires sudden wealth by imposing upon simple folk.
The later chapters are just as interesting but may be less valuable, as Benko injects more speculation into the sacrament of Holy Communion (which allegedly gave rise to “Charges of Immorality and Cannibalism”) and the custom of the holy kiss. For the latter, especially, Bible passages on God’s breathing into Adam the breath of life, the Annunciation, Jesus’ breathing on His disciples (John 20:21-23), and various Christian greetings (in Thessalonians, Corinthians, Romans, 1 Peter) are co-opted to paint his lip-to-lip version of the practice. He deduces from Clement of Alexandria’s remarks on “the shameless use of a kiss ... by a chaste and closed mouth” (p. 85)) “show not only that the kiss was a mouth-to-mouth kiss, but also that it was indeed abused” (author’s; p. 85). “In the kiss,” Benko claims, “the Spirit was mingled, and the church became in a proleptic way a unity, a body of Christ” (p. 86).
Despite the boring cover—a figurine of a multibreasted Artemis on a burgundy background—the book is hard to put down. A highly readable writer, Benko does not simply dump quotes onto his pages but takes the time to walk the reader through each one, providing what catchy biographical details and textual commentary are necessary. He challenges Christians today to reflect on the cost of becoming a Christ-follower today vis a vis Roman times.
Some caveats are in order, though. Being talented in writing is laudable, but the level of speculation in the book gets disturbing after chapter 3. Things get really weird when the reader is invited to contemplate what is proffered as an early Christian notion and practice of “passing on the Spirit” through kissing. It also does not help when Bible passages with even the remotest possibility of an osculatory interpretation are dragged in. With this apparent bent on sensationalism to prove his thesis, the later portions of the book—covering cannibalism, the kiss, magic—the author’s credibility gets eroded and finishing the book with a big question mark in mind proved difficult for me.
The obvious upshot of this book is its appetizer effect in getting modern believers interested in how things were before them. The good, the bad, the ugly—they’re all there, just as they are today. The lessons learnt then are still quite applicable almost two millennia after. And what repositories are available to us today—not only from public libraries but also online (see additional references below)!
Kirby, Peter. 2002. Lucian of Samosata. Early Christian Writings Online: http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/lucian.html (FREE online texts, introduction, and links to other authors!)
Pritchard, James Bennett. 1969. The Ancient Near East: An Anthology of Texts and Pictures. Princeton: Princeton University Press. TRL Stacks 221.93 P67
-----, 1969. The Ancient Near East: Supplementary Texts and Pictures Relating to the Old Testament. TRL Stacks 913.3945 P67.2
Sophia Project. Letters between Pliny the Younger and Trajan: http://www.molloy.edu/academic/philosophy/sophia/ancient_lit/pliny.htm