It should be noted that the Christian letters form part of a much larger correspondence between Trajan and Pliny, and this correspondence is primarily about administration and governance. Running throughout the letters is a sense of pragmatism and a sense through which the Romans appear to be highly results-motivated: they're mainly interested in upholding law and order and maintaining proper governance. The letters about the Christians should be understood within this larger context.
The first thing to note is that Christianity was treated as criminal: this is quite clearly stated by both authors. At the same time, there are clear protocols and a sense by which the crackdown on Christians is bounded in Roman legal precedence. It is beyond dispute that the Roman State was hostile to Christianity and was closely aligned with traditional Paganism.
It's clear that the presence of Christianity has created a lot of instability, and this is very worrisome to Roman authorities. Pliny writes about the spread of accusations throughout the province, and sometimes it reads as if this potential instability concerns him even more than the presence of the Christians themselves. At the same time, it should be noted that, when dealing with suspected Christians, he gives the accuser every opportunity to deny the charges, after which the alleged Christian would be released. Then there is Trajan's response to Pliny afterwards, instructing him not to go out of his way in hunting Christians. A complicated picture is beginning to form.
https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/ancient/pliny-trajan1.asp
Sunday, December 15, 2013
What do the letters of Trajan and Pliny tell us about Roman attitudes towards the Christians?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
What is the theme of the chapter Lead?
Primo Levi's complex probing of the Holocaust, including his survival of Auschwitz and pre- and post-war life, is organized around indiv...
-
The statement "Development policy needs to be about poor people, not just poor countries," carries a lot of baggage. Let's dis...
-
"Mistaken Identity" is an amusing anecdote recounted by the famous author Mark Twain about an experience he once had while traveli...
-
Primo Levi's complex probing of the Holocaust, including his survival of Auschwitz and pre- and post-war life, is organized around indiv...
-
De Gouges's Declaration of the Rights of Woman was enormously influential. We can see its influences on early English feminist Mary Woll...
-
As if Hamlet were not obsessed enough with death, his uncovering of the skull of Yorick, the court jester from his youth, really sets him of...
-
In both "Volar" and "A Wall of Fire Rising," the characters are impacted by their environments, and this is indeed refle...
No comments:
Post a Comment