D. H. WILLIAMS. Defending and Defining the Faith: An Introduction to Early Christian Apologetic Literature. New York: Oxford University Press, 2020. pp. xvii + 465. $74.00. (Also available as eBook). ISBN 978-0-19-062050-9. Reviewed by Linda M. MALONEY, Enosburg Falls, VT 05450.

 

D. H. Williams, professor of patristics and historical theology in the departments of Religion and Classics at Baylor University, brings a wealth of scholarship and teaching experience to this “introduction,” which is probably best suited for use as a basic book in a course on apologetics or early church history—or should have been (see below).

The first five chapters are background: defining terms, describing the Roman world of the first centuries, examining the construction of Christian self-definition in relation to a context of sporadic persecution and the ambiguity of Roman law. Subsequent chapters are arranged chronologically from the second through fifth centuries and focus on particular authors and personalities. Chapter 6, “Earliest Christian Responses,” treats the fragmentary remains of teaching by Quadratus and Aristides, plus the Preaching of Peter and the Letter to Diognetus. Chapter 7, “Christian Faith and Intellectual Culture,” centers on Justin the Martyr, with shorter sections on Melito of Sardis and Apollinaris of Hierapolis.

The book is shaped throughout by the context of dialogue and/or opposition between and among “pagans” (which encompasses all proponents of Greek philosophy, culture, and religion, and their Roman followers), the imperial state, and Christians. (Jews have little voice here.) Chapter 8, “Hellenized Antagonism toward Hellenism,” is almost solely about Tatian; Chapter 9, “Philosophy as Protagonist,” deals with Athenagoras of Athens and Theophilus of Antioch (and in all cases—as goes without saying—their opponents, real or fictitious). Chapter 10, “Brilliant Diatribe,” is the liveliest in the book: it centers on Tertullian, described once as “a pugilist with a pen.”

After Tertullian a certain calm descends. Chapter 11, “Apology as Dialogue and Appeal,” treats Minucius Felix and Cyprian, bishop and martyr. Chapter 12, “Clash of the Giants,” is about Origen (and Celsus); Chapter 13, “North African Apologetics,” faces the fraught context of persecution in that region and features Arnobius (of Sicca) and Lactantius. The “Apologist Par Excellence” of chapter 14 is Eusebius of Caesarea; the chapter focuses on his apologetic work in the Praeparatio Evangelica and Demonstratio Evangelica rather than on his histories. In Chapter 15, “Apologetic as Exhortation,” we are reaching a period when Christianity is in the ascendant; here we find Pseudo-Justin and Athanasius of Alexandria, with works aimed more at instructing and strengthening Christians (in the midst of the Arian split) than attacking the remnants of paganism.

Paganism utters one last gasp in the mid-fourth century with the brief reign of Julian (“the Apostate”), described in chapter 16, “The Unexpected Pagan Emperor.” Christian responses described include those of Cyril of Alexandria and Macarius the Magnesian. The final chapters deal more with inter-Christian apologetics: chapter 17, somewhat oddly entitled “Cities in Conflict,” contains brief treatments of Ambrose and Augustine, including Ambrose’s battle with Symmachus over the proposed restoration of the Altar of Victory in Rome. A final chapter, “Fifth-Century Anti-Pagan Polemic Expressions,” speaks very briefly of such topics as the “why” of earthquakes and plagues and what to do about them in the absence of the gods of old.

The substance of the book is thus highly useful for students beginning to explore the topic of early Christian apologetics and the arguments and counter-arguments that were employed then and still sometimes surface today. The problem with the book—and it is a very large one—is its presentation. I confess myself altogether baffled that Oxford University Press, of all publishers, should put on the market a book that appears to have been published from a rough draft with no benefit whatsoever of copyediting or proofing. I thought at first that this was simply a rough copy provided for reviewers, but I checked a sample of the eBook and found the same errors (just a few examples: a footnote reference on p. 21 to “Joseph’s Against Apion; “does not square with Lukan account”—no “the”—on p. 25; “among early Christianity” on p. 27; “there no reason to think” on p. 33; repeated instances of words broken in the middle with the second syllable attached to the next word). And on and on. As an editor I am picky, but this is well beyond that. Consequently, I would be very reluctant to put Defending and Defining in the hands of students. They probably wouldn’t notice most of the mistakes because no one learns grammar any longer, but that is just the problem. We dare not give the next generation permission to write like this—especially as more and more dissertations are being published (even by presses like Brill) from photo-ready copy supplied by the author. Suppose that in a future crisis our students were called on to write an apology for the faith! They might well suffer the same contempt from literate pagans that early Christian apologists worked so hard to overcome.