Anklagelser mot de kristna- En studie av anklagelserna mot de tidiga kristna i Romarriket ur ett ”The Other”-perspektiv.
(2014) AKSK04 20132Classical archaeology and ancient history
- Abstract (Swedish)
- The aim of this essay is to study the view upon the Christians through some of the authors from antiquity during the first centuries after the birth of Christ. And to try and find out if is possible to understand why the Christians were accused of vicious crimes like cannibalism, the killing and eating of infants, promiscuity and incest.
I shall study quotations from three categories of writers, the Christian Apologists, the Pagan authors who wrote about the Christians, and writers who have accused other ethnic groups and cultures of cannibalism and human sacrifice, through a ”the Other” perspective. To research if that perspective can be of any help to give the answer to why the Christians were accused and persecuted.
The Apologists... (More) - The aim of this essay is to study the view upon the Christians through some of the authors from antiquity during the first centuries after the birth of Christ. And to try and find out if is possible to understand why the Christians were accused of vicious crimes like cannibalism, the killing and eating of infants, promiscuity and incest.
I shall study quotations from three categories of writers, the Christian Apologists, the Pagan authors who wrote about the Christians, and writers who have accused other ethnic groups and cultures of cannibalism and human sacrifice, through a ”the Other” perspective. To research if that perspective can be of any help to give the answer to why the Christians were accused and persecuted.
The Apologists texts show us that the Christians were a very strong community, and they tried to explain how their religion worked, foremost the communion, and how they served their god in the way they thought right. The Apologists denied the accusations of eating human flesh and killing babies by saying that their god would never allow such a horrible crime, and that the Pagans must themselves have thought about it or commited these crimes for it to even have cross their minds, and then being able to accuse the Christians of it.
The Pagan writers describes the Christians as odd and different, and were worried about the spread of the religion, anyone from any social group of the society were welcome to join the Christians, and according to the Pagan authors the religion spread like a plauge throughout Rome and the whole nation.
Many who have studied these accusations earlier have thought that the Christian communion were the reason why the Christians were accuses of murder and cannibalism. But related accusations towards other cultures and ethnic groups show that perhaps these accusations were a way to dehumanise groups that in some way threatened the Roman people or culture. The Christians were very strong in their beliefs and created a strong ”we”-identity among them. And by that they secluded themselves from the rest of the society, and there by seemed strange and mysteríous to others and that created a fear for them and a threatening approach against them emerged.
But there is still only theories about the origin of these accusations, we still do not have any proof of where it began or why. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/4227699
- author
- Jakobsson, Emilia LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- AKSK04 20132
- year
- 2014
- type
- M2 - Bachelor Degree
- subject
- language
- Swedish
- id
- 4227699
- date added to LUP
- 2014-03-10 08:42:51
- date last changed
- 2014-03-10 08:50:46
@misc{4227699,
abstract = {{The aim of this essay is to study the view upon the Christians through some of the authors from antiquity during the first centuries after the birth of Christ. And to try and find out if is possible to understand why the Christians were accused of vicious crimes like cannibalism, the killing and eating of infants, promiscuity and incest.
I shall study quotations from three categories of writers, the Christian Apologists, the Pagan authors who wrote about the Christians, and writers who have accused other ethnic groups and cultures of cannibalism and human sacrifice, through a ”the Other” perspective. To research if that perspective can be of any help to give the answer to why the Christians were accused and persecuted.
The Apologists texts show us that the Christians were a very strong community, and they tried to explain how their religion worked, foremost the communion, and how they served their god in the way they thought right. The Apologists denied the accusations of eating human flesh and killing babies by saying that their god would never allow such a horrible crime, and that the Pagans must themselves have thought about it or commited these crimes for it to even have cross their minds, and then being able to accuse the Christians of it.
The Pagan writers describes the Christians as odd and different, and were worried about the spread of the religion, anyone from any social group of the society were welcome to join the Christians, and according to the Pagan authors the religion spread like a plauge throughout Rome and the whole nation.
Many who have studied these accusations earlier have thought that the Christian communion were the reason why the Christians were accuses of murder and cannibalism. But related accusations towards other cultures and ethnic groups show that perhaps these accusations were a way to dehumanise groups that in some way threatened the Roman people or culture. The Christians were very strong in their beliefs and created a strong ”we”-identity among them. And by that they secluded themselves from the rest of the society, and there by seemed strange and mysteríous to others and that created a fear for them and a threatening approach against them emerged.
But there is still only theories about the origin of these accusations, we still do not have any proof of where it began or why.}},
author = {{Jakobsson, Emilia}},
language = {{swe}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Anklagelser mot de kristna- En studie av anklagelserna mot de tidiga kristna i Romarriket ur ett ”The Other”-perspektiv.}},
year = {{2014}},
}