seen how the division between Christianity and Judaism was
one where the boundaries were often hard to identify precisely
(chapter 4). In terms of the society of the Roman empire, the situ-
ation of Christians is neatly encapsulated in the second-century
Epistle to Diognetuswhich states that Christians were no different
from the empire’s other inhabitants in terms of where they lived
or how they spoke, but ‘that they live as strangers in their own
lands, share everything as citizens, and suffer everything as
foreigners’ (Epistle to Diognetus5.5).
The writings of Tertullian provide a lively insight into such
problems as they were faced by the Christians of Carthage in
the late second and early third centuries. In a series of works,
Tertullian warned his fellow Christians of the temptations to
sin that surrounded them. His On Spectaclessought to show that
attendance at shows in the circus, theatre, and arena was an
offence to God because such entertainments were saturated in the
trappings of pagan cult. The worship of the pagan gods was
the focus of his On Idolatry: Tertullian instructed his audience to
be alert for the dangers that lurked in all sorts of activities, from
observance of the calendar, to the celebration of imperial victo-
ries, to the formulae used for swearing everyday contracts. For
Tertullian, such temptations lay everywhere: he even wrote a work
On the Dress of Womenexcoriating women for their fancy clothes,
make up, and dyed hair; the same work also condemned men who
liked to trim their beards into fashionable goatees or use cosmet-
ics. In almost every way, it seemed, the Christian found himself
(or herself) at odds with the mundane realities of Roman lifestyles.
We have already touched upon the most basic distinction
that set Christians apart from the pagans: religion and religious
observance. The Christians believed that there was only one God,
whose plan for humanity had been mediated through his son
Jesus, the Messiah. Such monotheism (as the worship of a single,
exclusive deity is called, as distinct from polytheism, the worship
of many gods) was not unique to the Christians. The Jews were
monotheists too, after all. Like the Christians, the Jews had often
been reviled by the pagan inhabitants of the Graeco-Roman world.
EARLY CHRISTIANITY AND THE ROMAN EMPIRE1
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