society in which they lived. Such concerns prompted writings
such as Tertullian’s works on the moral dangers posed by the
worship of pagan images, games in the arena, and extravagant
fashions of female dress (see chapter 6). The public visibility of
Christian communities also increased, meaning that sometimes
they attracted hostile attention from outsiders. Hence various
authors produced ‘apologetic’ works designed to explain Chris-
tianity (and its superiority to other religions) to Jews (such as
Justin Martyr’s second-century Dialogue with Trypho) and pagans
(which Justin also wrote, as did Tertullian and many others) (see
chapter 6). Actual conflict between Christianity and Roman
society led to the production of accounts of martyrs who died for
their faith. Such accounts were often derived from the transcripts
of court proceedings during trials of Christians, but it is clear that
they were often embellished with specifically Christian elements,
such as miracles (Bowersock 1995: 23–39).
Early Christian literature also reveals much about the
emerging religion’s cultural profile. At first, all Christian writings
(scripture and non-scripture, orthodox and heretical) were
produced in Greek, not only in the eastern Mediterranean, but
also in the Latin-speaking west of the Roman empire. A Latin
Christian literature does not appear until the end of the second
century with Tertullian in north Africa. Even after this, some
western authors, such as Hippolytus, still wrote in Greek, and
there was no standard Latin translation of the Bible until the
end of the fourth century. Such factors suggest that Christianity
in the western empire was initially a religion of immigrants (see
chapter 4).
Content just as much as language is revealing about the
culture of the early Christians. One of Irenaeus of Lyons’ criti-
cisms of the Gnostics was that they perverted Christian truth by
importing ideas from Greek philosophy (Against Heresies2.14.2).
Yet Greek philosophical ideas can be seen permeating Christian
writings as early as the Gospel of John. In the second and third
centuries, authors such as Clement of Alexandria and Origen
were adapting the language of Stoic and Platonic philosophy to
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