14. Keith Hopkins, A World Full of Gods: The Strange Triumph of Christianity

xiv Introduction to this Edition was to show that Christianity was predicted by and had superseded Judaism—though the Old Testament was still vital as proof of Christianity's antiquity and inevitable triumph—and that Christianity was superior to and incorporates pagan philosophy.l.l.l. In pursuit of intellectual respectability and victory, Justin's Christianity had moved upscale, and a long way from the simply expressed central message of the gospels."14

14. Keith Hopkins, A World Full of Gods: The Strange Triumph of Christianity (New York: Free Press, 1999), 330.

Justin, Martyr, Saint. Dialogue with Trypho (Selections from the Fathers of the Church, Volume 3), edited by Michael Slusser, Catholic University of America Press, 2003. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/nottingham/de

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I N T R O D U C T I O N T O T H E F I R S T E D I T I O N

Justin's Dialogue with Trypho has come down to us through the Codex Paris. gr. 450 (of the year 1364), not, however, without some lacunae: one in the introduction, the other in chapter 74. The missing part of the introduction would have probably told us of the dedication of this work to Marcus Pompeius, who is addressed in chapter 141, and alluded to in chapter 8.

The Dialogue reports a discussion that took place at Ephesus between Justin and the Jew Trypho, shortly after the end of the war (ca. 135) instigated by Bar Kocheba, the Jewish rebel, against the Roman power. While the details of the discussion may be ﬁctitious, the broad outline appears to have been founded in fact. Very little is known about Justin's opponent,

Trypho.1 He was probably a Jewish refugee who ﬂed from Palestine to Ephesus during Bar Kocheba's uprising. Considerable doubt has been cast upon the supposition that he is to be identiﬁed with Tarphon, the famous Palestinian Rabbi.

The Dialogue which Justin composed at Rome years after 2 the actual debate (i.e., sometime between 155 and 161), is really a defense of Christianity against Judaism. Since the debate lasted two days, an artiﬁcial division of the treatise would be into two parts: the ﬁrst (Chs. 1–74) would correspond to the ﬁrst day, and the second (Chs. 75–142) to the second day. A more natural and logical division of the 142 chapters would be into ﬁve sections: (1) Introduction (1–8), in which Justin, after describ1. See new Introduction, p. xii.

2. See Dial. 80. xv Justin, Martyr, Saint. Dialogue with Trypho (Selections from the Fathers of the Church, Volume 3), edited by Michael Slusser, Catholic University of America Press, 2003. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/nottingham/de

Created from nottingham on 2021-08-20 07:56:45.

xvi Introduction to the First Edition ing his own education and eventual conversion to Christianity, sets the limits of the debate; (2) Part I (9–47), which explains why Christians do not observe the Mosaic Law; (3) Part II (48–108), which produces arguments to show that Christ is the true Messiah; (4) Part III (109–141), which draws the logical conclusion that the Christians are the true heirs of the divine promises; (5) Conclusion (142), in which Trypho wishes Justin a happy voyage to Rome and Justin, in turn, expresses the hope that Trypho and his friends will one day believe that Jesus

Christ is the true Messiah.

The text used for this translation is that of Migne, PG 6.471–800, together with the edition of G. Archambault, Justin,

Dialogue avec Tryphon (2 vols. Paris 1909).

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