Pregledni rad
https://doi.org/10.22586/sn0fj756
Early Christianity and Greco-Roman Mythology. Rejection, Reinterpretation, and Apologetic Strategy
Marko Marina
; Sveučilište u Zagrebu, Fakultet hrvatskih studija
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* Dopisni autor.
Sažetak
This paper examines how early Christian intellectuals of the second and third centuries (particularly Justin Martyr, Origen, and Clement of Alexandria) confronted the pervasive influence of Greco-Roman mythology through strategies of rejection, reinterpretation, and apologetic transformation. In a world still saturated with the mythological imagination of Homer, Hesiod, and the mystery cults, these authors sought not only to distinguish Christian revelation from “pagan” religiosity but to redefine the very categories of myth, history, and divine truth. The study approaches this encounter through both a close reading of ancient sources and engagement with modern theoretical frameworks on myth developed by Mircea Eliade and Joseph Campbell. Their models, despite their modern origins, offer valuable tools for understanding how early Christian writers negotiated the transition from a cyclical, symbolic understanding of the sacred to a linear, historical conception of divine revelation. For Justin Martyr, the Gospels were not mythic tales but ἀπομνημονεύματα τῶν ἀποστόλων, historically grounded “memoirs of the apostles.” By interpreting pagan myths as deceptive fabrications of demonic forces, Justin sought to desacralize Greco-Roman religious narratives and assert the uniqueness of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection as an unrepeatable historical event. Origen, while sharing Justin’s polemical stance, further developed a hermeneutic distinction between μῦθος and λόγος, emphasizing the moral and historical authenticity of Scripture over against the immorality and fictitiousness of “pagan” myths. Clement of Alexandria extended this critique by exposing the initiatory violence and obscurity of mystery cults, thereby discrediting their ritual and soteriological claims. Through these interconnected yet distinct approaches, early Christian authors collectively performed a reconfiguration of the sacred. By rejecting myth as a legitimate form of divine mediation, they established a new epistemology of revelation. One that is grounded in linear history, moral coherence, historical figure from the near past, and divine incarnation. This shift marked a decisive moment in the intellectual history of late antiquity, replacing the mythic imagination that had structured the Greco-Roman worldview with a historical consciousness rooted in eschatological expectation. The paper argues that this process of desacralization was not merely a negation but a creative act of cultural transformation. By redefining the boundaries of the sacred and the profane, the early Christian apologists forged the conceptual foundations of Christian identity and its enduring claim to universality.
Ključne riječi
early Christianity; Greco-Roman mythology; apologetics; Mircea Eliade; Origen
Hrčak ID:
341597
URI
Datum izdavanja:
18.12.2025.
Posjeta: 600 *