Quote by Alan Kreider

““Tertullian recounts the narrative of Jesus, whose labors (unlike Hercules’s) did not include killing, capturing, and stealing43 but who instead kept a low profile, who bore reproaches, who would not hear of forcing people, who ate at anyone’s table, who declined to call for massive angelic intervention, who rejected the avenging sword, who healed the servant of his enemy, and thereby “cursed for all time the works of the sword.””

Alan Kreider

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More by Alan Kreider

“This, the Christians believed, was God’s work and not theirs. So they did not engage in frantic action to save those who were not…

Alan Kreider

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“An unmixed marriage, Christian with Christian—this according to Tertullian enabled believers to live life in its fullness. This is not what we expect from the ascetic Tertullian, who said harsh things about marriage. 66 But here it is—Tertullian celebrating the knitting together of “two who are one,” who together serve the same Master. Nothing divides them. And together they are…

Alan Kreider

“At the heart of early Christian worship was table fellowship. Throughout the first three centuries Christian communities gathered once a week for a meal. Across time these communities moved from an early model, which Tertullian called “our small feasts,” to a later model, which Origen called a “great feast.” 3 I call these models the “evening banquet” and the “morning…

Alan Kreider

“Does my subjectivity shape the book? Of course it does, and that dynamic can be bad or good, or both! For example, in reading the early Christian writers closely I have been astonished to discover the widespread presence of the theme of peace in the life and mission of the church. And I have asked myself: Why have others not…

Alan Kreider

“According to Tertullian, impatient actions do not produce what they promise. Instead, impatient actions make things worse, bringing about massive misfortunes. “Now, nothing undertaken through impatience can be transacted without violence, and everything done with violence has either met with no success or has collapsed or has plunged to its own destruction.” 57 Patience, on the other hand, brings new…

Alan Kreider

“The Christians’ focus was not on “saving” people or recruiting them; it was on living faithfully—in the belief that when people’s lives are rehabituated…

Alan Kreider

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“When people seek to follow Christ, according to Origen, God forms them into people who embody this patience. Christ’s followers are not in a hurry; they listen carefully when the word is read and preached, and they patiently call to account straying Christians who attend worship services irregularly. 27 Patient believers trust God. When they are subjected to penitential discipline,…

Alan Kreider

“Origen was most articulate about this struggle. “For you who are redeemed by Christ,” he challenged believers in Caesarea, “a physical sword has been removed from your hands.” But this did not mean they were powerless. “In its place the ‘sword of the Spirit’ has been given and you must seize it.” 131 Christians fight by means of “prayers and…

Alan Kreider

“So, in our imaginative scenario, Constantine the Christian decided to adopt a policy of mission true to the early Christians’ tradition of patience: Regarding paganism: Constantine would abolish state subsidies for pagan temples and sacrifice. But he would not abolish sacrifice (let the aristocrats pay for it if they want to) or plunder the temples. The many forms of paganism…

Alan Kreider