Dialogue with Trypho: Difference between revisions

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In the opening of the ''Dialogue'', Justin relates his vain search among the [[Stoicism|Stoics]], [[Peripatetic school|Peripatetic]]s, and [[Pythagoreanism|Pythagorean]]s for a satisfying knowledge of God; his finding in the ideas of [[Plato]] wings for his soul, by the aid of which he hoped to attain the contemplation of the God-head; and his meeting on the sea-shore with an aged man who told him that by no human endeavor but only by divine revelation could this blessedness be attained, that the prophets had conveyed this revelation to man, and that their words had been fulfilled. Of the truth of this he assured himself by his own investigation; and the daily life of the Christians and the courage of the martyrs convinced him that the charges against them were unfounded. So he sought to spread the knowledge of Christianity as the true philosophy.

In the ''Dialogue'', Justin also wrote, "For I choose to follow not men or men's doctrines, but God and the doctrines [delivered] by Him. For if you have fallen in with some who are called Christians, but who do not admit this [truth], and venture to blaspheme the God of [[Abraham]], and the God of [[Isaac]], and the God of [[Jacob]]; who say there is no resurrection of the dead, and [deny] that their souls, when they die, are taken to heaven; do not imagine that they are Christians." <ref>[[s:Ante-Nicene Christian Library/Dialogue with Trypho#Chapter 80|Dialogue with Trypho, Chapter 80]]</ref> This passage is sometimes cited as evidence that the [[early church]] subscribed to the doctrine of [[soul sleep]], though some claim that Justin's emphasis is on saying that denial of the [[resurrection of the dead]] is what makes them non-Christian, especially considering that he claims that "even after death souls are in a state of sensation" in Chapter 18 of his ''First Apology''.<ref>[[s:Ante-Nicene Christian Library/The First Apology of Justin Martyr#Chapter 18|First Apology, Chapter 18]]</ref>

In his critical edition (with French translation), Philippe Bobichon demonstrates the particular nature of this text, equally influenced by Greek and Rabbinic thought.<ref>Philippe Bobichon (ed.), ''Justin Martyr, Dialogue avec Tryphon'', édition critique, introduction, texte grec, traduction, commentaires, appendices, indices, (Coll. Paradosis nos. 47, vol. I-II.) Editions Universitaires de Fribourg Suisse, (1125 pp.), 2003</ref>