Aristides of Athens and the Divine Logos

An Exposition of Apologia

The Apology of Aristides of Athens was written in Greek in the first half of the second century and it was the first extant Christian apology. Little information about their authors has been preserved, and sometimes what has is merely speculation. Aristides’ writing consists of seventeen chapters, in which the philosopher seeks to encourage the Emperor to convert to Christianity. The work does not have the characteristic feature of the old Christian apologies – i.e. a refutation of accusations against Christians. It is instead a letter of a convert seeking to convey the essence of the Christian faith. The most valuable section of the work is chapters fifteen to seventeen, in which a picture of Christian life in the first half of the second century is presented. This depiction allows the author to justify his thesis about the superiority of Christianity over other religions. The structure of the work is typical of philosophical treatises of that period, with the author defending the Christian faith with rational arguments and quotes from the writings of pagan philosophers. The main themes of the Apology of Aristides are issues of Christian theology and the division of humanity according to religious criteria. The author defends monotheism and describes the attributes of the true God using the philosophical terminology of former philosophical schools. For this reason he neither explicitly describes the Son as God nor reflects on his existence before the Incarnation as the Logos of God. Instead, he gives the oldest confession of Christian faith in the Son of God, similar to that contained in the doxologies and hymns of the Apostle Paul’s letters.