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11URPHY
SUMMARIUM
Historia disciplinae moralis patrum hodie valde desideratur; sed
actuatio hujuscemodi operis non fit sine difficultatibus. Paraenesis pa-
tristica est catechesis rnoralis quae oriebatur ex sensu dynamico Sapien-
tiae Dei allicientis hominem ad sanctificationem personalem in imita-
tione Christi et ad reparandam imaginem Dei. Documenta sicut Didache,
Ps.-Barnabas, etc., sunt tractatus paraenetici doctrinam a duobus Testa-
mentis trahentes et praxim ad coetum judaico-christianum et greco-
romanum accomodantes. In litteratura apocrypha inventa sunt tentamina
ad originem concupiscientiae et peccati explanandarn, et in apologistis
initium concurrentiae catecheseos judaico-christianae cum ethica hellenica.
Irenaeus fundamentum dat theoreticum theologiae morali per anthropo-
logiam in Christi Incarnatione et paedagogiam in Christi imitatione
fundatam, ut in ecclesia homo ad recapitulationem Dei imaginis per-
ducatur.
..
50
hybride, cherchant s combiner les deux ou meme les tres formes de theologie, qui
ont existe dans l'eglise depuis le Moyen Age. On y retrouverait, dans tres mauvais
menage, des fragments de 5. Thomas, la substance de la morale classique, tout eels
sssaisonne de termes empruntes a Scheler ou a l'existentialisme. Mieux vaudrait
conserver le distinction des 'genres litteraires' ~ (p. 378).
8 Cf. the pilot-articles in the Reallexikon f. A?ltike u. Christentum (RAC)
such as c Acedia» 0, 62), c Apatheia, (1, 484f) , «Arbeit:t (1, 585f.), «Annut I &
II:t (1, 698f.), c Bekehru1l.p::, (Il, 105f.) c Begierdc, (ll, 62£.), «Eeru!:t (Il, 141f),
c Christianisierung I & ll::. (Il, 1228f.), «Contactus J. (Ill, 404f.), «Demut:t (Ill,
735f.), ot Dirne:t (UI, 1149f.), «Ebenbildlichkeit:t (IV, 459£.), «Ehe I, Il, Ill, IV:.
(IV, 650-730), etc., for both patristic opinions and doctrine, as well as the most
recent literature. See also articles on similar subjects in the Dictionnaire dc Spi-
ritualite.
9 P. POURRAT, La spiritualiU chretienne I: Des origilles de l'Eplisc au Moyc71
Age (9 ed. Paris, 1926); M. VILLER, K. RAm,ER, Aszesc lmd Mystik dcr Viitcrzcit
(Frciburg/B. 1940); L. B01JYER, La spiritualite du NOU1'cau Testament et des PCTes
(Paris, 1960); H. GRAEF, The Light and th.e Rainbow (Westminster, Md., 1959).
10 Cf. F. TILLMANN, op. cit.;O. LoTTIN, Morale fondarncntale (Paris-Tournai,
53
1954); PH. DELBAYE, La thiologie d'hier et d'aujourd'hui, Re.SR 27 (1953) 112-130; id.,
Die gegenwacrtigen Bestrcbungen acr Moral-Wissenschaft in Frankreich in Mo-
ral-problemc im Umbruch aer Zcit (Munich, 1957); M. MUELLER, Die Lehre des hI.
Augustinus von der Paradiesehe (Regensburg, 1956) and the series in which this
volume appears: Stu-dien ZUT Geschichte aer kath. Moraltheologie.
) l Cf. the excellent remarks on this supject by J. Galtier in his article on
Epistles, whose scope and nature are specifically moral, had been
analyzed and picked over primarily for testimony to dogmatic
facts or ecclesiastical developments, for the most· part in support
of polemical positions.
Studies dealing with the moral teaching of the Old and New
Testaments are comparatively plentifu1. 12 Their end result, gene-
rally speaking, is the conclusion that the moral teaching of
Christ, as recorded in the Gospels and diffused through the oral
teaching and other. documents of the New Testament, was a
re-animation of the basic Jewish moral wisdom, which had been
impregnated to some degree by contact with outside elements
several centuries earlier, and colored to a certain extent by the
paraenetic tendencies of such sects as the Essenes or the devotees
of Qumram. 13 What was truly original in Christ's moral teaching
was the unequivocally supernatural orientation, and the absolute
authority 'with which He invested His ethical doctrines. Thus the
substance of the Sermon on the 1\-fount and the two commandments
of charity can be found literally in the' Old. Testament do-
cuments. 1• But by His claim to be the· Son of God, by His
insistence on the fact that He was the 'Way, the Truth, and the
Life' (J 0 14, 6), by His invitation to penance and the imitation
of His humility and patience, and by His enunciation of His
ethical requirements in an eschatological perspective, Christ gave
His doctrines a revolutionary impulse. It was in this guise that the
15 Cf. C. TRESMONTAl'."'T, op. cit. 62-85. On the purit), of Christ's message see J.
KOl'.'ZELMANN, Jesu8-Christus in RGG HI - (1960) 648.
16 Cf. G. DIX, Jew and Greek (London, 1953); L. GOPPELT, ChmtentulII und
.Judenturn (Giitersloh, 1954); B. REICKE, Diakonic, Festfreude und Zelo8 (Upsala, 1951);
H.-J. SCHOEPS, Urgcrncindc, Judenchristentum, Gnosis (Tiibingen, 1956); J. DANrELOU,
ThCologie du iudeo-chri8twnisme (Paris-Tourn ai, 1958).
56
17 C.B. DODD, Gospel and Law (Cambridge, 1951) 8-11; id. The Apostolic
Preachinll and its Development (London, 1936); J. DAN!tLoU, op. cit. 374-376; A.
BENorr, Le bapteme chreti-en au 8econd 8iecle (Paris, 1953) 13-14; 145-146.
18 Cf. E. SELWYN, The First Ep~tle of St. Peter (2 eeL London, 1947) 369-419.
57
with the right conduct of life. The Rabbis had developed this
doctrine in a moral and spiritual sense, insisting that the Shekinah
or divine presence only inhabits the hearts of the humble, giving
them Wisdom. Thus evil inclinations could be overcome by the
contemplation of the Torah, which makes the wise man gentle,
kind and pious. 19
St. Paul applies this rabbinic way of wisdom to Christ, \Vho
is the «Power of God, the \Visdom of God» (1 Cor 1, 24). Since
the Church is the body of Christ, it is likewise the way of wisdom,
hence of salvation, because it is the final realization of God's
plan in creation. 20 As H. Jaeger has pointed out, this Pauline
quasi-identification of Christ and \\Tisdom, giving rise to the NT
interpretation of wisdom as the way of salvation in Christ, is
revealed in two differing but mutually dependent traditions among
the earlier churchmen. 21 In the later NT documents and among
the post-apostolic fathers, it is the rabbinic, homiletic tradition
that prevails, in which wisdom is the result of the acceptance of
Christ. In the apologists of the second century, an identification
is made between Christ and ·"Tisdom, in the attempt to prove His
divinity and eternity. It is here likewise that the hellenist concept
of wisdom or sophia formally enters into the Christian theological
development. The. Septuagint translation of the hebraic hokma.h
by sophia had been no tour-de-force. For in the older Greek
tradtion, sophia. is more a virtue than a philosophical concept. It
is used of one who «practiced what he preached;» and in later
usage, it retained the notion of both supe~ior knowledge and
right conduct. 22 Plato speaks of the wise man who «becomes
like god... by being just and holy» (Theaitetos 176D); and Plotinus
speaks of wisdom as «the life of the soul illumined from within»
2:> Cf. A. DmLE, Demut in RAC III (1957) 748-752; E. SELWYl\, op. cit. 417-19.
26 C.H. DODD, op. cit., 10-1l.
27 Cf. M. SPAN~'EUT, Le stoicisme des PeTeS de l'Eglise (Paris, 1957) 95-105.
28 C.R. DODD, op. cit., 13-15.
29 Ibid., 25-45.
60
11
1961).
3·1 CL J. STELZENBERGER, Die Beziehungen dcr friihchri.·Uichcn Sittenlchrc zur
Eth·ik dcr Stoa (Munich. 1933); M. SPAN!\"EUT, Le Stoici8nlC des Peres de l':£glise
(Paris, 195/), 133-236; H. TURKER, The Pattern of Christian Thought (London,
1954) 389-469; J.H. WASZJ~l{, Dcr Platoni8nlUS und die altehristli~he GedankC1l1J.'elt in
Recherches sur l'A ntiquitC classique III (Geneva, 1955); J. PEPIN, Myth£? et allegorie:
Les origincs grecques et. les contestations judeo-chretiennes (Paris, 1958).
3:1 CL K. HORMANl\, Leben in Chn'stus: ZusQ11l71lcnhiinge zlt'ischen Dogma und
the axiom of the golden rule. Then he specifiies the concrete moral
behavior that follows from these two principles, interweaving
within the first six chapters both Christian and Jewish elements
together with the precepts of the Decalogue: an enemy is to be
blessed and prayed for; carnal impulses are to be contained; the
giving of alms is strongly urged as a sharing in God's bounty;
murder, adultery, stealing, lying and envy, together with their
particular specifications, are condemned; and the causes of these
evils are exposed in the light of such current pagan vices as
the practice of magic, the pursuit of idolatry, and the exposure
of infants. On the positive side, the virtues of guilelessness and
gentleness in the peaceful company of those close to God are
encouraged.042 This is fundamentally a Jewish approach; and
indicates close affinities with the :AIanual of Discipline of the
Qumram communities. But it is also a Christian, NT concept,
Dlade the more specific by the Didachist's inlmediate discussion
of Baptism (c. 7) and the Eucharist (9, 1-5).-43
The Letter of the Pseudo-Barnabas employs the same de\Tice
of the «Two Ways» (chapters 18-20), changing the metaphor
frorn Life and Death to Light and Darkness, thus indicating a
greater influence of the Qumram-centered documents by speaking
of the «one as presided over by the light-bringing angels of God ~
and the other «by the angels of satan ».« Barnabas insists on
the kno\\'ledge (gnosis) possessed by the Christian which should
bring him to:
Love your Maker, reverence your Creator; glorify Him who ranso-
med your from death; be single of heart and exuberant of spirit.
Do not associate with such as walk in the 'Vay of Death; abhor
4~ 1, 1-6, 3; cf. the commentary of J.-P. AUDET, op. cit. 254-357; A. STVlBER,
DOR game Joch dcs Hrrrn (Did 6, 2-3) Stu.d. Pa.!. 4, 323-29.
43 7-10; ibid., 357-433, cf. H. ROSTER, Synopstische Ueberlirfcrung bei den
Apostal1"schcn Viiterll (Berlin, 1957), I50f.
oH CL J.-P. AUDET, Afjillites littcraircs et doetrinales du Manuel dr Dis6pline,
RB 59 (1952) 219-238; id., La Dida.che, 158-59, where he maintains that the Didache
and Barnabas· are independently utilizing a common Jewish source for the doctrine
of the < Two Ways >. See also, J. DAh'1ELOU, Judeo-christianiame, 43-46: and his
review of Audet's La Didachi in RechSR 47 (1959) 68-73.
64
48 Cf. K. THIEME, Kirche und Synagoge (Olten, 1945); J. SCHMID, RAC I (1950),
1207-17.
-t9 C. SCHAEFER, S. Clcmentis Romani Epi.stula (FIP 44, 2 ed., Bonn. 1941);
A. STUlBER, RAC Ill, 194; J. DUHELOU, Theologie, 53-55 who sums up the evidence
against an exaggeration of Stoic influence (e.g. in A. SANDERS, L'helleni.sme de
Clement de Rome et le paulinisme, Louvain, 1943, 199-240) in favor of a Judeo-
Christian milieu and influence; see also W.C. VA.N Ul\"N'IK, Is I Clement, 20, purely
Stoic in VC 4 (1950) 181-190.
50 Cf. J. DUPONT, Gnosis. 398-400.
51 Cf. H. CHADWICK, Justification by Faith and Hospitality, Stud. Pat. 4
(1961) 281-285.
s.
66
of fidelity (9, 4), Abraham of faith (10, 1-?), Lot (11, 1-3) and
Rahab (12, 1-7) of hospitality.~2 The author's immediate objective
is to insist on the practical applicatiqn of a virtuous faith to
the main task of the Christian: obeying. God's commandments
a
in consideration of Christ's passion and, as consequence, without
respect for personalities, thus submitting to the direction of the
elders of the community (1, 3). He further reflects the NT 'codes
of conduct in close connection with the laws of holiness (cc. 29-
30).53 He insists upon the necessity of penance in imitation of
Christ's shedding His blood for us, even for those who «live in
prayer under the fulness of the Holy Spirit» (8, 1-5). With
conscious literary art, he turns to the problem that occasioned
his letter, and describes the source of the evil rebelHon as «envy
and jealousy, contention and contumacy, persecution and incon-
stancy, war and captivity» (3, 2-6, 4), all of which lead to the
abandonment of the fear of God, the loss of faith, and the rebellion
of disobedience - in strictly Jewish ideology, all products of an
«evil heart» (3, 4).
'\Vhat is basic to Clement's thought is the divine will as the
source of man's moral life (cc. 13-14). God desires man's
sanctification and justification, penance, conversion, and good
works, which will lead to peace and order among men, as it is
to be seen in God's creation of the cosmos (20, 1-12). It is Christ
as God and man who is our mediator and model (16, 1-17), Who
teaches us gentleness, patience and long-suffering (13, 2-4). He is
to be imitated, His passion and blood reverenced (7, 4; 21, 6), for
his resurrection is a guarantee of our future rising (cc. 24-26).
57 Cf. A. SIMPSON, The Good Christian in the Second Century AD in £lA nti-
all love 1?f· money, not hastily believing [what is said] against
~mother, nor stern in condemnation, knowing that we are all debtors
because of sin (6, 1-3).
duction and commentary; also new critical text by M. WHITTA.KER, Der Hirt des
Hermas (GCS 48, Berlin, 1956). On the literary genre of the introduction, see JOLY
op. cit. 17-21.
6S Cf. J. D.A.NIELOU, Theologie du iudeo-christianisme, 46-49; R. JOLY, 46-54.
66Hermas however does not cite the decisive formula in Jas. 2, 17. Citations
from the Pastor will be made hereafter according to J oly's edition.
67 Angel is one of the names used for Christ down to the fourth century. Cf.
J. BARBEL, Christos Angelos (Bonn, 1941) 47-50; J. DANIELOU, op. cit. 167-69.
68 R. JoLY; op. cit. 43-44.
69 Ibid. 44; cf. J. AUDET, AtfiniUs litteraires et doctrinales du Manuel de
Discipline in RB 60 (1953) 64. ff.
71
14 Ibid. 37 where R. Joly parallels this situation in the early, second century
72
III
Roman Church with the disedifying situations revealed by the Seven Letters to
the Churches of the Apocalypse, and the disagreement in the Church at Corinth
as depicted in the Letter of Clement.
75 R. JOLY, op. cit. 46-54.
76 For an account of this literature, see. J. QUASTEN, Patrology I (Westminster,
Md., 1950) 106-171; J. DANIELOU, Thiologie 21-32.
77 Cf. P. BOYANet, Les de'ux demons personnels in Rev. Philol. 59 (1935).
8ff; J. DANIELOU, cDemon; in.DSp. 3 (1958) 169-170.
78 Cf. J. WILPERT~ c Begierde:t RAC II (1954) 66; C. BAUMGARTNER, «Concupi-
scence in DSP 2 (1955) 1134ff.
73
erant, propter vitae. instituta etiam' communes focos adspernati, nunc post adventum
Christi convictores facti et pro inimicis orantes et, qui nos immerito oderunt iis
persuadere conantes, ut secnndum praec1ara Christi praescripta viventes magna sint
in spe, eadem se ae nos a dominatore omnium deo consecuturos esse~.
101 For the text, introduction and notes, see B.I. MARROU, A Diognete (Se
33, Paris, 1951); cf. also J. 'K!.EIST, The Didache... The Epistle to Diognetus (ACW
6, London, 1957) 135-47.
102 8, 5-11; cf. H.-I. MARROU, Ope cit. 198-207. In 10, 1-6 the author discusses
the problem raised in the introduction (1, 1) by the objection that God seemed to
have waited too long a time before sending His Truth into the world to enlighten
mankind: MARROU, Ope cit. 202-07.
103 9, 5-6.
11>4 10, 2.
105Ibid.; cf. M. PELLEGRINO, Studi BU l'antica apologetica (Rome, 1947) 22
for the history of this idea among both pagans and Christians.
106 10, 6-6.
79
107 11, 1.
108 5, 1-17.
109 6, 1-10; cf. H.-I. MARROU, op. cit. 137-76.
110Cf. :M. ELZE, Tatian und seine Theologie (Gottingen, 1960); J. DANIELOU.
Message, 358-65.
gO
oescent upon the earth. While not in~ately immortal, man's soul,
even after having rejected the divine spirit, retains a spark of
that divine power (Di~c. 13). Hence in his fallen state, under the
inspiration of the demons, man creates· false gods and idols for
himself. Salvation, through God.'s kind inqulgence, has once again
become possible. It consists in the rejecti9n and destruction of the
false allurements thrOl,lgh the search for and the acceptation of
.divine Truth. and thus the restoration of the divine spirit within
man (Disc. 15-16).111
Theophilus on the other hand, takes as his point of departure
the text of Genesis (1, 26) which explains man's dignity in the
€ssentially spiritual quality of the soul, (2, 18).112 Created and
placed in a .terrestial paradise, man was instructed not to eat·
{)f the fruit of one certain tree, until such time as he had achieved
2,. relative perfection by the intelligent use of his liberty (2, 19-24).
v
It is with Irenaeus of Lyons (d. ca. 200) that these various
themes are brought together in a logically coherent consideration
{)f man as a moral being: Irenaeus begins his theologising by a
115 Cf. G. WINGREN. Man and the Incarnation: a Study in the Biblical Theo-
logy of lrenaeus (Eng. transl; by R. Mackenzie, London, 1959); A. BENOIT, Saint
Irenee. Introduction a I'etude de sa theologie (Paris, 1960), who complains (p. 201,
n. 2) of the inavailability of Wingren's study, seems to have missed almost
completely the significance pf the IncarnJltion in the moral thought of Irenaeus.
116 Cf. G. WINGREN, op. cit. 14-26; Cf. J. DANIELOU, Message, 156-170.
117 G. WINGREN, 26-36.
6.
82
122 For the moral thought of Clement of Alexandria, see H.I. MARROU, Clement
d' Alexandrie (SC 70, Paris, 1960) 43-91-
123 On Hippolytus, see A. D'ALEs, La theolollie de Saint Hippolyte (2 ed., Pa-
ris, 1929); A. HA.MEL, Kirche bei Hippolyt 1I0n Rom (Boon, 1951); J.M. HANSENS, La
LitUTgie d'Hippolyte (Rome, 1959); J. DANIELoU, Message, 173-74.
124 Cf. P. NEMESHEGYI, La morale d'Origene in RAM 37 (1961) 409-28; H.
CROtnEL, Theologie de l'image de Dieu chez Origene (Paris, 1956); id., Origene et
la connaissance mystique (Paris, 1961); id. Recherches BUT Orill'ene et 80n influence
BLE 62 (1961) 3-15; 105-13.
125 Cf. TB. BRANDT, Tertullians Ethik (Giitersloh, 1929); F. MURPBY, The
Founda,tion8 of Terlullian's Moral Teaching, Thomistica Morum Principia II (Rome,
1961) 95-104.
126 A. D'ALEs, La theologic de saint Cyprien (Paris, 1922); E.L. HUMMEL, The
Concept of Martyrdom according to St. Cyprian (Wasbington, 1946); G. BARDY, La
theologie de l'Elllise de saint lrenee au concile de Nicee (Paris, 1947) 171-251-
127 Cf. P.T. CAMELOT, La tMolollie. de l'Image de Dieu RSPbTb 40 (1956)
443-71; H. MERKI, HOMOIOSIS THEOD: Von dcr platonischen Angleichunll an Gott
zur Gottiihnlichkeit bei Grellor lIon Nyssa (Freiburg/Scbweiz, 1952).
128 A. HEITMANN, ImitatioDei: Die ethische Nachahmung Gottes nach der
Viiterlehre dcr tlwei ersten Jahrhundcrte (Rome, 1940); I. HA.uSBERR, L'imitation
de JeBUs-Christ duns la 8piritualite byzantine, M ilanlles Cavallera (Toulouse, 1948)
231ft.
1~ Cf. G.B. LADNER, The Idea of Reform (Cambridge, Mass, 1959).
H4
*
**
Thus for the historian of patristic moral thought, several
problems arise with the turn of the third century. It is obvious
that the Church has made great headway in the Roman Empire
and beyond. Persecution had but served to strengthen and spread
the faith. The conversion of philosophers, advocates, and
professional propagandists leads to a consideration in depth of
the Christian religion as it is contained in both the Scriptures
and in the written and oral tradition that enter into the liturgical
life of the Church. :Moral problems faced by both the elite and
the vast multitudes of every-day Christians present themselves
with increasing frequency and difficulty. All these elements of
the Church's development are being subjected to a new evafuation
today; and require the historian of moral thought to take a long
and closer look at the evidence in order to achieve a true picture
of the ethical achievement of primitive Christianity. In the
footsteps of Irenaeus, succeeding generations of patristic
theologians turned their attention to a Christian anthropology" as
the foundation for all of man's moral and spiritual development.
But in dealing with the concepts of man's make-up they consciously
or unconsciously embodied ideas from the Platonic, Stoic, and
Pythagorean philosophies in which they themselves had been
indoctrinated. In dealing with man's duty to imitate Christ as the
means of fulfilling his destiny as one made in the image and
likeness of God, Christian writers were influenced by Platonic
concepts of apotheosis as reelaborated by Plotinus and the neo-
platonists. In dealing ,vith the practical problems of human
behavior, they utilized the current, mainly Stoic, teachings in
regard to the nature and interplay of the passions and man's
rational faculties, the practice of virtue, and even the demoniac
influences tempting man to misbehavior. 130 But it is obvious fronl
130 Cf. J. DU;IELOU, Homere chez les Peres de l't:glise, Platon dans le
Moyen-Platonisme, Aristote et l'Apologetique chretien71c, in Message, 73-145.
85