Ancient Apologetic Exegesis

New Testament scholarship uncovers much about first-century Christianity. Early Christian masters such as Origen and Augustine draw great attention to the third and following centuries. Yet oddly, despite this flood of attention to both the first century and to the third and later centuries, the second century often escapes notice, this despite its almost living memory of Jesus and his apostles from only a generation or two prior. A distinctive biblical exegesis was used by those second-century apologists who challenged Greco-Roman pagan religionists. Along with introducing the general shape of this ancient apologetic exegesis, Ancient Apologetic Exegesis aims at its recovery as well. Current literature often misunderstands or dismisses second-century exegetical approaches. But by looking behind anachronistic views of ancient genre, literacy, and rhetoric, we can rediscover a forgotten form of early Christian exegesis.

""Parsons' work breaks through the prevailing anachronistic assumptions surrounding the performance of Scripture in the work of Theophilus of Antioch and recasts the apologist as a careful and thoughtful exegete. His sensitivity to the genre of protreptic writings and attentiveness to even the most subtle echoes and allusions of Scripture make an important contribution to the understanding of the development of Christian hermeneutics in the post-apostolic age.""
--Stephen O. Presley, Assistant Professor of Biblical Interpretation, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Fort Worth, TX

""Theophilus of Antioch, one of the few early metropolitan bishops from whom we have extant writings, has often been ignored or misunderstood by modern scholars. Stuart Parsons brings insightful understanding to a second-century presentation of Christianity through a protreptic genre to a largely oral culture.""
--John Reeve, Assistant Professor of Church History, Andrews University, Berrien Springs, MI

""Since Theophilus's Ad Autolycum has received less attention than other second- and third-century writers, Stuart Parsons not only fills a lacuna in scholarship but also provides us with an important lens for reading Theophilus's exegetically based, apologetic argument by situating the work in its second-century rhetorical context. This book presents a helpful balance between establishing Theophilus's rhetorical purpose, providing close readings of texts, and demonstrating an overall structure for reading these letters.""
--Ben C. Blackwell, Assistant Professor of Christianity, Houston Baptist University
Houston, TX



Stuart E. Parsons is chair of the Church Ministries Department and a member of the Bible and Theology faculty at Trinity College of Florida.