A 2nd-century Christian philosopher's legal defense to the Roman emperor and his book-length debate with a Jewish teacher over whether Jesus is the promised Christ.
Justin Martyr wrote in the mid-2nd century CE, addressing the First Apology directly to Emperor Antoninus Pius and his sons, asking that Christians be tried for actual crimes rather than merely for the name "Christian." He walks the emperor through Christian teaching point by point: they are not atheists but worship the maker of the universe through his Son and the prophetic Spirit; they do not practice the cannibalism or incest rumor accused them of; they expect a future judgment, not a thousand-year holiday, and this expectation is what makes them law-abiding rather than reckless. He builds much of his case on Hebrew prophecy, arguing that Isaiah, Micah, and the Psalms predicted a virgin birth, a birth in Bethlehem, a triumphal donkey-ride into Jerusalem, and a crucifixion "pierced hands and feet" centuries before Jesus, and that this fulfillment is proof the Christian claim is not invented. The Apology also contains the earliest outside description of a Christian Sunday service, including the Eucharist explained as more than "common bread and common drink."
The Second Apology is shorter and occasioned by a specific outrage: a Roman prefect, Urbicus, executed Christians in Rome purely for confessing the name, including a man named Ptolemaeus whose trial Justin recounts in detail, and a bystander named Lucius who protested the sentence and was executed alongside him. Justin uses the incident to argue that Christians who don't fight back or flee prosecution are not being reckless but are demonstrating that they answer to a higher judgment; he also explains the fallen "angels who transgressed" as the origin of the pagan gods and demons.
The Dialogue with Trypho is a different genre: a two-day (in narrative, spanning much longer) conversation Justin says he had with a Jewish teacher named Trypho and his companions in the colonnades of Ephesus, opening with Justin's own account of drifting through Stoic, Peripatetic, Pythagorean, and Platonist teachers before an old man converted him to Christian philosophy. The bulk of the Dialogue is an extended argument, conducted almost entirely through citation and cross-examination of Jewish scripture, that Jesus is the Christ prophesied in the Hebrew Bible, that the Mosaic law (circumcision, sabbath, sacrifices) was a temporary provision for a stiff-necked people rather than an eternal requirement, and that gentiles who follow Christ are the true heirs of the promises to Abraham. It matters as the fullest surviving specimen of second-century Jewish-Christian argument over scripture, written by someone who claims to have been on both the philosophical and interreligious front lines of the debate himself.
“We are charged with being Christians; but it is not right that what is good should be hated.”
— First Apology · read this chapter →
“Jesus, a name in the Hebrew tongue, signifies "savior" in the Greek language.”
— First Apology · read this chapter →
“This food is called among us the Eucharist, and no one may share in it unless he believes our teaching to be true”
— First Apology · read this chapter →
“This judgment of yours, Urbicus, befits neither a pious emperor, nor a philosopher, the son of Caesar, nor the sacred senate.”
— Second Apology · read this chapter →
“Philosophy is indeed, in truth, the greatest possession, and the most valuable in the sight of God”
— Dialogue with Trypho · read this chapter →
It is a formal petition Justin addressed to Emperor Antoninus Pius asking that Christians be judged by their actual conduct rather than executed for merely confessing the name "Christian." Along the way he explains core Christian beliefs, defends them against charges of atheism and immorality, and argues that Hebrew prophecy predicted Jesus's birth, ministry, and crucifixion in detail.
Ptolemaeus was a Christian denounced to the Roman prefect Urbicus and executed in Rome purely for confessing the name; a bystander named Lucius publicly protested the injustice of the sentence and was executed alongside him. Justin recounts the episode as the immediate occasion for writing the Second Apology.
Trypho is a Jewish teacher, accompanied by several companions, whom Justin says he encountered and debated in the colonnades at Ephesus. The Dialogue presents their extended conversation over whether Jesus is the Christ foretold in Jewish scripture and whether the Mosaic law remains binding.
Justin argues that practices like circumcision and sabbath observance were given to Israel because of the people's hard-heartedness and were never intended as eternal requirements, and that gentiles who follow Christ inherit the promises originally made to Abraham without needing to adopt those practices.
In the First Apology he describes Sunday gatherings where scripture is read, prayers are offered standing, believers exchange a kiss, and bread and wine mixed with water are shared as the Eucharist, which he insists is not common food but is received only by those who accept the teaching as true.
He walks through specific Hebrew Bible texts -- a virgin conceiving in Isaiah, a ruler born in Bethlehem in Micah, a king entering on a donkey in Zechariah, and pierced hands and feet in the Psalms -- arguing point by point that these were written centuries before Jesus and were fulfilled in his birth, ministry, and crucifixion.