Misplaced Pages

Revision as of 06:26, 20 August 2012

The Roman historian Suetonius makes reference to early Christians and possible reference to their leader in his work Lives of the Twelve Caesars.

The reference in Claudius 25 involves the agitations in the Jewish community which led to the expulsion of some Jews from Rome by Claudius, and is likely the same event mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles (18:2). Scholars are divided on the value of the Suetonius' reference. Some scholars see it as a likely reference to Jesus, while others see it as having little or no historical value.

The Nero 16 passage refers to rulings by Nero for public order which includes the punishment of Christians. These punishments are generally dated to around AD 64. This passage shows the clear contempt of Suetonius for Christians - the same contempt expressed by Tacitus and Pliny the younger in their writings.

The Claudius reference

Roman Emperor Claudius reigned 41 to 54 AD. Suetonius reports his dealings with the eastern Roman Empire, that is, with Greece and Macedonia, and with the Lycians, Rhodians, and Trojans.

In Claudius 25 Suetonius refers to the expulsion of Jews by Claudius and states:

"Since the Jews constantly made disturbances at the instigation of Chrestus, he expelled them from Rome."

As it is highly unlikely that a Christian interpolator would have called Jesus "Chrestus", placed him in Rome in 49, or called him a "troublemaker", the overwhelming majority of scholars conclude that the passage is genuine.

Andreas J. Köstenberger asserts that Suetonius had confused the name "Chrestus" with "Christus" and that he thought "Jesus was alive and in Rome at the time of the expulsion." James D.G. Dunn says "ost infer that Suetonius misheard the name" 'Christus' (referring to Jesus as Christ) as 'Chrestus' and also misunderstood the report and assumed that the followers of someone called Chrestus were causing disturbances within the Jewish community based on his instigation. R.T. France says that the notion of a misspelling by Suetonius "can never be more than a guess, and the fact that Suetonius can elsewhere speak of 'Christians' as members of a new cult (without any reference to Jews) surely makes it rather unlikely that he could make such a mistake." The term Chrestus (which may have also been used by Tacitus) was common at the time, particularly for slaves, meaning good or useful. While Robert E. Van Voorst states that there is "near-unanimous" agreement among scholars that the use of Chrestus here refers to Christ, Edwin M. Yamauchi notes "A growing number of scholars, however, have accepted the argument that the "Chrestus" mentioned in Suetonius was simply a Jewish agitator with a common name, and that he had no association with Christianity." John Granger Cook finds that the identification of Chrestus with Christ unresolved. Amy-Jill Levine states that Suetonius may have dealt with "struggles between Jews who accepted the Christian proclamation and those who did not" or "the otherwise unknown 'Chrestus' could have been a local agitator."

Dunn thinks that the disturbances Suetonius refers to were likely caused by the objections of Jewish community to the continued preachings by early Christians. Köstenberger believes the expulsion of the Jews which Suetonius mentions is likely the same event mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles (18:2) which discusses how Apostle Paul met Priscilla and Aquila:

"And he found a certain Jew named Aquila, a man of Pontus by race, lately come from Italy, with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to depart from Rome."

Dunn states that the confusion he notes in Suetonius weakens the historical value of his reference as a whole. Scholars are divided on the value of the Suetonius reference. Some such as Craig A. Evans, John Meier and Craig S. Keener see it as a likely reference to Jesus Others such as Stephen Benko and H. Dixon Slingerland see it as having little or no historical value.

The passage suggests that in the mid-first century the Romans still viewed Christianity as a Jewish sect. Historians debate whether or not the Roman government distinguished between Christians and Jews prior to Nerva's modification of the Fiscus Judaicus in AD 96. From then on, practising Jews paid the tax, Christians did not.

Date of the expulsion

The dating of the "edict of Claudius" for the expulsion of Jews relies on three separate texts beyond Suetonius' own reference, which in chronological order of composition are: the reference to the trial of Apostle Paul by Gallio in the Acts of the Apostles (18:2), Cassius Dio's reference in History 60.6.6-7, and Paulus Orosius's fifth century mention in History 7.6.15-16 of a non-extant Josephus reference.

Rainer Riesner states that scholars generally agree that these references refer to the same event. Most scholars date this expulsion of some Jews from Rome to around AD 49-50.

Cassius Dio

It is difficult to date the Chrestus event for, as Dixon Slingerland notes, "Suetonius reports in a topical rather than chronological fashion", forcing scholars to look elsewhere for dating clues. One such place is a comment from Cassius Dio, 60.6.6-7, regarding an action early in the reign of Claudius:

As for the Jews, who had again increased so greatly that by reason of their multitude it would have been hard without raising a tumult to bar them from the city , he did not drive them out, but ordered them, while continuing their traditional mode of life, not to hold meetings.

The similarities are noteworthy, for both Suetonius and Cassius Dio deal with Jews, tumult, Claudius, the city and expulsion, and Cassius Dio does provide a chronological context that points to the year AD 41. However, Cassius Dio does not mention Chrestus or any cause for the emperor's actions, while he does say that Claudius did not drive the Jews out of the city. Slingerland concludes, "Suetonius Claudius 25.4 does not refer to the event narrated in Dio 60.6.6-7." The fact that Cassius Dio notes that Claudius did not expel the Jews argues against the relevance of the AD 41 date.

Orosius

The other date popular among scholars is the year AD 49, partly through a report from the 5th century Christian writer Paulus Orosius and also through scholarly efforts to construct a Pauline chronology using Acts 18:1-18. Here is Orosius citing two sources:

Josephus reports, "In his ninth year the Jews were expelled by Claudius from the city." But Suetonius, who speaks as follows, influences me more: "Claudius expelled from Rome the Jews constantly rioting at the instigation of Christ ." As far as whether he had commanded that the Jews rioting against Christ be restrained and checked or also had wanted the Christians, as persons of a cognate religion, to be expelled, it is not at all to be discerned

The first source used by Orosius, comes from a non-existent quote from Josephus. It is this which provides the date of AD 49. The second source is Suetonius Claudius 25.4 with "Chrestus" changed to "Christus", 'Christus, thus supplying a Christian twist by the change of an "e" into an "i."' Slingerland concludes that Orosius made up the Josephus passage for which no scholar has been able to discover a source, after showing the writer is guilty of manipulating source materials for polemic purposes.

Gallio

The dating related to Acts 18:1-8 is derived from the occurrence of two facts: first the mention of the proconsul Gallio in 18:12 and the existence of an inscription found at Delphi and published in 1905, preserving a letter from Claudius concerning Gallio dated during the 26th acclamation of Claudius, sometime between January 51 and August 52. Cassius Dio (60.25.6) states that some proconsuls were allowed "to govern for two years", so the limits between which Gallio could have governed were AD 49 and 54. He could have taken office "as early as May of 49 to as late as May of 52". Acts 18:11 says that Paul stayed in Corinth a year and six months, adding in 18:18 that he stayed yet many days, so he could have left Corinth "yet many days" after May of 49 to "yet many days" after April 54. Paul arrived 18 months before then, "sometime between 47 and 54", to stay with Aquila and Priscilla, Jews who Claudius had recently forced to leave Rome. If therefore, according to Slingerland, Acts 18:2 and Suet. Claudius 25.4 deal with the same event, that event occurred between late 47 and 54. However, Joseph Fitzmyer cites an inscription from Caria which reduces the time range for the 26th acclamation of Claudius to between 25 January 52 and 1 August 52. This would reduce Slingerland's calculation for the latest date by a year.

Most scholars agree that this expulsion of some Jews around AD 49-50 is consistent with the chronology of Paul and the time frame Suetonius refers to.

The Nero reference

In Nero 16 Suetonius lists various laws by Nero to maintain public order, including halting chariot races for the drivers were cheating and robbing and pantomime shows which frequently were scenes of brawls. Amongst these is punishment for Christians. He states:

"During his reign many abuses were severely punished and put down, and no fewer new laws were made: a limit was set to expenditures; the public banquets were confined to a distribution of food; the sale of any kind of cooked viands in the taverns was forbidden, with the exception of pulse and vegetables, whereas before every sort of dainty was exposed for sale. Punishment was inflicted on the Christians, a class of men given to a new and mischievous superstition. He put an end to the diversions of the chariot drivers, who from immunity of long standing claimed the right of ranging at large and amusing themselves by cheating and robbing the people. The pantomimic actors and their partisans were banished from the city."

K.R. Bradley notes that the verb in the clause "Punishment was inflicted on the Christians" (Latin: afflicti suppliciis christiani) should be corrected to "affecti", based first on the frequent use of this verb with the word for "punishment" and second on the fact that Orosius uses this verb in material dependent on the Suetonius Nero 16 passage. These words in combination indicate that the punishment was capital, eg Suet. Augustus 17.5 (death of young Antony), Claudius 26.2 (death of Messalina) and Galba 12.1 (death of officials).

In Roman usage, the word superstitio refers to any type of religious observance that could not be incorporated into traditional Roman religious practice.

The passage shows the clear contempt of Suetonius for Christians - the same contempt expressed by Tacitus and Pliny the younger in their writings. The punishment of Christians by Nero are generally dated to around AD 64.

Unlike Tacitus' reference to the persecution of Christians by Nero, Suetonius does not relate the persecution to the Great Fire of Rome.

See also

• Historicity of Jesus
• Historical Jesus
• Josephus on Jesus
• Lucian on Jesus
• Mara Bar-Serapion
• Pliny the Younger on Christians
• Tacitus on Christ

References

1. ^ Lives of the Caesars by Suetonius, Catharine Edwards 2001 ISBN 0192832719 pages 184 and 203
2. ^ Birth of Christianity by John Dominic Crossan 1999 ISBN 0567086682 page 3
3. Robert E. Van Voorst, Jesus outside the New Testament: an introduction to the ancient evidence, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2000. pp 29-30
4. ^ The Cradle, the Cross, and the Crown: An Introduction to the New Testament by Andreas J. Köstenberger, L. Scott Kellum 2009 ISBN 978-0-8054-4365-3 page 110
5. Robert E. Van Voorst, Jesus outside the New Testament: an introduction to the ancient evidence, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2000. pages 38-39
6. ^ Eddy, Paul; Boyd, Gregory (2007). The Jesus Legend: A Case for the Historical Reliability of the Synoptic Jesus Tradition. ISBN 0-8010-3114-1 pages 166
7. The Historical Jesus of the Gospels by Craig S. Keener 2012 ISBN 0802868886 page 66
8. ^ Encyclopedia of the Roman Empire by Matthew Bunson 1994 ISBN 081602135X page 111
9. C. Adrian Thomas, A Case for Mixed-Audience With Reference to the Warning Passages in the Book of Hebrews, Peter Lang Pub, 2008. p 116
10. Robert E. Van Voorst, Jesus outside the New Testament: an introduction to the ancient evidence, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2000. p 30-31
11. ^ Jesus Remembered by James D. G. Dunn 2003 ISBN 0-8028-3931-2 pages 141-143
12. R.T. France, The Evidence for Jesus, Hodder & Stoughton, 1986, p. 42.
13. R. T. France. The Evidence for Jesus. (2006). Regent College Publishing ISBN 1-57383-370-3. p. 42
14. ^ Robert E. Van Voorst, Jesus outside the New Testament: an introduction to the ancient evidence, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2000. pp 31-32
15. Edwin M. Yamauchi, "Jesus Outside the New Testament: What Is the Evidence?", in Jesus Under Fire, Michael J. Wilkins & J.P. Moreland (ed.), Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1995 ISBN: 0-310-21139-5, p.215
16. John Granger Cook, Roman Attitudes Toward the Christians: From Claudius to Hadrian, Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2010 ISBN 9783161505539, p.27.
17. Amy-Jill Levine, "Introduction" in The historical Jesus in context, A.J. Levine, Dale C. Allison, Jr., and John Dominic Crossan, editors, Princeton University Press, 2006 ISBN: 978-0691009926, p.22.
18. As translated by Molly Whittaker, Jews and Christians: Graeco-Roman Views, (Cambridge University Press, 1984), p. 105.
19. The Historical Jesus of the Gospels by Craig S. Keener 2012 ISBN 0802868886 page 66
20. Wylen, Stephen M., The Jews in the Time of Jesus: An Introduction, Paulist Press (1995), ISBN 0-8091-3610-4, Pp 190-192.; Dunn, James D.G., Jews and Christians: The Parting of the Ways, 70 to 135, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing (1999), ISBN 0-8028-4498-7, Pp 33-34.; Boatwright, Mary Taliaferro & Gargola, Daniel J & Talbert, Richard John Alexander, The Romans: From Village to Empire, Oxford University Press (2004), ISBN 0-19-511875-8, p. 426.;
21. St. Paul's Corinth: Texts and Archaeology by Jerome Murphy-O'Connor (Aug 1, 2002) ISBN 0814653030 page 152
22. Rainer Riesner "Pauline Chronology" in The Blackwell Companion to Paul by Stephen Westerholm (May 16, 2011) ISBN 1405188448 pages 13-14
23. ^ Christianity and the Roman Empire: background texts by Ralph Martin Novak 2001 ISBN 1-56338-347-0 pages 18-22
24. Slingerland, 'Suetonius "Claudius" 25.4 and the Account in Cassius Dio', JQR 79, 4, p.306
25. Slingerland, 'Suetonius "Claudius" 25.4 and the Account in Cassius Dio', JQR 79, 4, p.316
26. Slingerland, 'Suetonius "Claudius" 25.4 and the Account in Cassius Dio', JQR 79, 4, p.307
27. Slingerland, 'Suetonius "Claudius" 25.4 and the Account in Cassius Dio', JQR 79, 4, p.321-22
28. Historiarum adversum paganos libri VII 7.6.15-16, cited in Dixon Slingerland, 'Suetonius Claudius 25.4, Acts 18, and Paulus Orosius' "Historiarum Adversum Paganos Libri VII:" Dating the Claudian Expulsion(s) of Roman Jews', JQR 83, 1/2 (1992), p.137.
29. ^ Dixon Slingerland, 'Suetonius Claudius 25.4, Acts 18, and Paulus Orosius' "Historiarum Adversum Paganos Libri VII:" Dating the Claudian Expulsion(s) of Roman Jews', JQR 83, 1/2 (1992), p.137.
30. Dixon Slingerland, 'Suetonius Claudius 25.4, Acts 18, and Paulus Orosius' "Historiarum Adversum Paganos Libri VII:" Dating the Claudian Expulsion(s) of Roman Jews', JQR 83, 1/2 (1992), p.142.
31. Dixon Slingerland, 'Suetonius Claudius 25.4, Acts 18, and Paulus Orosius' "Historiarum Adversum Paganos Libri VII:" Dating the Claudian Expulsion(s) of Roman Jews', JQR 83, 1/2 (1992), p.139-141.
32. "The Gallio Inscription". Retrieved 2012-08-19.
33. John B. Polhill, Paul and His Letters, B&H Publishing Group, 1999, ISBN:9780805410976, p.78.
34. Dixon Slingerland, 'Acts 18:1-18, the Gallio Inscription, and Absolute Pauline Chronology', JBL 110, 3 (1991), p.446.
35. Dixon Slingerland, 'Acts 18:1-18, the Gallio Inscription, and Absolute Pauline Chronology', JBL 110, 3 (1991), p.447.
36. Dixon Slingerland, 'Acts 18:1-18, the Gallio Inscription, and Absolute Pauline Chronology', JBL 110, 3 (1991), p.448.
37. Dixon Slingerland, 'Acts 18:1-18, the Gallio Inscription, and Absolute Pauline Chronology', JBL 110, 3 (1991), p.449.
38. Dixon Slingerland, 'Suetonius Claudius 25.4, Acts 18, and Paulus Orosius' "Historiarum Adversum Paganos Libri VII:" Dating the Claudian Expulsion(s) of Roman Jews', JQR 83, 1/2 (1992), p.134.
39. Joseph A. Fitzmyer, First Corinthians, Yale University Press, 2007 ISBN:9780300140446, p.42.
40. Gregory E. Sterling. "Customs Which Are Not Lawful: The Social Apology of Luke-Acts". Leaven. Retrieved 2012-08-20. p.1. (pdf)
41. K. R. Bradley, "Suetonius, Nero 16.2: ‘afflicti suppliciis christian’", The Classical Review, 22, p.10.

Bibliography

• Barry Baldwin, Suetonius: Biographer of the Caesars. Amsterdam: A. M. Hakkert, 1983.

• Christianity under the Roman Empire
• Jesus and history