초기 기독교와 도덕

Abstract

Christian researchers have regarded the moral life as the main feature of early Christians. This paper studied the reasons and meanings of moral life of the early Christians. The Jewish law consisted of religious and moral rules. It is generally said that early Christianity was born as a new religion, abolishing the Jewish law. However, the apostle Paul proposed a new law that abolished the part related to rituals and strengthened the part related to morality. He called the new law ‘the law of Christ’. Early Christianity became very unusual in the ancient world as the early Christianity abandoned religious laws. All ancient religions had many rules related to religious duties for believers. However, early Christianity had very few regulations dealing with religious obligations. The fact that the early Christianity particularly emphasized the morality of early Christianity is confirmed in the literature of Christians. The apologists argued that Christians were moralists. In addition, the Apostolic Tradition of Hippolytus of Rome, which shows the operation of the third-century Roman church, regulated that the believers should live a moral life. Roman intellectuals also said that it was an important feature for Christians to live morally. This fact is confirmed in the writings of Plinius and Galenos. The early Christianity''s emphasis on morality was one of the important features of early Christian identity. (Kunsan National University/gmjung@kunsan.ac.kr)