Early Christianity and Greek Comic Poetry

Abstract

THE oldest Christian quotation from a Greek poet occurs in Paul's first letter to the Corinthians, where we find a line from Menander which had probably become proverbial. Another quotation is to be found in an address he is said to have delivered at Athens, but it may come from Luke rather than from his mentor; we cannot be sure. A third quotation appears in the letter to Titus. Such quotations, not very frequent, show us that the earliest Christians, or at any rate some of them, shared in the common culture of their day and regarded Greek poets as having a considerable measure of insight into the human situation. The quotation from Menander is introduced with the words, Make no mistake, a phrase which elsewhere precedes a statement based on the Christian view of the kingdom of God (I Cor. 6:9). That in Titus is followed by the comment, This evidence is true. In dealing with the relation between early Christianity and Greek paideia we must therefore begin with Christian quotations from the poets, and especially the comic poets. These poets were congenial to Christians because of their many common concerns. They avoided mythological themes except in order to ridicule them; they used everyday speech; they were concerned with human problems and moral questions, and some of their moral aphorisms had become proverbial. Occasionally they ventured into what Christians regarded as theology, and at such points their views were not unlike those held by Christians. Though Christians bitterly attacked the teaching of Epicurus, they were glad enough to use the plays of Menander, Epicurus' fellow student at Athens; and an acute critic like Lucian could recognize resemblances between Christian and Epicurean attitudes toward the gods and toward superstition.1