Ignatius of Antioch: A Martyr Bishop and the Origin of Episcopacy

by Allen Brent

Ignatius of Antioch (died c. 115) is one of the Apostolic Fathers of the Christian Church. In his letters to other churches he re-interpreted church order, the Eucharist and martyrdom against the backcloth of the Second Sophistic in Asia minor by using the cultural material of a pagan society. He so formed  the idea and theology of the office of a bishop in the Christian church.  This book is an account of the circumstances and the cultural context in which Ignatius constructed what became the historic church order of Christendom.

Allen Brent defends the authenticity of the Ignatian letters by showing how the circumstances of Ignatius' condemnation at Antioch and departure for Rome fits well with what we can reconstruct of the internal situation in the Church of Antioch in Syria at the end of the first century. Ignatius is presented as a controversial figure arising in the context of a church at war with itself. Ignatius constructs out of the conflicting models of church order available to him one founded on a single bishop that he commends to Christian communities through which he passes in chains as a condemned martyr prisoner.

Genres: History

192 pages, Paperback

First published June 23, 2007

About the author

Allen Brent is a Professor of Early Christian History and Literature, currently at University of London, King's College. His work explores the interface between Early Christianity and Classical Culture, with particular emphasis on non literary iconographical and epigraphic sources that illuminate the literary evidence.
Born in the East End of London during the Second World War, following education at an East End London Grammar School and evening classes, he studied at Emmanuel College Cambridge, and subsequently at the Universities of London and Leeds. His DD, awarded for examination of the corpus of his published works, he received in 1998 from the University of Cambridge

Reviews

[Aid · Rating 3 out of 5]

Brent gave a solid defence of the authenticity of the Ignatian Epistles, his theory on the development of the episcopacy was interesting, albeit pretty speculative, and overall I enjoyed the book.

Would recommend to anyone looking for a simple introduction to St. Igatnius.

[Drake Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

Allen Brent presents a top introductory work to one of the most important second century Christians. His book examines the recensions of Ignatius' letters, his opponents, the date of his writing, his martyrdom procession, his relation to Polycarp, and recent attacks on the authenticity of the letters. The articles are succinct and address most of the recent issues within Ignatius' writing.

Some issues in Ignatian scholarship have advanced since the time of Brent's writing. This includes the understanding of Ignatius' opponents and the use of Scripture and the New Testament in Ignatius' letters. If one is wanting to do further research on Ignatius, the student will want to be aware of the date of Brent's book. As an entry point to Ignatius' letters, this is the best spot to begin.

[Jon · Rating 3 out of 5]

This study of one of the early "bishops" of Antioch, one who wrote seven letters that are preserved for us and that were written on an extended journey across Asia Minor to the Italian peninsula on his way to be martyred by being fed to wild beasts in the Colosseum in Rome. The story may seem a bit farfetched (Why an overland trip? Would he really be free to talk and write so much?), but Brent discusses in large part what the circumstances were that caused the situation and why just such a thing was possible in the second century. With regard to being able to write and visit on his journey or even being sacrificed in Rome, Brent brings out various accounts that predated or only shortly postdated Ignatius's experience. Cicero, for example, a century earlier, makes note of prisoners being transported to Rome for gladiatorial games. Lucian and Samosota wrote a satire that closely mimics the Ignatian experience of people visiting a traveling prisoner--and some laws make mention of attempts to curtail such free and easy access, showing that a bribe certainly helped to make such visits possible and that laws had to be written to try to prevent just such occurrences.

Why Ignatius would have traveled all the way to Rome is another question that Brent addresses. He sees it as a case where putting Ignatius to death in Antioch would have created too much of a stir. Sending him away, thus, avoids the potential for more violence and fighting. What would Ignatius have done that would have created such stir? Brent makes the case that the strife was all internal to the Christian faith--namely, how to run the church. Ignatius was a proponent of a one-bishop-rule system. By placing himself in the fray and refusing any attempts at pardon, he made a martyr of himself in order to bring unity to the church in the city. Guilt-riddled, men might see what he was willing to do and change their ways accordingly. (I'm not sure I quite believe this, but Brent makes a decent case using cryptic comments from the letters).

Ignatius's main arguments for a bishop, slated next to a council of presbyters and a set of deacons, is drawn, Brent argues, largely from pagan mystery religion and Grecian city-state political systems under Roman oversight. The metaphorical counterpart in Christianity is the Eucharist, in which authority sits in a U-shape. The bishop stands in for God the Father, the presbyters as god's council (a type of the apostolic council), and the deacons as types of Christ, who take the bread and wine into the congregation. Ignatius, in his journey to Rome, takes on a procession like that made within the mystery religions, in which again he stands in for God and his various greeters as stand-ins for the gods, all in an effort to bring unity to the church (as such a procession would bring unity to the state), with the sacrifice to follow at the end. Various quotes from the letters seem to somewhat back up this claim. Indeed, even if Ignatius was not modeling his argument on pagan rites, as Brent seems to be arguing, he likely was at least applying similar terms to make his point, even as the New Testament writers use traditions such as Roman athletic events to make their points.

Ignatius's letters, some thirteen or so in number, are accepted or rejected a spurious by various critics. Six are rejected by almost all, but the other seven are more so accepted. It is these seven that Brent devotes his time examining, and these seven that he argues actually are legitimate. One chapter is given over to countering the arguments of some more-recent scholars who reject some or all of the letters. Another chapter is devoted to how Polycarp's letter fits in with the Ignatian letters. Polycarp's one surviving letter is largely seen as authentic, but some scholars see the mention of Ignatius in it as a forger's interpolation. Brent seems pretty convincing in noting that probably the main reason we even have Ignatius's letters is that Polycarp gathered them, even as his letter makes mention of doing.

Brent also addresses why Polycarp would save such letters if they maintain a position in which pagan ideas are used to justify a version of church government. He sees the link here largely as both Ignatius's and Polycarp's fight against Docetism, the martyrdom of Ignatius being perhaps one of the greatest arguments against the doctrine.

[Sujit Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Allen Brent, the leading scholar of St. Ignatius of Antioch has written a short introductory work about the second century bishop. Brent's work is a must read for any serious student of Ignatius or second century Christianity. While Brent presents his work as a text accessible for "general historians and students of theology, including undergraduates and first-year higher degree students studying early Christian life and thought", I believe this book is suited for a graduate level audience. The nuances of patristic critical thought provided by Brent will most likely escape the undergraduate level student.
Brent touches on the critical issues in Ignatian scholarship such as authorship, authenticity of middle recension, vision of clerical order, etc.

[Amy Hughes · Rating 3 out of 5]

A solid introduction to the storied history of the authentication process of Ignatius's letters as well as to the letters themselves and their reception. There is precious little to go on about the bishop of Antioch himself in and outside of his seven genuine letters written while on the road to his martyrdom in Rome but Brent works to fill in some of those gaps. Some of his postulations are more plausible than others but they are all worth consideration to help us think around the margins of Ignatius's letters.