Roman Virtue in the Early Christian Thought of Lactantius

Known since the Renaissance as the ＂Christian Cicero,＂ Lucius Caecilius Firmianus Lactantius was a professor of Latin rhetoric, Christian apologist, and theologian at the court of Emperor Constantine. In this historical study, Jason M. Gehrke examines the central notion ofÂvirtusÂin Lactantius’s major work, ÂThe Divine Institutes of the Christian Religion.

This book begins by tracing the reception of classical Roman political and philosophical arguments about divineÂvirtusÂfrom their classical sources into the apologetic, exegetical, and doctrinal writings of Lactantius’s predecessors -- Tertullian, Minucius Felix, and Cyprian. Recognition of their influence illuminates the fundamental notion ofÂvirtusÂthat animates Lactantius’s doctrine of God and his Christology. In this context, Lactantius’s account of divineÂvirtusÂrevealed in Christ indicates the profound influence of classical Roman literature, philosophy, and politics upon the development of Christian thought in the third-century Latin West.

Lactantius’s Christology provides the immediate basis for his attempt to correct and reform classical Roman thinking about moral and political order. Gehrke thus examines Lactantius’s arguments about wealth, sexuality, and warfare to show their intimate connection to his Christology and scriptural exegesis. In this account, Gehrke argues, Lactantius attempts a comprehensive synthesis of third century Latin Christian thinking about Christ’s revelation and its implications for ethics and politics.

Roman Virtue in the Early Christian Thought of LactantiusÂthus presentsÂTheÂDivine InstitutesÂas the first programmatic expression of early Latin Christian political theology in the Constantinian era. By attending to the traditional character of his arguments, this work provides a new basis for historical accounts of Lactantius and his contributions to Christianity in the pivotal era of Constantine’s rise.

Foreword by Anthony Briggman.

Jason M. Gehrke is Assistant Professor of History at Hillsdale College, where he teaches courses in the intellectual, religious, and military history of the Roman Empire. He holds a PhD from Marquette University, where he studied the history of ancient Christianity in the Roman world.