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It isn't anonymous. The primary authors of the original core of the Didache were Paul and Barnabus. They wrote it in the 40's A.D. and it is a version of the sample sermon that wound up securing the historic agreement noted in Acts 15.
Just a side note here regarding that practice of "exposing" unwanted infants to the elements, or leaving them at temples or church steps at night. Some died; some were found and nurtured, or made slaves. The ones saved by priestesses or nuns were sometimes given the surname "Esposito" (exposed) on their birth records; others came to be known by the name "Schiavo", which means "slave."
Just an observation for my Protestant brethren... what happened to Sola Scriptura? See 1 Tim 3:15.
Good post. But before you hang your hats on the various writings of the early church fathers, consider that John related Christ’s assessment of the early Churches in the first 3 chapters of Revelation. Even by 90 A.D. a LOT of heresy had crept into the churches. They were already pulling the stunts we pull today.
Also note that in the world around them, child sacrifice was incorporated into a lot of “accepted” religions. This practice would have been so repugnant that explicit instructions regarding abortion would have hardly been necessary.
Baptist ping
There was a plant which grew in north Africa that was an excellent abortifiacant. As it was unleathal to women who used it, and much in demand, eventually the plant became extinct.
Today we, including myself, see sexual intercourse and a resulting pregnancy as being a choice and therefore abortion is murder.
In the ancient world women were the property of men and had no choice option, such as “No”. One of the saddest archeological finds in Jerusalem was the skeletons of new born babies found in the sewers under ancient Roman-era brothels. The Christian belief that all life was sacred was indeed enlightened thinking, not just then but even now.
Excellent points ... even the pagans knew abortion was wrong ... the Oath of Hippocrates (yes, the Hippocratic Oath) has the lines ... “I will not give a woman a pessary to cause an abortion.”
Those poor early Christians really did not understand God as well as liberals in modern times.
For some rationalization aficionados, if they can't double-click on a black and white commandment to reveal more selfishly advantageous gray details, then they err on the side of personal convenience.
I love discussions/writings that dig deep whether for the purpose of upending assumptions or for revealing additional support leading from already concrete foundations.
So, I enjoyed the post.
But, I've gotta say that I find it difficult to believe any reasonable Christian, even when limited to strictly biblical text, could NOT be convinced that abortion is sin.
God names and speaks of knowing, communicating with and making future plans for unborn children - old testament and new. And, quite clearly, He is speaking of humans beings not non-viable tissue masses.
My favorite has to be in Luke. That is where the prophesied and promised (to his parents) John the Baptist was still what liberals would call a "choice", yet he excitedly acknowledges the presence of the recently conceived Jesus Christ while the newly pregnant Mary visits the six months showing Elisabeth.
Where would we be today if either of these fine women had succumbed to an evil thought and terminated what God so clearly considered identifiable individuals? Particularly, since one was actually His Son, I think God might not have approved the "choice".
The Father also actually "hated" Esau while he was yet in the womb, but He still did not drive Esau's mother to Planned (de)Parenthood so that she could concentrate on her career.
**in the first three centuries after Jesus all Christian authors who mentioned abortion considered it a grave sin. This opposition was not merely local: Christian sources in Spain, Italy, Tunisia, Greece, Egypt, Turkey and Syria recognized abortion as forbidden by God and in the same category as any other murder. The condemnation was universal and unanimous.**
If only this were really true today.
I just finished reading a series of books about life in Rome — novels by Francine Winters. One of the characters asks the Christian (not then revealed) slave to put the baby on the rocks to die.
Instead the slave girl takes him to a St. John’s community — yes, in Epesus.
Consider the Hebrew Bible, in which you are not even supposed to spill your seed on the ground.
FANTASTIC ARTICLE!!!!
Great article, thank you. I’ll likely cut some pieces out of this and send it off to some of my “social justice” leaning friends.
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