Early Christian Reception of Epicureanism

Didactic and Psychagogic Resonances

Bibliographic Data

ID21539408
AuthorsMarc Mastrangelo (Dickinson College, corresponding author)
Year2025
Volume50
Issue2
Pages276-301
Publication date2025-10-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueIllinois Classical Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0363-1923 • E-ISSN: 2328-5265
PublisherUniversity of Illinois Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.5406/23285265.50.2.06
OpenAlexW7124147472
LanguageEN
References cited20

This paper begins with a brief survey of modern scholarly approaches to the early Christian, patristic reception of Epicureanism. Having established this context of reception, I argue that early Christian poets mirror the didacticism and psychagogy seen in the Epicurean poetic tradition as established by Epicurus, Philodemus, Lucretius, and Horace. Unlike previous studies of early Christian reception of Epicureanism (Rapisarda [1951], Jungkuntz [1962], and Erler [2024]), my argument highlights early Christian poetry as the literature of reception that affirmatively adapts specific aspects of Epicurean tradition, which harmonizes the traditional opposition between poetry and philosophy/doctrine

Didacticism · Early Christianity · Epicureanism · Patristics · Poetry · Classical Philosophy and Thought · Historical, Religious, and Philosophical Studies · Religious Studies and Spiritual Practices

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