History books are dominated by men, and Church History books are no exception. You may have noticed that in my series based on Getting to Know the Church Fathers: An Evangelical Introduction by Bryan Litfin, so far it has all been men included, and starting in chapter 6, that trend resumes and continues through the book. But does that mean women had no impact on Christian history?
Perpetua was included by Litfin to introduce a female who had a role in church history. My opinion - I do not consider Perpetua a "church father" like most of the others in the book not because of gender but because to me the Church Fathers earned that role by influential writing. (I wouldn't list the famous martyr Polycarp one either, and there's a gentleman included later in Litfin's book who I also would not consider a church father.) However, her story is definitely influential.
We're in an era where we admire if not idolize independence and individualism. For example, in real life would a military officer keep his job if he showed the same adherence to regulations as Captain James T. Kirk of the Starship Enterprize did? This was not the world of the Roman empire. In those days, when a daughter was born, the father had the choice of accepting her into the family or leave her exposed to her death. Thus, an highborn accepted daughter was expected to be loyal and have absolute respect for her father and her clan.
Perpetua and several of her family - including her personal slave Felicity - became Christians. The one exception - Perpetua's father. When she was arrested, tried, and sentenced to death for her faith, her father begged her to renounce Christ for his sake as well as to spare her life. This was not accepted behavior by a daughter.
But Perpetua lived out Jesus' teaching "He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take up his cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me. He who seeks to find his life will lose it and he who loses his life for My sake will find it." (Matthew 10:37-39)
In a coming segment, I will deal with a Church Father who did not believe women should preach but they were allowed to sing. Perpetua was considered to be a Montanist, a segment of the church that gave a stronger role to women as well as being open to a continuance of the gifts like tongues and prophecy (Montanists referred to their movement as "the New Prophecy") and to a strict, almost legalistic, lifestyle. In its homeland of Phrygia, they wrote down their "prophecies" and equated it with the rest of Scripture.
When Montanism made its way to North Africa, where Perpetua lived, it kept its rigorism but was more compatible with orthodox Christianity. Tertullian, who shared Perpetua's hometown of Carthage, was considered by some to have converted to Montanism, and that would not be the case if they were off-base on the essentials of the faith. Litfin quotes a couple of prophecies given by Perpetua concerning her martyrdom.
What was so awful about being a Christian that they were thrown to the lions? One thing is they considered their King not to be Caesar, but Christ. Caesar was a rival king to the True Sovereign of the Universe. In addition, Romans were expected to offer incense to "the genius" - that is guardian spirit or divine power - of the Emperor. The Greek word for "genius" is "daimon" - what word does that remind you of? Yep, Perpetua and other Christians thought the same thing. Any way they would sacrifice to a demon?
Like Ignatius of Antioch and others Christian martyrs, Perpetua and Felicity and their fellow martyrs did not see themselves as victims or their deaths as a tragedy, but they considered themselves as victors over the wiles of the Devil and their deaths as an honor to their Ruler.
No comments:
Post a Comment