A brief defense can reveal an entire world. In this introduction to Justin Martyr’s Second Apology, we step into a moment when Christians were not merely misunderstood but condemned simply for bearing the name of Christ. Justin writes in response to a real injustice—the execution of believers without proof of any crime—and he does so not as a man retreating from public life, but as a Christian philosopher pressing Rome to live up to its own claims of justice and reason. This introduction sets the stage for that shorter, sharper apology by showing who Justin was, when he wrote, why he wrote, and why this second defense matters alongside the first: it gives us a close look at the legal vulnerability, intellectual confidence, and moral courage of the early Church in the middle of the 2nd century.

Readings:

Justin Martyr — Se ...