In this session we witness the paradox of power and weakness—an empire flexing its might, a restless scholar inching toward truth, and a theologian clarifying the mystery of God’s own being. In John Foxe’s Foxe’s Book of Martyrs (Chapter 2.3), the fourth persecution under Marcus Aurelius (A.D. 162) reveals cruelty at its most refined—Polycarp standing immovable in the flames, Blandina strengthening a fifteen-year-old boy as she herself endures repeated torture, Justin the philosopher exchanging Plato for Christ and ultimately his life for the gospel. Yet the blood of the martyrs shines brighter than imperial wrath. In Augustine’s Confessions (Book 5, Chapter 13, Section 23), we see a different kind of battlefield: Augustine arrives in Milan to teach rhetoric, still proud, still skeptical, listen ...