St. Justin Martyr—Dialogue with Trypho (excerpt)

By James T. Majewski ( bio - articles - email ) | Feb 11, 2020 | In Catholic Culture Audiobooks (Podcast)

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“I will prove to you, here and now, that we do not believe in groundless myths nor in teachings not based on reason, but in doctrines that are inspired by the Divine Spirit, abundant with power, and teeming with grace.”

St. Justin Martyr, born sometime between the years 100 and 110 AD, is generally considered the most important of the Greek apologists. Dialogue with Trypho, in fact, is the oldest extant Christian apology against Judaism—though Justin is perhaps better known for his Apologies directed toward Roman Emperors and Senators.

The details we know of his life are largely found in his own writings: in particular, these beginning chapters to his Dialogue with Trypho, wherein he recounts his conversion.

Born into a pagan family, Justin describes how, as a young man, he flitted from one school of philosophy to another. He finally landed among the Platonists, with whom he was mostly pleased for their notion of God. That is, until he met a mysterious old man who revealed to him Platonism’s insufficiency. It is this strange encounter that we’ll hear described for us today.

Mike Aquilina on St. Justin Martyr https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/justin-martyr-everything-good-is-ours/

Translation courtesy of Catholic University of America Press: https://verbum.com/product/46607/the-first-apology-the-second-apology-dialogue-with-trypho-exhortation-to-the-greeks-discourse-to-the-greeks-the-monarchy-of-the-rule-of-god

Alternate Translation at CatholicCulture.org: https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/fathers/view.cfm?recnum=1612

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