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His most important work is the Institutiones Divinae ("The Divine Institutes"), an apologetic treatise intended to establish the reasonableness and truth of Christianity to pagan critics. He is best known for his apologetic works, widely read during the Renaissance by humanists, who called Lactantius the
Mar 20, 2024 · Lactantius was a Christian apologist and one of the most reprinted of the Latin Church Fathers, whose Divinae institutiones (“Divine Precepts”), a classically styled philosophical refutation of early-4th-century anti-Christian tracts, was the first systematic Latin account of the Christian attitude.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Although Lactantius adds a number of further arguments to this initial claim, it remains the most important to his criticism of his opponents. Lactantius’ statements about the dependence of religion on God’s anger, on the one hand, and humans’ fear of God, on the other hand, here also help to explain the material that he discusses in the ...
Nov 26, 2019 · There, in 303 the author faced the beginning of the Diocletianic persecution. The injustice he believed was being done to the Christians is of utmost importance for Lactantius. In order to become the champion of the oppressed, he resolved to defend and explain the Christian faith.
In pursuing his goal, the union of true religion and true wisdom, possible only in Christianity, he makes little use of Scripture but relies on pagan prophets, such as the sibylline oracles and Hermes Trismegistus. His quotations of Scripture depend largely on Cyprian's Testimonia.
Jan 6, 2024 · Lactantius: Divine Institutes by Anthony Bowen et al. riposte to pagan criticism and persecution of Christianity, which came to a head in the 'Great' Persecution of Diocletian in the early fourth century AD. Online available.
May 21, 2015 · Lactantius is the first writer in the Christian tradition to argue, as he does in this work, that killing oneself is worse than killing another person, a view that gains considerable currency in later Christian thought. The dates of Lactantius’ life are not known. Estimates of his lifespan generally range between the years 240 and 330. Sources.
