Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Chapter 1 Introduction
- Chapter 2 Brothers and sisters – ἀδελφοί
- Chapter 3 The believers
- Chapter 4 The saints – οἱ ἅγιοι
- Chapter 5 The assembly – ἡ ἐκκλησία
- Chapter 6 Disciples – μαθηταί
- Chapter 7 The Way – ἡ ὁδός
- Chapter 8 ‘Christian’ – Χριστιανός
- Chapter 9 Conclusions
- Bibliography
- Selected author index
- Subject index
- Index of texts
Chapter 8 - ‘Christian’ – Χριστιανός
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 December 2011
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Chapter 1 Introduction
- Chapter 2 Brothers and sisters – ἀδελφοί
- Chapter 3 The believers
- Chapter 4 The saints – οἱ ἅγιοι
- Chapter 5 The assembly – ἡ ἐκκλησία
- Chapter 6 Disciples – μαθηταί
- Chapter 7 The Way – ἡ ὁδός
- Chapter 8 ‘Christian’ – Χριστιανός
- Chapter 9 Conclusions
- Bibliography
- Selected author index
- Subject index
- Index of texts
Summary
The use of the designation in ‘christian’ texts
The term Χριστιανός is found three times in the NT. Acts 11:25–26 reads: ‘and it was in Antioch that the disciples were first called “Christians” (χρηματίσαι τε πρώτως ἐν Ἀντιοχείᾳ τοὺς μαθητὰς Χριστιανούς)’; Acts 26:28: ‘Agrippa said to Paul, “Are you so quickly persuading me to become a Christian (ἐν ὀλίγῳ με πείθεις Χριστιανὸν ποιῆσαι)?”’ And 1 Pet 4:16: ‘Yet if any of you suffers as a Christian (εἰ δὲ ὡς Χριστιανός), do not consider it a disgrace, but glorify God because you bear this name.’
Χριστιανός is also found in early ‘Christian’ writers. It is used five times by Ignatius, once in The Didache (Did. 12:4), four times in the Martyrdom of Polycarp (Mart. Pol. 3.2; 10.1; 12.1–2), and fourteen times in the Epistle to Diognetus (Diogn. 1:1; 2:6, 10; 4:6; 5:1; 6.1–9).
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- Self-designations and Group Identity in the New Testament , pp. 272 - 297Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2011