Die christlichen Apologeten des 2. Jahrhunderts und ihr Verhältnis zur antiken Philosophie – Justin und Tertullian als Exponenten unterschiedlicher Grundorientierungen?

Traditionally, between Justin's and Tertullian's relation towards ancient philosophy, a fundamental contrast has been drawn by scholars – openness towards philosophy on the one hand, sharp rejection of it on the other. Against this view, this article argues that, while those positions certainly represent the two poles of the early Christian apologists' relations towards philosophy, there are remarkable parallels between Justin and Tertullian to be found: Justin also sharply criticised ancient intellectuality, except for philosophy, because this term, for him, had a positive meaning; Tertullian could also pick up philosophical theorems, and he went so far as to justify, in his writing De pallio , why he was wearing the philosopher's cloak – as Justin did; for both of them, the philosophers' partial insight into truth derived from god, and both aimed at presenting Christian doctrine as better philosophy. Early Christian schools like Justin's one – paralleled by contemporary philosophers' schools – would have been the ideal discoursive context for the apologists' writings.