{"id":1964,"date":"2012-07-28T09:30:05","date_gmt":"2012-07-28T13:30:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/activistfaith\/?p=1964"},"modified":"2012-07-27T09:30:59","modified_gmt":"2012-07-27T13:30:59","slug":"the-pro-life-issue-in-early-christianity-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/activistfaith\/2012\/07\/the-pro-life-issue-in-early-christianity-3.html","title":{"rendered":"The Pro-Life Issue in Early Christianity"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I posted this on Facebook the other day and had some interesting dialogue. I&#8217;m sharing it here both for shared insights and comments you may have. At the least, it is clear that even early Christians had strong convictions about the unborn and people (at all stages of life) being created in God&#8217;s image. Enjoy!<\/p>\n<p>From the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.esvstudybible.org\/\">ESV Study Bible<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Extrabiblical Jewish Literature<\/p>\n<p>The noncanonical Jewish wisdom literature further clarifies first-century Judaism&#8217;s view of abortion. For example, the <cite>Sentences of Pseudo-Phocylides<\/cite> 184-186 (c. 50 B.C.-A.D.<br \/>\n50) says that &#8220;a woman should not destroy the unborn in her belly, nor<br \/>\nafter its birth throw it before the dogs and vultures as a prey.&#8221;<br \/>\nIncluded among those who do evil in the apocalyptic <cite>Sibylline Oracles<\/cite> were women who &#8220;aborted what they carried in the womb&#8221; (2.281-282). Similarly, the apocryphal book <cite>1 Enoch<\/cite> (2nd or 1st century B.C.)<br \/>\ndeclares that an evil angel taught humans how to &#8220;smash the embryo in<br \/>\nthe womb&#8221; (69.12). Finally, the first-century Jewish historian Josephus<br \/>\nwrote that &#8220;<em>the law<\/em> orders all the offspring to be brought up, and forbids women either to cause abortion or to make away with the fetus&#8221; (<cite>Against Apion<\/cite> 2.202).<\/p>\n<p>Contrast these injunctions with the barbarism of Roman culture. Cicero (106-43 B.C.) records that according to the Twelve Tables of Roman Law, &#8220;deformed infants shall be killed&#8221; (<cite>De Legibus<\/cite> 3.8). Plutarch (c. a.d.<br \/>\n46-120) spoke of those who he said &#8220;offered up their own children, and<br \/>\nthose who had no children would buy little ones from poor people and cut<br \/>\ntheir throats as if they were so many lambs or young birds; meanwhile<br \/>\nthe mother stood by without a tear or moan&#8221; (<cite>Moralia<\/cite> 2.171D).<\/p>\n<p>Early Christian Literature<\/p>\n<p>Against the bleak backdrop of Roman culture, the Hebrew &#8220;sanctity of<br \/>\nhuman life&#8221; ethic provided the moral framework for early Christian<br \/>\ncondemnation of abortion and infanticide. For instance, the <cite>Didache<\/cite> 2.2 (c. A.D.<br \/>\n85-110) commands, &#8220;thou shalt not murder a child by abortion nor kill<br \/>\nthem when born.&#8221; Another noncanonical early Christian text, the <cite>Letter of Barnabas<\/cite> 19.5 (c. A.D.<br \/>\n130), said: &#8220;You shall not abort a child nor, again, commit<br \/>\ninfanticide.&#8221; There are numerous other examples of Christian<br \/>\ncondemnation of both infanticide and abortion. In fact, some biblical<br \/>\nscholars have argued that the silence of the NT on abortion per se is<br \/>\ndue to the fact that it was simply assumed to be beyond the pale of<br \/>\nearly Christian practice. Nevertheless, Luke (a physician) points to<br \/>\nfetal personhood when he observes that the unborn John the Baptist<br \/>\n&#8220;leaped for joy&#8221; in his mother&#8217;s womb when Elizabeth came into the<br \/>\npresence of Mary, who was pregnant with Jesus at the time (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.esvstudybible.org\/search?q=Luke+1%3A44\" target=\"_top\">Luke 1:44<\/a>).<\/p>\n<p>More than merely condemning abortion and infanticide, however, early<br \/>\nChristians provided alternatives by rescuing and adopting children who<br \/>\nwere abandoned. For instance, Callistus (d. c. A.D.<br \/>\n223) provided refuge to abandoned children by placing them in Christian<br \/>\nhomes, and Benignus of Dijon (3rd century) offered nourishment and<br \/>\nprotection to abandoned children, including some with disabilities<br \/>\ncaused by unsuccessful abortions.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I posted this on Facebook the other day and had some interesting dialogue. I&#8217;m sharing it here both for shared insights and comments you may have. At the least, it is clear that even early Christians had strong convictions about the unborn and people (at all stages of life) being created in God&#8217;s image. Enjoy!&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":230,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,7,5,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1964","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-activism","category-christianity","category-church-in-action","category-dignity-of-life"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The Pro-Life Issue in Early Christianity - Activist Faith<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/activistfaith\/2012\/07\/the-pro-life-issue-in-early-christianity-3.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Pro-Life Issue in Early Christianity - Activist Faith\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I posted this on Facebook the other day and had some interesting dialogue. 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I&#8217;m sharing it here both for shared insights and comments you may have. At the least, it is clear that even early Christians had strong convictions about the unborn and people (at all stages of life) being created in God&#8217;s image. 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Dillon served in Haiti following the epic 2010 earthquake and has investigated modern slavery in the US and internationally. His books include \"Undefending Christianity,\" \"Not in My Town\" (with Charles J. Powell), and \"Thirst No More\" (October 2011). 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