Essays on the work entitled "Supernatural Religion"

by J. B. Lightfoot

The date of Tatian is a matter of some uncertainty. He was a hearer, as we have seen, of Justin Martyr in Rome; and if the chronology of this father had been established beyond the reach of doubt, we should be treading on firm ground. On this point however there has been much variety of opinion. The prevailing view is, or was, in favour of placing Justin's death as late as A.D. 163-165, on the authority of Eusebius; but the most careful investigations of recent criticism have tended towards a much earlier date [274:1]. The literary activity of Tatian seems to have begun about the time of Justin Martyr's death; and after this we have to allow for his own career, first as an orthodox Christian, and then as a heretic. When Irenæus wrote his first book, Tatian was no longer living, as may be inferred from the language of this father [274:2]: and this book must have been written before A.D. 190, and may have 'been written as early as A.D. 178 [274:3]. Again, if we may assume that the 'Assyrian,' whom the Alexandrian Clement mentions among his teachers [274:4], was Tatian, as seems highly probable, we have another indication of date. The first book of the Stromateis, in which this fact is recorded, was itself written about A.D. 194 or 195; and Clement there speaks of the Assyrian as one of his earlier masters, whom he had met with in the East, before he settled down under the tuition of Pantænus at Alexandria. In like manner Tatian's connection with Rhodon would point roughly to the same conclusion. On the whole, we shall perhaps not be far wrong if we place the literary activity of Tatian at about A.D. 155-170. It may have begun some few years earlier, or it may have extended some few years later.

Tatian was a voluminous writer; but of several writings mentioned by the ancients only one has come down to us, his Apology or Address to the Greeks. It was written after the death of Justin, but apparently not very long after. At all events it would seem to have been composed before he had separated from the Church and set himself up as a heretical teacher. Its date therefore is dependent on the uncertain chronology of Justin. The author of Supernatural Religion speaks of it as 'generally dated between A.D. 170-175,' and seems himself to acquiesce in this view. Though I think this date probably several years too late, the point is not worth contending for.

As a rule, the early Apologies abstain from quotations, whether from the Old Testament or from the New. The writers are dealing with Gentiles, who have no acquaintance with and attribute no authority to their sacred books, and therefore they make little or no use of them [275:1]. Thus the Apologeticus of Tertullian does not contain a single passage from the New Testament, though his writings addressed to Christians teem with quotations from our Canonical books. Hence it is not in this extant work that we should expect to obtain information as to Tatian's Canon of the Scriptures. Any allusion to them will be purely incidental. As regards our Synoptical Gospels, the indications in Tatian's Apology are not such that we can lay much stress on them. But the evidence that he knew and accepted the Fourth Gospel is beyond the reach of any reasonable doubt.

The passages are here placed side by side:—

TATIAN. | ST JOHN. | 'God is a Spirit' ([Greek: pneuma ho | 'God is a Spirit' ([Greek: pneuma Theos]), § 4. | ho Theos]), iv. 24. | 'And this then is the saying | 'And the light shineth in the ([Greek: to eirêmenon]); The | darkness, and the darkness darkness comprehendeth not the light'| comprehended it not' ([Greek: hê skotia to phôs ou | ([Greek: kai hê skotia auto ou katalambanei]), § 13. | katelaben]), i. 5. | 'Follow ye the only God. All things |'All things were made through have been made by Him, and apart | Him, and apart from Him was from Him hath been made no one thing'| made no one thing' ([Greek: panta ([Greek: panta hup' autou kai chôris | di' autou egeneto kai chôris autou gegonen oude hen]), § 19. | autou egeneteo oude hen]), i. 3.

In the last passage from St John I have stopped at the words [Greek: oude hen], because the earliest Christian writers universally punctuated in this way, taking [Greek: ho gegonen k.t.l.] with the following sentence, 'That which hath been made was life in Him.'

Besides these passages there are other coincidences of exposition, with which however I need not trouble the reader, as they may fairly be disputed.

It is difficult to see how any one can resist coincidences like these; and yet the author of Supernatural Religion does resist them.

The first passage our author has apparently overlooked, for he says nothing about it. If it had stood alone I should certainly not have regarded it as decisive. But the epigrammatic form is remarkable, and it is a characteristic passage of the Fourth Gospel.

Of the second passage it should be noticed that Tatian introduces it with the expression ([Greek: to eirêmenon]), which is used in the New Testament in quoting the Scriptures (Luke ii. 24, Acts ii. 16, xiii. 40, Rom. iv. 18); that in the context he explains 'the Word' (Logos) to be 'the light of God,' and 'the darkness' to be 'the unintelligent soul;' that this use of [Greek: katalambanein] is very peculiar, and has caused perplexity to interpreters of St John, being translated variously 'comprehended' or 'surprised' or 'overcame;' that the passage in the Fourth Gospel here again is highly characteristic, and occurs in its most characteristic part; and lastly, that the changes made by Tatian are just such as a writer would make when desiring to divest the saying of its context and present it in the briefest form. On the other hand, the author of Supernatural Religion has nothing to allege against this coincidence; he can produce nothing like it elsewhere; but he falls back on 'the constant use of the same similitude of light and darkness,' and other arguments of the kind, which are valueless because they do not touch the point of the resemblance.