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Theophilus of Antioch, Theophilus to Autolycus
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Book I. Chapter I.—Autolycus an Idolater and Scorner of Christians.
Chapter II.—That the Eyes of the Soul Must Be Purged Ere God Can Be Seen.
Chapter IV.—Attributes of God.
Chapter V.—The Invisible God Perceived Through His Works.
Chapter VI.—God is Known by His Works.
Chapter VII.—We Shall See God When We Put on Immortality.
Chapter VIII.—Faith Required in All Matters.
Chapter IX.—Immoralities of the Gods.
Chapter X.—Absurdities of Idolatry.
Chapter XI.—The King to Be Honoured, God to Be Worshipped.
Chapter XII.—Meaning of the Name Christian.
Chapter XIII.—The Resurrection Proved by Examples.
Chapter XIV.—Theophilus an Example of Conversion.
Book II. Chapter I.—Occasion of Writing This Book.
Chapter II.—The Gods are Despised When They are Made But Become Valuable When Bought.
Chapter III.—What Has Become of the Gods?
Chapter IV.—Absurd Opinions of the Philosophers Concerning God.
Chapter V.—Opinions of Homer and Hesiod Concerning the Gods.
Chapter VI.—Hesiod on the Origin of the World.
Chapter VII.—Fabulous Heathen Genealogies.
Chapter VIII.— Opinions Concerning Providence.
Chapter IX.—The Prophets Inspired by the Holy Ghost.
Chapter X.—The World Created by God Through the Word.
Chapter XI.—The Six Days’ Work Described.
Chapter XII.—The Glory of the Six Days’ Work.
Chapter XIII.—Remarks on the Creation of the World.
Chapter XIV.—The World Compared to the Sea.
Chapter XV.—Of the Fourth Day.
Chapter XVI.—Of the Fifth Day.
Chapter XVII.—Of the Sixth Day.
Chapter XVIII.—The Creation of Man.
Chapter XIX.—Man is Placed in Paradise.
Chapter XX.—The Scriptural Account of Paradise.
Chapter XXI.—Of the Fall of Man.
Chapter XXII.—Why God is Said to Have Walked.
Chapter XXIII.—The Truth of the Account in Genesis.
Chapter XXIV.—The Beauty of Paradise.
Chapter XXV.—God Was Justified in Forbidding Man to Eat of the Tree of Knowledge.
Chapter XXVI.—God’s Goodness in Expelling Man from Paradise.
Chapter XXVII.—The Nature of Man.
Chapter XXVIII.—Why Eve Was Formed of Adam’s Rib.
Chapter XXX.—Cain’s Family and Their Inventions.
Chapter XXXI.—The History After the Flood.
Chapter XXXII.—How the Human Race Was Dispersed.
Chapter XXXIII.—Profane History Gives No Account of These Matters.
Chapter XXXIV.—The Prophets Enjoined Holiness of Life.
Chapter XXXV.—Precepts from the Prophetic Books.
Chapter XXXVI.—Prophecies of the Sibyl.
Chapter XXXVII.—The Testimonies of the Poets.
Theophilus to Autolycus. Chapter I.—Autolycus Not Yet Convinced.
Chapter II.—Profane Authors Had No Means of Knowing the Truth.
Chapter III.—Their Contradictions.
Chapter IV.—How Autolycus Had Been Misled by False Accusations Against the Christians.
Chapter V.—Philosophers Inculcate Cannibalism.
Chapter VI.—Other Opinions of the Philosophers.
Chapter VII.—Varying Doctrine Concerning the Gods.
Chapter VIII.—Wickedness Attributed to the Gods by Heathen Writers.
Chapter IX.—Christian Doctrine of God and His Law.
Chapter X.—Of Humanity to Strangers.
Chapter XII.—Of Righteousness.
Chapter XIV.—Of Loving Our Enemies.
Chapter XV.—The Innocence of the Christians Defended.
Chapter XVI.—Uncertain Conjectures of the Philosophers.
Chapter XVII.—Accurate Information of the Christians.
Chapter XVIII.—Errors of the Greeks About the Deluge.
Chapter XIX.—Accurate Account of the Deluge.
Chapter XX.—Antiquity of Moses.
Chapter XXI.—Of Manetho’s Inaccuracy.
Chapter XXII.—Antiquity of the Temple.
Chapter XXIII.—Prophets More Ancient Than Greek Writers.
Chapter XXIV.—Chronology from Adam.
Chapter XXV.—From Saul to the Captivity.
Chapter XXVI.—Contrast Between Hebrew and Greek Writings.
Chapter XXVII.—Roman Chronology to the Death of M. Aurelius.
Chapter XXVIII.—Leading Chronological Epochs.
And about your laughing at me and calling me “Christian,” you know not what you are saying. First, because that which is anointed17 “The argumentation of this chapter depends on the literal meaning which Theophilus attaches to Christos, the Anointed One; and he plays on this meaning, and also on the similarity of pronunciation between χρηστός, ‘useful,’ and χριστός , ‘anointed.’”—Donaldson. is sweet and serviceable, and far from contemptible. For what ship can be serviceable and seaworthy, unless it be first caulked [anointed]? Or what castle or house is beautiful and serviceable when it has not been anointed? And what man, when he enters into this life or into the gymnasium, is not anointed with oil? And what work has either ornament or beauty unless it be anointed and burnished? Then the air and all that is under heaven is in a certain sort anointed by light and spirit; and are you unwilling to be anointed with the oil of God? Wherefore we are called Christians on this account, because we are anointed with the oil of God.18 [Not material oil probably, for it is not mentioned in such Scriptures as Acts viii. 17, xix. 6, Heb. vi. 2; but the anointing (1 John ii. 20) of the Holy Ghost. As a symbol, oil was used at an early period, however; and the Latins are not slow to press this in favour of material oil in the chrism, or confirmation.]
Περὶ δὲ τοῦ σε καταγελᾶν μου, καλοῦντά με χριστιανόν, οὐκ οἶδας ὃ λέγεις. πρῶτον μὲν ὅτι τὸ χριστὸν ἡδὺ καὶ εὔχρηστον καὶ ἀκαταγέλαστόν ἐστιν. ποῖον γὰρ πλοῖον δύναται εὔχρηστον εἶναι καὶ σώζεσθαι, ἐὰν μὴ πρῶτον χρισθῇ; ἢ ποῖος πύργος ἢ οἰκία εὔμορφος καὶ εὔχρηστός ἐστιν, ἐπὰν οὐ κέχρισται; τίς δὲ ἄνθρωπος εἰσελθὼν εἰς τόνδε τὸν βίον ἢ ἀθλῶν οὐ χρίεται ἐλαίῳ; ποῖον δὲ ἔργον ἢ κόσμιον δύναται εὐμορφίαν ἔχειν, ἐὰν μὴ χρισθῇ καὶ στιλβωθῇ; εἶτα ἀὴρ μὲν καὶ πᾶσα ἡ ὑπ' οὐρανὸν τρόπῳ τινὶ χρίεται φωτὶ καὶ πνεύματι. σὺ δὲ οὐ βούλει χρισθῆναι ἔλαιον θεοῦ; τοιγαροῦν ἡμεῖς τούτου εἵνεκεν καλούμεθα χριστιανοὶ ὅτι χριόμεθα ἔλαιον θεοῦ.