The Collision: Why Christianity struggled to turn people from Epicureanism

The ideals of Christianity collide with those of Epicurus. Early Christianity was focused on pain. Pain reflecting that endured by Jesus, pain representing man’s dedication to god. Christianity used the threat of eternal damnation in order to sway people to support and abide by Christian ideals. Epicurus’ belief in the atomistic world directly conflicted with many components of Christianity. Epicureanism focuses on living in the now, with a definite way of looking towards the future. He argues that humans ought not to fear death because pain and suffering is brief and ultimately humans ought to seek pleasure “happiness, resulting from absence of physical pain and mental disturbance” (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy). As opposed to Christians who believe that pain and suffering are the means to a beneficial end. The impact is that Christianity has no appeal if the afterlife does not exist and Epicureanism calls into question its existence. Also the benefits of epicureanism are definite and immediate while the benefits of Christianity are long term and uncertain. Further research indicates and conquers with Greenblatt in that early Christians attempted to combat Epicureanism by making it appear foolish,  ultimately putting the Christian faith on the other side of human rationality and desire.

 http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/epicurus/

http://www.epicurus.net/en/history.html#D

Did Christianity Cause the Dark Ages?

     In chapter 4 of The Swerve, Greenblatt describes a violent persecution of classical knowledge and the destruction of any text with pagan affiliations. Most famously, Christians supposedly burned part of the Great Library in Alexandria, threw out the books, and made the surviving buildings into a church. Christians, Greenblatt also claims,  purposefully made themselves illiterate in order to demonstrate their faith and purity. This caused a decline in manuscript copying, the extinction of thousands of works, and eventually, the dark ages. Veritable knowledge of science and mathematics, as well as huge amount of invaluable art and literature, were lost forever.
     I was suprised to find then, that there is in fact considerable disagreement over all of these claims; one internet writer (http://jameshannam.com/literature.htm) flatly denies the burning at Alexandria, and claims that there was no suppression of pagan writings. Instead, the author writes, persecution was only used to control falsehood and fake science. Another writer (http://christianthinktank.com/qburnbx.html) establishes that Christian leadership actually took great pains to preserve classical writing, but fails to explain its near-extinction. Can these claims be dismissed out of hand as internet quacks purposefully overlooking data to make a point, or religious zealots refusing to see fact? Are they valid when compared to the harsh criticism of respected scholars like Greenblatt? I believe that history may never know the full truth of this period, with so much lost to "the teeth of time", and that this will remain a hotly debated issue for a long time to come.

The Roman Church, another possibility for the destruction of ancient works?

            In Stephen Greenblatt’s The Swerve, I was interested in how Greenblatt described the different reasons for the disappearance of important texts such as Lucretius’ works as well as the works of many others. He argues that through the short durability of papyrus, the paper of the time, and because of the numerous bookworms, many ancient works disintegrated and were eaten away before modern historians could save them. He even calls the bookworms the title of chapter four, “The Teeth of Time.” I find this topic very important for understanding why exactly we have so few actual records of the people talked about in The Swerve. Possessing the knowledge of how the books disappeared allows readers to create and brainstorm different ideas about their own opinions around the notion of the reason for a disappearance of many great works. To further extend my knowledge about the actual reason why this happened, I consulted the Internet. Although many sources offered their different reasoning, I found one particularly intriguing. On http://www.livius.org/, I learned that one possibility for the disappearance of books in general over time was due to Church and religious beliefs at the time. This ties in to our current unit of Christianity in Roman times and how it influenced culture in the area. One possibility was that the church, trying its orthodox approach to everything, wiped out the existence of many books contrary to the belief of the religious hierarchy. This would have caused a major absence in books stating the multiple thoughts and philosophies of citizens in and around Rome. Many of these philosophers, such as the much searched for Lucretius, would have failed to convey their personal beliefs as a result of the destruction of them by the church. Although many possibilities for the destruction of books at the time exist, such as Greenblatt’s natural decay theory, the idea of the Roman church ultimately leading to an extinction of books containing thought and ideas of the time was most intriguing to me.

Can't Worm Your Way Out of this One

I found the topic of bookworms to be interesting in "The Swerve." Greenblatt argues that bookworms were one of the causes for the destruction of books and one of the reasons why we don't have any of the ancient texts. I chose to research this topic because I wanted to keep it lighthearted, while talking about something that was still somewhat important, that I don't have much knowledge about. I did not believe that little tiny bugs could've really done any harm, but that idea changed with my research.

There is actually no such insect called a "bookworm," but many kinds of insects will eat the paper of books, given the chance. These bugs include "book lice," who are so small they look like tiny specks, and they eat the mold of books. Cockroaches are some of the most destructive bugs; they will stain your books and lay eggs between the pages. Silverfish are bugs with a silver coating, who will eat cotton, glue, and paper. These bugs all cause immense harm. The former Chief Secretary for Ireland, Augustine Birrell, recounted a situation in which a bookworm had eaten through to the 87th page of a fifteenth-century vellum book. Combined with natural effects and the destruction of the Pagan books at the time, we can see how bookworms did have a somewhat significant effect on the disappearance of literature. 

Lactantius, "The Christian Cicero"

Greenblatt focuses on Lactantius, tutor to the son of Emperor Constantine, as one of the foremost voices denouncing Epicureanism. But Lactantius had other interests in addition to fighting the influence of Epicureanism; he is most famous for his Divine Institutes, an apology for and introduction to Christianity, written in Latin. His elegant style of writing and clear influence from his Pagan predecessors earned him the nickname "The Christian Cicero," although much of his work actually criticizes Pagan religion.

For some background, Lactantius was born in North Africa in 250 A.D. and converted to Christianity as an adult. He was a skilled orator, and taught rhetoric in Nicomedia. Later on, Constantine invited him to tutor his son, Crespus. Lactintius died around 340 A.D. in Gaul.

According to Greenblatt, Lactantius "wrote a series of polemics against Epicureanism" (102), probably referring to his De Ira Dei which was directed against Epicurean philosophy. Greenblatt cites Lactantius as an example of the great Christian backlash against Epicureanism. Christians disliked Epicurean philosophy namely because it preached a life of pleasure, which Christians viewed as a "code name for vice" (102). In Divine Institutes, Lactintius sets forth the first Latin attempt to explain Christian theology, which was a milestone for the spread of Christianity. I think Greenblatt is arguing that Lactantius helped fuel the "swerve" from Roman influence in the west, which encouraged advances in art and science, to a world dominated by the hierarchy of Christianity.

http://www.nndb.com/people/384/000105069/
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08736a.htm
http://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2005/2005-04-36.html

Swerve Chapter 4 Analysis

In the Swerve, chapter 4, Greenblatt analyzes the wars between Christianity and Epicureanism. The purpose of life for Epicureans is to pursuit the pleasure and to diminish the pain. Following the nature and discovering the real truth become the way of living for Epicureans. However, Christianity focuses more on the pain. Human are much weaker in the world compare to the powerful god, and full of perpetual sins. Only after they have atoned their sins by infinitive human suffering, they will be able to approach the better life. Christianity asks people to stop desiring. One kind of desires is for the science and knowledge. People’s minds are imprisoned, believing that only god knows the truth. People should not question and rationalize the nature since it is the work of the god. The progress of real science is stopped. The literature work that is not associated with Christianity is abandoned and destroyed. The true fan of those real Latin literatures, like Jerome, is forced to make the sacrifice and give up their love for those real works. Instead of inspiring people to explore more about rational explanation for nature, Christianity is used as a way to gain power. Pope and bishops as the messagers of the god should receive the highest reverence. “Redemption would only come through abasement.”(106) Church high hierarchy is greatly highlighted. Questioning for the authority is not allowed. In short, the eradication of Epicureanism at last and the accentuation of human suffering stops people from questioning and rationalizing, therefore as the spiritual leader of the Christianity on earth, the individuals who in charge of the Christianity can easily gain the power.

The Rejection of Pleasure

The Rejection of pleasure was a defining feature of the early Christians. It was the biggest ideal that set them apart from polytheists and, even more severely, from Epicurius, and his main disciple Lucretius. Epicurius's whole philosophy was based on the seeking of pleasure, and even polytheists would not consider being self seeking as a sin. The very gods they worshiped thought firstly of themselves before others. This shift in priorities marked a great step in cultural evolution. Suddenly pleasure seeking and personal fulfillment were frowned upon. Celibacy was considered the most nobel mission, despite the fact that the celibate could never bear children to maintain the population. There was no longer any worries about the human race dying out anymore. The ability to reject even their basest desires shows deeper level of commitment to faith among many different religions. Celibacy was often a requirement for priests, especially among Roman Catholic, Aztec and sometimes even polytheistic religions, because, by giving up a pleasure, they could devote their focus more fully onto their devotion to their god (or gods). However the early Christians took those pledges of devotion a step further, and they physically harmed themselves to try and show their complete faith. In doing so they believed they would be saved from eternal damnation. They rejected all worldly pleasures to try and prove their commitment. These sacrifices of family and money were honored by society, not in the traditional way with gifts and favors, but rather with respect and reverence at their devotion. The actions of these devoted individuals helped inspire others to try to achieve that level of faith. By making their strife seem not only righteous but reasonable, the early Christians strove to make this devotion a cultural norm. Their actions of self sacrifice set the stage for a new type of devoted worshiper, who put their devotion of god before even their own body.

Sources:
http://www.learner.org/interactives/middleages/morelign.html
http://faculty.college-prep.org:2169/EBchecked/topic/37864/asceticism/433/Forms-of-religious-asceticism
http://faculty.college-prep.org:2169/EBchecked/topic/507284/Roman-Catholicism/257673/The-church-of-the-early-Middle-Ages