Summary Of The Epistle's Letter To Diognetus

Upon reading the Epistle’s letter to Diognetus, it becomes apparent that all is not as it seems. Though the letter is in fact addressed to Diognetus, certain quirks in each the format of writing, the content of the letter, and the intonation would seem to indicate otherwise. As it is, the letter appears to be written not for the understanding of a pagan, but more likely as a further supplement for already-converted Christians. The first point of interest is, in fact, in the introduction. Though it does directly address Diognetus at first, the rest of the paragraph could be described as almost thesis-like. For example, the text states, “…as to what God they trust and how they worship Him, that they all disregard the world and despise death, and take no account of those who are regarded as gods by the Greeks, neither observe the superstition of the Jews, and as to the nature of the affection which they entertain one to another, and of this new development or interest, which has entered into men’s lives now and not before…” It’s notable how the epistle goes out …show more content…
Outsiders of the faith, in general, very likely didn’t possess much if any knowledge on Jewish tradition whatsoever. For instance, if one were to take Pliny’s letter to Emperor Trajan of Rome, what is a seen is a well-educated high-official completely ignorant as to any background concerning the Christian faith, or even the Christian faith itself. Overall, with the content presented in the letter, it seems to strain credibility to say that this was written, indeed, to educate a pagan in the faith. The epistle assumes far too much prior knowledge of the listener, leading me to believe that this was more likely written for Christians or Jews than for anyone