Tatian

Tatian ( lat. Tatianus ) was a Christian apologist of the 2nd century († approx. 170 AD ) of Eastern Syriac origin, hence also called Tatian the Assyrian .

Live and act

Tatian was a pupil of Justin in Rome , who converted him to Christianity , but fell out with him and went back to his Syrian homeland. He rejected all Hellenistic influence there, founded an encratic community and acquired a strictly ascetic following , who rejected marriage and the consumption of meat and wine. This earned him the charge of being a Gnostic .

The best-known work among his numerous writings is the Diatessaron ( τὸ διὰ τεσσάρων ), in which a unified history of Jesus' life and influence is told using the text of all four canonical Gospels .

Tatian also received a Ἐπιστολὴ πρὸς Ἕλληνας (Latin: Oratio ad Graecos / Speech to the Greeks ) written in AD 176 , a passionate, excessive pamphlet against Greek culture.

An Old High German translation of the Diatessaron is known under the title Tatian , see Old High German Tatian .

However, several other writings, including a Book of Problems on Difficult Passages in the Old Testament, have not survived.

Editions and translations

• Heinz-Günther Nesselrath (Ed.): Against false gods and false education. Tatian, speech to the Greeks. In., Trans. u. provided with interpretive essays v. Peter Gemeinhardt, Marie-Luise Lakmann, Heinz-Günther Nesselrath, Ferdinand R. Prostmeier, Adolf Martin Ritter, Holger Strutwolf u. Andrei Timotin. Mohr Siebeck , Tübingen 2016. Scripta Antiquitatis Posterioris ad Ethicam REligionemque pertinentia XXVIII
• Tatianos: Oratio ad Graecos. Talk to the Greeks. Edited and newly translated by Jörg Trelenberg. Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen 2012. (80-page introduction to the life, work and theology of the author; Greek text with German translation; several essays by the editor on special questions; bibliography and extensive indexes.)

literature

• Herrmann Adalbert Daniel: Tatianus the apologist. A contribution to the history of dogma . Publishing house of the bookstore of the orphanage, Halle (Saale) 1837.
• Theodor Zahn : Research on the history of the New Testament canon and early church literature. Part 1. Tatian's Diatessaron . Deichert, Erlangen 1881.
• Otto Bardenhewer : History of the early church literature . Volume 1, Freiburg / Br. 1902; Pp. 242-262.
• Klaus-Gunther Wesseling :  Tatian the Syrian. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 11, Bautz, Herzberg 1996, ISBN 3-88309-064-6 , Sp. 552-571.
• Ulrich Mell : Christian house church and New Testament. The iconology of the Baptistery by Dura Europos and the Diatessaron Tatians, NTOA 77, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2010 ISBN 978-3-525-53394-9 .

Web links

• Literature by and about Tatian in the catalog of the German National Library
• Tatian: Oratio ad Graecos (Eng.)
• Short biography of Tatian
• Speech to the confessors of Greece (Oratio ad Graecos) , early Christian apologists and acts of martyrs Volume I. Translated from the Greek and Latin by Kaspar Julius (Aristides), Gerhard Rauschen (Justin, Diognet), RC Kukula (Tatian) and Anselm Eberhard (Athenagoras ); Library of the Church Fathers, 1st row, Volume 12; Munich 1913.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Friedhelm Winkelmann : History of early Christianity , Munich 2007 (4th edition), p. 74.
2. ↑ According to own statements, cf. his Oratio ad Graecos 42.
3. ^ Friedhelm Winkelmann : History of early Christianity , Munich 2007 (4th edition), p. 74.
4. ↑ Eusebius, Church History 4:29.
5. ↑ Older editions by Otto in the Corpus Apologetarum. 6th compartment, 3rd edition; Jena 1882, and von Schwartz, Leipzig 1888. For the now authoritative edition s. the bibliography.