Hundreds of books and articles have been written about these two remarkable characters. In 1885, J. B. Lightfoot published the definitive edition on their writings, and dozens of responses were immediately printed in journals and periodicals around the world. W. F. Adeney wrote one such response in a thirty-seven-page article. After he summarizes the present state of scholarship on the works, he compares Lightfoot's conclusions with those of other leading experts in the field. He addresses the controversy regarding the authenticity of the Ignatian epistles and includes a careful analysis on their three recensions. Adeney discusses the attitudes of these men toward martyrdom, and draws a portrait of their lives and the culture in which they lived in order to better understand the early church. He then moves on to Polycarp with a similar treatment of the issues, especially emphasizing his use of scripture. Adeney covers the theology embraced by each man and closes his article with the role of a bishop in the second century.
Book Description
Ignatius and Polycarp are two of the most significant individuals in Christian history. Both were church leaders at a time when the Roman Empire persecuted believers, and both suffered martyrdom on account of their public confession of Christ. Ignatius lived at the close of the Apostolic age, and church tradition associates him with the disciples of Jesus. His death occurred during the first decade of the second century. Along his way to the arena, Ignatius penned letters to the churches he was about to encounter. Seven of these letters have survived, and they remain as literary treasures from the early church. One of the epistles he wrote was addressed to Polycarp, a younger disciple in leadership at the church of Smyrna. Ignatius asked Polycarp to collect his letters; and this is the reason they are extant today. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for the letters of Polycarp, for only one has been preserved. He was a pillar of the church of Asia Minor, and at his martyrdom the Romans called him "the father of Christianity."
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About the Author
Walter Frederic Adeney was born at Ealing, Middlesex, England, on March 14, 1849. He was educated at New College and University College, London. For seventeen years he served as pastor of the Congregational Church at Acton, London (1872-1889), while he also lectured on biblical and systematic theology at New College, London. In 1889 Adeney was appointed professor of New Testament exegesis and church history at the College, a position he held until 1903. During this same period he was a lecturer on church history in Hackney College, London. In 1903 he became the principal of Lancastershire College, in the University of Manchester, where two years later he was appointed lecturer on the history of doctrine. Adeney had a broad understanding of the Bible and wrote several commentaries, including nine for the "Pulpit Commentary" series. In addition to the countless articles he contributed to periodicals, he wrote extensively for Hastings's "Dictionary of the Bible." Adeney died in 1920.
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