St. Justin Martyr - Dialogue with Trypho (excerpt)

“I will prove to you, here and now, that we do not believe in groundless myths nor in teachings not based on reason, but in doctrines that are inspired by the Divine Spirit, abundant with power, and teeming with grace.”

St. Justin Martyr, born sometime between the years 100 and 110 AD, is considered by many to be the most important of the Greek apologists. His Dialogue with Trypho is the oldest extant Christian apology against Judaism -- though Justin is perhaps better known for his Apologies directed toward Roman Emperors and Senators.

Many of the details we know about his life are drawn from these beginning chapters to Dialogue with Trypho, wherein Justin Martyr recounts the circumstances of his conversion. 

Justin describes how, as a young man, he flitted from one school of philosophy to another, finally landing among the Platonists... until one day, a strange encounter with a mysterious old man revealed to him Platonism’s insufficiency.

Translation courtesy of Catholic University of America Press: https://verbum.com/product/46607/the-first-apology-the-second-apology-dialogue-with-trypho-exhortation-to-the-greeks-discourse-to-the-greeks-the-monarchy-of-the-rule-of-god

Alternate Translation at CatholicCulture.org: https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/fathers/view.cfm?recnum=1612

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Theme music: 2 Part Invention, composed by Mark Christopher Brandt, performed by Thomas Mirus. ©️2019 Heart of the Lion Publishing Co./BMI. All rights reserved.