The Pagan Reaction: Julian the Apostate, Part 4: Julian's Religious Policy

Our History of Christianity Scripture Passage today is Proverbs 3:3-4 which reads: "Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart: So shalt thou find favour and good understanding in the sight of God and man."

Our History of Christianity quote today is from Phillip Yancey. He said: "Love was compressed for all history in that lonely figure on the cross, who said that he could call down angels at any moment on a rescue mission, but chose not to – because of us. At Calvary, God accepted his own unbreakable terms of justice."

Today, in the History of Christianity, we are looking at "The Pagan Reaction: Julian the Apostate - Julian's Religious Policy" (Part 4) from Dr. Justo L. Gonzalez's fine book, The Story of Christianity (Volume 1).

To this end Julian took a series of measures, in all justice, however, it is necessary to insist that he never decreed persecution against Christians. There were Christian martyrs in a number of places, but this was due, not to imperial command, but rather to mob actions or to overzealous local officials. Julian himself was convinced that persecution of Christians would not help his cause.

Rather than persecuting Christians, Julian followed a two-pronged policy of hindering their progress and ridiculing them. On the first score, he passed laws forbidding Christians to teach classical literature. Thus, while prohibiting what was to him a sacrilege, he prevented Christians from using the great works of classical antiquity to spread their faith, as they had been doing since the time of Justin in the second century. Secondly, Julian set out to ridicule Christians, whom he called "Galileans."

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