Justin Martyr – A Dialogue With Trypho

Only three works of the Second Century Christian apologist Justin Martyr have survived, two apologies and his Dialogue with Trypho, A Jew. In the Dialogue Justin sets out to convince Trypho (probably a fictional character) that Christianity represents the new law for all people. The work was widely used and influenced later Christian writers. I am therefore very pleased to able to make available A. Lukyn Williams translation of this classic work, which is in the public domain.

Arthur Lukyn Williams [1853-1943], translator, Justin Martyr. The Dialogue with Trypho. London: SPCK, 1930. Hbk. pp.301. [Click to download complete book in PDF]

Contents

Preface

Introduction

1. Justin Martyr, what is known to him?
2. The Authenticity of the Dialogue
3. Earlier Efforts to Present Chrsit to the Jews
4. Trypho the Jew
5. Justin’s Knowledge of Post-Biblical Judaism
6. The Contents of the Dialogue
7. The Practical Value of the Dialogue
8. Bibliography

Translation and Notes

Indices to Introduction and Notes

1. General
2. Holy Scripture and other Early Literature

You will find further resources on Justin Marty on this page.

Preface

The Dialogue touches so many points of interest that it is impossible to consider them all in a popular work like the present. I have therefore restricted myself almost entirely (though not quite) to the primary object of Justin’s treatise, the relation of Christianity to Judaism, in particular to the Judaism of post-Biblical times, endeavouring to illustrate this from Jewish sources.

In such illustrations I have not used the Apocrypha or the Pseudepigraphic writings, partly because these are now readily accessible to the English reader in the Oxford Corpus, and partly because Justin himself appears to have neglected all such books. The Jews with whom he disputed were evidently Palestinians, accustomed to the Hebrew Canon only, and to the arguments of those Jews who carried on the traditions of the Pharisees. It is therefore to the writings of these that we must look for illustrations. Their books indeed, with the exception of one or two portions, are not earlier than, or even contemporary with, Justin, especially in the form in which they have come down to us. [Continue reading]