Jews, likewise, termed anyone who departed from the rabbinic tradition apikoros, an Epicurean.
But Christians particularly found Epicureanism a noxious threat. If you grant Epicurus his claim that the soul is mortal, wrote [Father] Tertullian, the whole fabric of Christian morality unravels.
Here, Professor Greenblatt conflates Christianity as a religious "system" with Christian morality. That is wrong. The two are not identical, that is, one can believe not in e.g. the Incarnation, in the Resurrection,--even in God--and still find the morality of Christianity profound and sublime.
But Christians particularly found Epicureanism a noxious threat. If you grant Epicurus his claim that the soul is mortal, wrote [Father] Tertullian, the whole fabric of Christian morality unravels.
Here, Professor Greenblatt conflates Christianity as a religious "system" with Christian morality. That is wrong. The two are not identical, that is, one can believe not in e.g. the Incarnation, in the Resurrection,--even in God--and still find the morality of Christianity profound and sublime.
