Jasmin Rodriguez
New Testament
Dr. Charette
The Lost Letters of Pergamum
The storyline behind The Lost Letters of Pergamum is about the life of Antipas alluding to the “faithful witness” who was put to death in the city of Pergamum for believing in Christ, noted in the book of Revelation 2:13. Antipas was a nobleman and benefactor who was named after the tyrannical dictator Herod Antipas, who reigned over Galilee and persecuted Christians. Antipas lived the majority of his life as a loyal Roman citizen and partook in the common Emperor worship of the time. He kept noble social codes of honor, but by the end of his journey, he humbly disregarded any social hierarchy and sacrificed himself in place of his artisan friend Demetrius as an act of obedience to Christ.
Antipas traveled to the triumphant city of Pergamum in his old age with the sole intention of worshipping the roman gods there for the remaining of his lavish life. He had arthritis and was seeking favor upon the powers of the emperor and the deities, and he heard Pergamum to be a scenic city loyal to the emperor Domitian, and the first city to be dedicated to an Emperor for worship. Here we are introduced to the Emperor worship in pagan culture during the second temple period that was enforced by Domitian himself. On page 114 of the book, we learn that at those times status, honor, power, and prestige were seen as evident favor from the roman Gods that oversaw rome. This paganism eventually perpetuated emperor-worship because the emperor was seen as a representative of the roman gods, and his empire’s flourishing was a result of his favor with the gods (page 130). People often offered the gods and the emperor animal sacrifices during lavish banquets, gladiatorial games, and parades because it was said that those who honored the gods received earthly honor from them in return.
Antipas not only hoped to pass his time visiting the temples dedicated to the roman gods and the emperor, but he also had a keen interest in studying Pergamum’s prestigious libraries as a reputable scholar. Early in the narrative, Antipas made a request to the bibliophile Calpurnius to study the manuscripts of Homer (page 26-7). Calpurnius was more than happy to lend him the articles, and suggested for him to to speak with Luke- another respectable historian. Instead of meeting Luke when he had the chance, Antipas chose to attend a banquet that would raise his status. Here we see signs of the honor/shame culture that poisoned the era, which motivated the elite into constantly parading their honor and going to great lengths in protecting.
Antipas finally got into contact with Luke and throughout the majority of the book, Antipas and Luke exchanged letters discussing the history of Jesus through the manuscripts of Luke. They also disputed christian theology, christian faith, and early Jewish life. When Antipas realized that Luke was Christian, he had a lot of negative bias towards him because Christians were seen as disruptive figures to the union of Rome. In Antipas’ perspective, “Jesus had impractical standard of living” (page 78) and made unkept promises to peasants about a place in the kingdom, which was evident as non-existing since they remained poor. He figured that the Christian message only served good for peasants to continue working, and Jesus was simply jealous that he could not indulge in social riches like the elite could. Luke explained to Antipas that Jesus had a broader appeal than just to the poor, and the kingdom was not on earth, but in the afterlife. He also explained that Jesus was not a jealous peasant but a humble servant who saw wealth and status as foolish and misleading (page 103). Jesus was against materialism because it fed greed and suppressed the poor. Antipas tried backing up his righteous devotion to the emperor by saying that benefactors were helpful to society since they paved the streets, built public baths, constructed amphitheaters for entertainment, and fed grain to people during famines (page 78), but Luke proved that it only led to systematic oppression because the poor and the diseased were left ignored- creating a group of “untouchables”in society. Just like John the Baptist, Jesus associated himself with all people no matter where they were placed under the roman hierarchy because forgiveness is not restricted to a specific people group and God’s love and mercy has no boundaries. This was the Christian message that Jesus was trying to convey through his actions, but many people did not get.