Abstract:
In this thesis, I question the degree to which ancient Christians internalized the traditional social stigmas attached to Roman slaves and freedmen. Recent scholarship has suggested that Christians identified with Roman slave-holding practices without challenge. This paper examines the biographical account of freedman Bishop Callistus I (217-223 CE) by Hippolytus of Rome and argues that early Christians challenged the social prejudice against slaves and freedmen despite the continued practice of slave-owning in the congregation. His character study proves helpful in discussing the social transformation of slaves and freedmen in the early Roman church. I discuss the Christian master-slave relationship, as described by Hippolytus, in comparison with slave practices in Roman civic society, specifically in the areas of slave inferiority and slave punishment. I argue that Callistus’ biography reflects a broader trend of enfranchisement of marginal groups through Christian affiliation, an argument which conflicts with scholarly assumptions that early Christianity had no unique response to Roman slavery.
