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c. A.D. 35 – c. 108

Ignatius

bishop of Antioch

Worth knowing

  • Bishop of Antioch in Syria, arrested and taken under guard across Asia Minor to Rome to be killed in the arena.
  • He wrote seven letters on that journey, to churches that met him along the road. He expected to die in Rome, and he asked the Roman Christians not to try to save him.
  • He wrote against people who said the Son only seemed to have a body, and he kept repeating the word "truly": Christ was truly born, truly ate and drank, truly suffered and truly rose.

In Scholar’s Dream, Ignatius has four books

Ignatius’s quotes in the game

Every quotation from Ignatius that a player meets in Scholar’s Dream, attached to the move that says it. Or see them as a plain list →

In Scholar’s Dream, books argue with each other, and each thing a book can do in a debate is called a move. Every quote below is spoken by one of those moves. Open “How it works in the game” under a quote to see the move, which books learn it, and which arguments it answers best.

“He was truly of the family of David… truly born of a virgin… truly nailed for us in the flesh under Pontius Pilate.”

Ignatius, To the Smyrnaeans 1 (trans. Lightfoot, public domain, lightly modernized).public domain
How it works in the game: the move Truly Born, Truly Ate
ChristologyArgument · power 40 · 100% accurate

In the gameIgnatius’s stubborn adverb: TRULY.

Learned bySmyr (Lv 1)

Strong against
×2Mere Appearancean argument · why?

Ignatius repeats one word: truly. Truly born, truly of David’s family, truly nailed to the cross under Pontius Pilate. A phantom has no family and no date of death.

×2One Actor, Three Masksan argument · why?

Ignatius insists that the Son was truly born and truly died. A mask cannot be born of a virgin, pray to his Father, and be nailed to a cross.

×2Polycarpa book · why?

Polycarp warns the Philippians against anyone who denies that Christ came in the flesh (chapter 7). Ignatius had written the same warning to Polycarp’s church.

“He truly suffered, even as he also truly raised himself — not, as some unbelievers say, that he suffered in semblance.”

Ignatius, To the Smyrnaeans 2 (trans. Lightfoot, public domain, lightly modernized).public domain
How it works in the game: the move He Truly Suffered
ChristologyArgument · power 60 · 100% accurate

In the gameIf he only seemed to suffer, martyrs die for a phantom.

Learned bySmyr (Lv 10)

Strong against
×2A View of the Evidences of Christianitya book · why?

Paley quotes Ignatius’s letter to the Smyrnaeans as an early witness that the apostles saw and touched the risen Christ.

×2Devout Man Onlyan argument · why?

Ignatius went to his death for Christ. Martyrs do not die to honour a holy man’s memory. They die for a Lord who truly suffered and truly rose.

×2Mere Appearancean argument · why?

Ignatius wrote this on his way to die for Christ. If Christ only seemed to suffer, Ignatius was dying for a shadow, and he knew it.

×2Polycarpa book · why?

Ignatius wrote this letter to Polycarp’s own church at Smyrna. Polycarp sent Ignatius’s letters on to Philippi (chapter 13).

“They have no care for love, none for the widow, none for the orphan, none for the afflicted, none for the prisoner, none for the hungry or thirsty.”

Ignatius, To the Smyrnaeans 6.2 (trans. Lightfoot, public domain, lightly modernized).public domain
How it works in the game: the move No Care for the Widow
EthicsArgument · power 55 · 100% accurate

In the gameIgnatius’ other test: a teaching that denies real flesh ends up with no care for real bodies. Frequently deflates the foe’s Contend.

Learned byTo the Smyrnaeans (Lv 12)

“Wheresoever the bishop shall appear, there let the people be; even as where Jesus may be, there is the universal Church.”

Ignatius, To the Smyrnaeans 8.2 (trans. Lightfoot, public domain).public domain
How it works in the game: the move The Universal Church
EcclesiologyType shift

In the gameThe church is wherever Christ is — larger than the congregation currently arguing. Raises the user’s Defend. The earliest surviving use of the phrase “the catholic church.”

Learned byTo the Smyrnaeans (Lv 18)

Strong against
×3The Church That Suffersan argument · why?

It answers with the one mark he cannot claim — but nobody wins this one cleanly.

×2The Conscience of the Giveran argument · why?

Ignatius wrote that where Jesus Christ is, there is the universal church. What cleanses is Christ’s presence, not the conscience of the man pouring the water.

“And why then have I delivered myself over to death, unto fire, unto sword, unto wild beasts? But near to the sword, near to God; in company with wild beasts, in company with God.”

Ignatius, To the Smyrnaeans 4.2 (trans. Lightfoot, public domain, lightly modernized).public domain
How it works in the game: the move Near the Sword
ChristologyArgument · power 85 · 95% accurate

In the gameIf Christ only SEEMED to suffer, then Ignatius is only seeming to be eaten. Staked on his own execution — half again as hard when the book is nearly spent.

Learned byTo the Smyrnaeans (Lv 25)

“There is one only physician, of flesh and of spirit, generate and ingenerate, God in man, true Life in death, Son of Mary and Son of God, first passible and then impassible, Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Ignatius, To the Ephesians 7 (trans. Lightfoot, public domain).public domain
How it works in the game: the move One Only Physician
ChristologyArgument · power 90 · 100% accurate

In the gameSeven pairs of opposites in one breath, written by a man in chains on the road to the arena. Everything the councils spent four centuries fencing is already here, uttered as praise rather than defended as doctrine.

Learned byTo Asia Minor (Lv 28), Ignatius’ Corpus (Lv 42)

“For I heard certain persons saying, If I find it not in the charters, I believe it not in the Gospel. And when I said to them, It is written, they answered me That is the question. But as for me, my charter is Jesus Christ, the inviolable charter is His cross and His death and His resurrection.”

Ignatius, To the Philadelphians 8 (trans. Lightfoot, public domain). (trimmed quote.) “Charters” is Lightfoot for the archives — the Old Testament scrolls.public domain
How it works in the game: the move My Charter Is Christ
BibleArgument · power 86 · 100% accurate

In the gameSome would not accept the gospel unless the old Scriptures proved it. Ignatius said it was written; they said that was exactly the question. He did not win the argument. He said instead that his charter is Jesus Christ.

Learned byTo Asia Minor (Lv 31)

“And hidden from the prince of this world were the virginity of Mary and her child-bearing and likewise also the death of the Lord—three mysteries to be cried aloud—the which were wrought in the silence of God.”

Ignatius, To the Ephesians 19 (trans. Lightfoot, public domain).public domain
How it works in the game: the move Three Mysteries
ChristologyArgument · power 82 · 100% accurate

In the gameIgnatius keeps returning to silence: God does his greatest works quietly. Here he names three: Mary’s virginity, the birth of her child, and the death of the Lord, all hidden from the powers of the world.

Learned byTo Asia Minor (Lv 34)

“I am God’s wheat, and I am ground by the teeth of wild beasts that I may be found pure bread.”

Ignatius, To the Romans 4 (trans. Lightfoot, public domain).public domain
How it works in the game: the move God’s Wheat
FaithArgument · power 94 · 95% accurate

In the gameThe most famous sentence any of the apostolic fathers wrote, and it is a request. Ignatius is writing AHEAD of himself to Rome, to beg the Christians there not to use their influence to save his life.

Learned byIgnatius’ Corpus (Lv 38)

“The tree is manifest from its fruit; so they that profess to be Christ’s shall be seen through their actions.”

Ignatius, To the Ephesians 14 (trans. Lightfoot, public domain).public domain
How it works in the game: the move Manifest from Its Fruit
FaithArgument · power 82 · 100% accurate

In the gameA claim about a man is checkable by watching him. Ignatius turns that on his own side first: whoever says he belongs to Christ has agreed to be looked at.

Learned byIgnatius’ Corpus (Lv 50)

“Against their outbursts of wrath be ye meek; against their proud words be ye humble; against their railings set ye your prayers; against their errors be ye steadfast in the faith; against their fierceness be ye gentle… Let us show ourselves their brothers by our forbearance.”

Ignatius, To the Ephesians 10 (trans. Lightfoot, public domain). (trimmed quote)public domain
How it works in the game: the move Brothers by Our Forbearance
EthicsArgument · power 80 · 100% accurate

In the gameThe instruction for an argument you are losing on volume. Answer the wrath with meekness, the boasting with humility, the railing with prayer — and do not be eager to answer in kind, because being answered in kind is what they expect.

Learned byIgnatius’ Corpus (Lv 56)

“It is better to keep silence and to be, than to talk and not to be. It is a fine thing to teach, if the speaker practice.”

Ignatius, To the Ephesians 15 (trans. Lightfoot, public domain).public domain
How it works in the game: the move Better to Be Than to Talk
EthicsArgument · power 90 · 100% accurate

In the gameThe sentence that should worry anybody who has spent a whole game winning arguments. Teaching is a fine thing — on one condition, and Ignatius states the condition in five words.

Learned byIgnatius’ Corpus (Lv 62)

“But if it were as certain persons who are godless, that is unbelievers, say, that He suffered only in semblance, being themselves mere semblance, why am I in bonds? And why also do I desire to fight with wild beasts? So I die in vain.”

Ignatius, To the Trallians 10 (trans. Lightfoot, public domain).public domain
How it works in the game: the move Why Am I in Bonds?
HistoryArgument · power 92 · 100% accurate

In the gameThe cheapest answer to a man in chains is that he has misunderstood his own religion. Ignatius puts the cost on the table instead: if the suffering was only an appearance, then so is this, and I am about to die for nothing.

Learned byIgnatius’ Corpus (Lv 68)

Passages you can read in the game

Longer excerpts the Scriptorium holds on screen for a player to sit and read, word for word.

“…fully persuaded as touching our Lord that he is truly of the race of David according to the flesh, but Son of God by the divine will and power, truly born of a virgin and baptized by John that all righteousness might be fulfilled by him, truly nailed up in the flesh for our sakes under Pontius Pilate and Herod the tetrarch.”

Ignatius, To the Smyrnaeans 1.1–2 (trans. Lightfoot, public domain, lightly modernized).
from Smyr

“For he suffered all these things for our sakes, that we might be saved; and he suffered truly, as also he raised himself truly; not as certain unbelievers say, that he suffered in semblance — being themselves mere semblance.”

Ignatius, To the Smyrnaeans 2.1 (trans. Lightfoot, public domain, lightly modernized).
from Smyr

“For I know and believe that he was in the flesh even after the resurrection; and when he came to Peter and his company, he said to them: Lay hold and handle me, and see that I am not a demon without body. And straightway they touched him, and they believed, being joined unto his flesh and his blood.”

Ignatius, To the Smyrnaeans 3.1–2 (trans. Lightfoot, public domain, lightly modernized).
from Smyr

“Wherefore also they despised death — nay, they were found superior to death. And after his resurrection he both ate with them and drank with them as one in the flesh, though spiritually he was united with the Father.”

Ignatius, To the Smyrnaeans 3.2–3 (trans. Lightfoot, public domain, lightly modernized).
from Smyr

“For if these things were done by our Lord in semblance, then am I also a prisoner in semblance. And why then have I delivered myself over to death, unto fire, unto sword, unto wild beasts? But near to the sword, near to God; in company with wild beasts, in company with God.”

Ignatius, To the Smyrnaeans 4.2 (trans. Lightfoot, public domain, lightly modernized).
from To the Smyrnaeans

“But mark those who hold strange doctrine touching the grace of Jesus Christ which came to us, how they are contrary to the mind of God. They have no care for love, none for the widow, none for the orphan, none for the afflicted, none for the prisoner, none for the hungry or thirsty.”

Ignatius, To the Smyrnaeans 6.2 (trans. Lightfoot, public domain, lightly modernized).
from To the Smyrnaeans

“They abstain from eucharist and prayer, because they allow not that the eucharist is the flesh of our Saviour Jesus Christ, which flesh suffered for our sins, and which the Father of his goodness raised up.”

Ignatius, To the Smyrnaeans 6.2 (trans. Lightfoot, public domain, lightly modernized).
from To the Smyrnaeans

“Wheresoever the bishop shall appear, there let the people be; even as where Jesus may be, there is the universal Church.”

Ignatius, To the Smyrnaeans 8.2 (trans. Lightfoot, public domain).
from To the Smyrnaeans

Words Ignatius’s books borrow from others

Moves these books can learn whose quotation comes from somebody else. The citation on each one names who actually said it.

“He gave him no answer, not even one word, so that the governor marveled greatly.”

Matthew 27:14 (WEB); cf. Isaiah 53:7.
How it works in the game: the move Silence
ChristologyType shift

In the gameSay nothing. Convinces no one — but the next argument lands harder. Raises the user’s Contend, after the pattern of Christ’s silence before his accusers.

Learned bySmyr (Lv 4)

“Eighty and six years have I served him, and he has done me no wrong. How then can I blaspheme my King who saved me?”

Martyrdom of Polycarp 9 (public domain trans.).public domain
How it works in the game: the move Martyr’s Resolve
EthicsArgument · power 50 · 100% accurate

In the game"Eighty and six years…" Strikes half again as hard when the book is nearly spent.

Learned byIgnatius’ Corpus (Lv 46)

More from the research (1)

Real, sourced quotations found while researching Ignatius’s books for the game. They are not shown anywhere in the game itself.

"They abstain from eucharist (thanksgiving) and prayer, because they allow not that the eucharist is the flesh of our Saviour Jesus Christ, which flesh suffered for our sins, and which the Father of His goodness raised up."

To the Smyrnaeans 6.2 (Lightfoot).
verified in primary source

Who else was alive

Ignatius against everyone else in the game.

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