Berkley Center

The annual James M. and Margaret H. Costan Lecture in Early Christianity at Georgetown University was established in 2014 to bring together academics, church communities, and the general public and promote the study of Early Christianity literature, history, and practice. This year, the October 1 lecture was given by Dr. Cilliers Breytenbach as he explored “Morality Beyond Kinship,” and was hosted by the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs; Department of Theology and Religious Studies; and the Office of Mission and Ministry.

Breytenbach studies inscriptions that survive on tombs and other monuments to supplement our understanding of early Christianity, particularly related to regions and time periods before the legalization of Christianity in the fourth century under Constantine where there are relatively few written texts. In this lecture Breytenbach used such inscriptions as test cases to determine the degree to which Christians (at different places, at different times, under difficult circumstances) lived up to their ideals.

“Whereas some scholars assume that they know the defining characteristics of Christianity, Professor Breytenbach has reexamined important terms that others take for granted, like salvation, reconciliation, concord, atonement, and grace, which carry the burden of dogmatic accretions that obscure their original meaning,” said Dr. Alan Mitchell, associate professor in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at Georgetown University.

Breytenbach focused on four main themes in his discussion of morality beyond kinship and its contribution to the rise of Christianity. They included the new family of Jesus, love of the neighbor and care for the poor, a Christian non-retaliatory ethic, and citizenship beyond the earthly city. Yet, as he noted, understanding these moral ideals also requires critical reflection on their lived reality:

 “Since there's always a tension between, on the one hand, the morality advocated by preachers and teachers or claimed by Christian apologists, and on the other, the morality actually practiced, we require a kind of a litmus test… reality check to determine whether morality beyond kinship was more than an idealized discourse of early Christian writers.”

In highlighting both the aspirational ideals and their real-world enactment, Breytenbach framed morality beyond kinship as a defining and transformative feature of early Christianity. Costan Lecture Founding Director Julia Lamm characterizes his findings “as both inspiration and challenge for Christians now: the dominant culture seems fueled by greed, power, and cruelty—but Christian morality calls for generosity, service, and kind love.”

The New Family of Jesus

Breytenbach first described how Jesus redefined kinship by extending it beyond the household and ancestry. From a Jewish perspective, this broader understanding disrupted traditional family relations, allowing non-Jews to belong to the family of Israel without inherited ties. Greco-Roman critics, meanwhile, mocked Christians for recruiting enslaved people, women, and children, thereby undermining “natural” hierarchies.  

Through the example of the Roman catacombs, Breytenbach illustrated how the Christian redefinition of kinship was made visible in practice. 

“… Several funerary inscriptions suggest that the Christian brotherhoods and sisterhoods not only provided burial for the less fortunate brothers and sisters, but also for strangers… Think about that for a moment. Are you willing to do that with your grave?”

Breytenbach’s conclusions invite reflection on what binds communities together today and how solidarity might reach beyond the familiar and comfortable. 

Love for the Neighbor and Care for the Poor

In the Greco-Roman world, poverty was often seen as a sign of divine disfavor or moral failure, whereas Judaism stressed care for widows, orphans, and the poor. Breytenbach explained how Jesus radicalized this tradition by blessing the poor (Luke 6:20) and expanding the concept of “love your neighbor” to include strangers and enemies. 

“It was the impact of Jewish tradition radicalized by Jesus that gave rise to the first forms of organized charity in Western history. It arose with emerging Christianity,” explained Breytenbach. 

Greco-Roman records noted this difference. Breytenbach quoted Aristides saying: “Generously, the Christians provide the one who has to the one who has not. Strangers, when they see them, they lead under their own roof and rejoice in him like a real brother.” 

Breytenbach also provided an example of a funerary inscription praising Aurelia None as a “nourisher of the poor,” whose generosity extended to include widowed women and their children under precarious circumstances. Such acts of care reflected a culture that saw shared vulnerability not as a weakness, but as a basis for community.

Non-Retaliatory Ethic

Central to early Christian morality, Breytenbach argued, is the belief in a non-retaliatory ethic. In both Jesus’ command to “Love your enemies” (Matthew 5:44) and with Paul’s “Bless those persecute you” (Romans 12:14), believers were encouraged to overcome evil with good and to refrain from retaliation. 

However, tension remained between ideals that emphasized forgiveness and other inscriptions that reveal Christians calling for vengeance. “The graffiti revealed that Christians were responsible for imprisoning others, while simultaneously appealing to God for justice, ” explained Breytenbach. Even while teachings of forgiveness and non-retaliation spread, many believers still lived within, and benefited from, systems of domination.

Citizenship and Allegiance Beyond the Earthly City 

In early Greco-Roman cities, one’s place in society was primarily defined by kinship, civil membership, and legal status. However, Christian identity transcended those previously defined allegiances. 

“There are good grounds to accept the view presented in Acts that Paul was a citizen of the city of Tarsus and a Roman citizen,” Breytenback shared. “Paul himself never mentions this in his letters, because his primary self-definition was that he is a slave of Christ. Belonging to Christ relativized his former status.”

Christian teachings emphasized civic loyalty, where followers prayed for rulers but refused sacrifices to gods/emperors. This received criticism from others in Greco-Roman cities, such as Tacitus and Celsus, who saw it as undermining civic cohesion. Despite this, Breytenbach detailed inscriptions that show Christians were integrated into civic life. This included Marcus Iulius Eugenius, a city official-turned-bishop who resisted imperial sacrifices. Early Christian belief and practice emphasized community and expanded the definition of belonging, thus contributing to its growth and acceptance in Greco-Roman society and beyond. 

Did Morality Beyond Kinship Aid Christianity’s Rise? 

Breytenbach concluded his lecture by reaffirming that morality beyond kinship was “not a marginal element, but a decisive feature of early Christianity.” These practices, including charity and burial of the poor, impressed outsiders, providing credibility and resilience to Christianity in a diverse empire.

“The redefinition of family bonds [became] neighbor love expressed through care for the poor, non-retaliatory conduct, and loyalty to a heavenly citizenship. These aspects converge with later non-literary evidence and utterances from critics of Christianity. These features were not only internal ideals, but became visible to outsiders, shaping perceptions of the Christian communities.”

In today’s world—still wrestling with the boundaries of belonging and the moral demands of solidarity—Breytenbach’s reflections invite a reconsideration of how we continue to define and redefine our kinship with one another.