I recently finished M. David Litwa’s Julian Against the Apostates: A Translation and Reconstruction of Julian’s Against the Galileans. I picked this up on Audible before pausing (and soon to be canceling) my subscription there. If you can find this on another audiobook platform or get a physical copy, it’s worth the time spent reading / listening. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and can’t recommend it enough.
Before I get into the merits of the book, I will note that the version I had was narrated by AI. I didn’t like that at all. From a policy perspective, there’s no reason not to have actual voice actors do the narration. AI narration is just a way for a company to avoid having to pay people to work. Before buying audiobooks in the future, I’ll check to make sure the book is narrated by a live person. If it isn’t, I’ll purchase something else. Now, back to my thoughts on the book.
As you know from other episodes of the podcast, religious history and religious philosophy isn’t my favorite topic. I usually find it a little esoteric and boring. This book, however, was captivating from the start. You get a sense from it that Julian missed his calling as a philosopher and religious theorist. Litwa’s book provides a great insight into Julian’s mind, his thought process and his overall intellectual force as a philosopher. After reading (listening) to this book, I came away with a much better understanding as to why Julian has remained an important figure despite a relatively short reign as emperor. You get the sense that Julian’s writings lingered long after his death in pagan and non-Christian circles. Hence why so many texts have been written about Julian and why Christian theorists and philosophers continue to grapple with Julian’s arguments. One wonders what would have happened had Julian not become an emperor and instead became a purely religious leader.
One of the more interesting parts of the book, to me, involved Julian referring Christians as Double Apostates as they were apostates to traditional religions and to the Jewish faith from which Christianity developed. That Julian viewed the people who call him an apostate as apostates themselves was a nice historical nugget to come across.
Litwa’s book is written in a very accessible manner. You don’t need to have an in-depth knowledge to read and understand it. Rather, people with varying levels of knowledge and expertise could pick it up and walk away with a fuller and more complete understanding of Julian, his critics and the time period in which Julian lived. The book includes commentary and responses to Julian’s arguments which is sort of like reading the transcript from a debate. Again, get a copy and read it. You’ll enjoy it.
Those are my thoughts on the book. Let me know what you think about what I think in the comments, on Bluesky, on Mastodon, on Reddit, or on Instagram.
And never forget that The Classical Antiquity Sidequest is a podcast without end.
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