The Church Fathers · c. 250
On the Spectacles
De Spectaculis
Novatian · c. 200 – c. 258
What it is
Against believers who defended going to the games by pointing out that scripture nowhere forbids it — and who cited David dancing and Elijah's chariot as precedent. Novatian answers that idolatry is the mother of all the shows, whatever has since been built on top of it.
Why it lasted
Evidence that a century after Tertullian the argument was entirely unwon, and that congregations were now quoting scripture back at their clergy to justify the amphitheatre.
Scripture it works from
Where to read it
Public domain and free to read in full, though not held here. The archives below have it.
These open a search on each archive rather than a direct link, which is the honest way to point at an edition nobody here has checked line by line.
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