In Roman culture at the time of the early Church, the father had absolute control over every member of his family — including power over life and death. Under the Roman Republic, a paterfamilias — the head of a household — could legally execute his son if

Christians and Killing

Many families had multiple sons. Only 1 percent had multiple daughters. Where did all those girls go? Into the sewer. Out to the town dump.

A man did not “have a child.” He “took a child.” The father “raised up” the child by picking the child up off the floor.

In Rome, a child did not achieve personhood until he was recognized by the head of the family, the father.

Criteria for Personhood

Every other nation, every other empire, every other kingdom, every other people — the Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Hittites, the Greeks, the Romans — routinely killed their young. Plato and Aristotle commended abortion and infanticide. As the philosopher Seneca said, getting rid of useless children was simply the reasonable thing to do.

abortion and even infanticide were commonplace in the culture, requiring little deliberation.

Pagan philosophers were big on eugenics, to use a term that became popular in the nineteenth century. They thought humans should be bred as carefully as we breed cattle. And they thought the children born of those carefully planned unions should be brought up primarily to be useful. Utility was the key factor in deciding whether a human being was w