Download - Hot Topics in Church History
Hot Topics in Church History
Saint Anne Adult ForumLent 2013
Previews of Coming AttractionsWeek 1: Lost Christianities
Early Christians and faiths we never knewWeek 2: Establishment of the Church Canon
Books that didn’t make the bible and whyWeek 3: The Council of Nicaea
Establishment of Christian orthodoxyWeek 4: The Crusades
Religious wars in the name of ChristWeek 5: Establishment of the Anglican Church
A rift between England and Rome that became a new faithWeek 6: Modern Hot Topics
Contemporary topics, still unresolved after 2000 years of discussion
Lost ChristianitiesEarly Christian faiths we never knew
OutlineThe Christian world of 100 to 300 ADDifferent interpretations of what it meant to be
a ChristianEbonitiesMarconitesGnostics
Why did these different interpretations exist?What became of these Christianities?How do the differences in these Christian faiths
continue to influence our own faith today?
The Roman Empire 117 AD
The State of ChristianityNo established canonNo established set of beliefs (Council of
Nicaea wouldn’t meet until 325 AD)Many, many books available describing the
life and teachings of JesusMuch information about the life of Jesus was
still shared by word-of-mouthDifferent groups had very different
understandings of what it meant to be “Christian”
Where Does Our Information About These Groups Come From?Original texts and
writings generally don’t survive
Irenaeus – second century author who wrote against these interpretations, and sometimes quoted their texts
The EbionitesAccepted Jesus as the Jewish
Messiah, but still kept the Jewish law
May have been closely associated with James, the brother of Jesus
Believed that Jesus was fully human (not divine), and became a “Son of God” by keeping The Law perfectly
Had a gospel similar to the gospel of Matthew (less the first two chapters), plus the books of the Old Testament
MarcionitesTheology developed by Marcion
(85 – 160 A.D.) of SinopBelieved Jesus was fully divine
(not human)Did not think one had to keep
The Law to be right with God (i.e. did not have to be Jewish
Held that there were two Gods – one of the Old Testament (who also created the world) and one of the New
First to develop a canon of accepted scripture: Book similar to gospel of Luke
(called the Gospel of Marcion) Ten letters of Paul
Sinop
GnosticsVery little known about Gnostics
until the discovery of many Gnostic texts at Nag Hamadi, Egypt in 1946
Believed that the world is an evil place created by an inferior god, but many of us have the “spark of the divine” and are trying to return to the true God
Believed Christ entered the body of a man named Jesus, and came here to reveal this knowledge to us
Felt that the world wasn’t what it appeared to be, and that we aren’t supposed to be here
Gnostic TextsFollowed Gospel of
Mark and JohnMany other Gnostic
texts, including:Gospel of ThomasGospel of Truth
Alternate UniverseWhat would modern Christianity be like if
these other interpretations had “won”?Ebionites - Christianity would be a specialized
subset of JudiasimMarcionites – much shorter canon (no Old
Testament)Gnostics – Emphasis would be on discovering
your inner “divine spark”
What Were the Disagreements?Who was Jesus?
Was he fully human, but kept the law perfectly and became a Son of God? (ebionites)
Was he fully divine, and only appeared to be human? (Marcionites)
Was he a divine being who entered the body of a man named Jesus?
What was Jesus’ purpose here?To deliver a new interpretation of The Law?To be the perfect sacrifice?To deliver the knowledge needed to return to the
divine realm?
How Did Our Current Understanding of Christianity “Win”?Located in Rome
Roads – able to communicate the theology and the scriptures which eventually became the canon
Wealth – churches in Rome could send funds to help support like-minded Christian churches elsewhere in the Empire
Old – once the Old Testament was adopted, became credible and authoritative by virtue of its age (i.e. older than Homer, Plato, etc)
Popular – once adopted by Constantine, Christianity became quite popular
Ebonites – not very appealing (must become a Jew and keep The Law)
Marcionites – not very old, thus lacked authority and credibilityGnostics – elitist (only some, but not all, can be saved)
Questions?
On display through April 14, 2013
Next WeekBooks that didn’t make the bible and why
How the Bible Came to BeBooks that didn’t make the New Testament
and why
OutlineThe state of Christianity 100 – 300 A.D.A brief history of the books that made the New Testament
canonGospelsActsEpistlesApocolypse
Selected books that were not acceptedGospel of ThomasThe Infancy Gospel of ThomasThe Gospel of Peter
How were the books of the New Testament selected?How did the canon come to be?
The State of Christianity“Proto-orthodox”
Christianity becomes the dominant form in most parts of the empire by the 4th century
No formal canon (list) of accepted texts exists
Various Christian groups may be using different texts from one another
Books of the Modern New TestamentConsists of a total of
27 books by 14-15 different authors:4 gospels1 book of acts of the
apostles21 epistles (letters)1 apocalypse
All books were originally written in Greek
Letters of Paul written around 50 - 60 A.D.
Gospel of Mark ~ 65 A.D.
Gospels of Luke and Matthew 80 – 85 A.D.
Gospel of John 90-95 A.D.
Most books completed by 120 A.D.
Some Books Which Were Not Included in the Canon The Gospels of
Thomas Philip Mary Magdalene The Hebrews The Ebionites Bartholomew Nicodemus Basilides Truth The Nazarenes The Egyptians
The Secret Gospel of Mark The Aprocryphon of James The Infancy Gospel of James The Infancy Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew The Infancy Gospel of Thomas The Arabic Gospel of the Infancy The Armenian Gospel of the Infancy The Assumption of the Virgin The History of Joseph the Carpenter
The Acts of Peter and the Twelve Apostles John Peter Paul Andrew Thomas Paul and Thecla Andrew and Matthias Barnabas James the Great Peter and Andrew Philip Pilate Thaddeus
The Ascents of James The Martyrdom of Matthew The Passion of Paul The Passion of Peter The Preaching of Peter
How Were Books Determined to be Canonical?Had to satisfy three
main criteria:Had to be written by
one of the apostles or one of the apostles’ companions (i.e. the book had to be old)
Had to be widely read by Christian churches throughout the world
Had to conform to the teachings of the church (had to be orthodox)
Infancy Gospel of ThomasDescribes the life of
Jesus prior to his 12th birthday
Many stories about miracles Jesus performed as a child
The Gospel of ThomasConsists of a total of 114
“sayings” attributed to JesusWidely used by the Gnostic
ChristiansWas known only by the
writings of Ireneaus until 1946A complete copy was
discovered in Nag Hamadi, Egypt, written in coptic
Translated into English in 1977
Not included in the canon because it was considered to be a gnostic text
Gospel of PeterGospel explicitly claims
to be written by PeterThe Gospel is written in
the first personContains an eyewitness
account of the resurrection
Was in use in the liturgy of many Christian churches
Declared heretical by Searpion of Antioch
Irenaeus, 2nd CenturyMarcion was the first to
develop a list of acceptable scription
Irenaeus was the first to call Mark, Luke, Matthew and John all canonical
Cites 22 of the 27 books in the New Testament
Uses apostolic succession in his arguments
The First Modern CanonThe first listing of
the 27 books contained in the modern New Testament dates from 367 A.D.
Listed in an annual spring letter by Athanasius, the Bishop of Alexandria
JeromeCommissioned by Pope
Damascus in 382 to revise the complete bible, including the Old and New Testaments
Rewrote the gospels from Greek, translated into consistent Latin
Dominant version of the bible from 400 to 1530 A.D.
For further reading…Ehrman, Bart D.
“Lost Christianities”“The Lost Gospel of Judas Iscariot”“Lost Scriptures”
Meyer, Marvin W.“The Secret Teachings of Jesus”
Pagels, Elaine“Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas”“Revelations: Visons, Prophesy and Politics in
the Book of Revelation”
Questions?
On display through April 14, 2013