The Early Church

Varieties of Early Christianity:Practices

Over hundreds of years, three main sects of Christianity came to be:

1. Orthodoxy

2. Catholicism

3. Protestantism

Each sect understands Christian practices differently….

The Sacraments!

In the Middle Ages, a sacrament was understood to be a symbol of something sacred.

By participating in these sacred rites, believers in Christ share in the holy mysteries of his life, death, and resurrection.

Sacraments are central to the worship life of Catholic and Orthodox Christians, while to Protestants, then are not quite as central.

Baptism:

Is an initiation rite marking the radical change in a believer from a life of sin to a new life of perfection in the Holy Spirit.

It is marked by immersion into water or by pouring or sprinkling water over the initiate.

Baptism in the fourth century included:

- Studying for at least a year (with the baptism at midnight of Easter Sunday)

- An exorcism

- Anointing with oil

- Immersion in water

Communion:

The central rite of Christianity is that observing the Lord’s Supper, also known as communion, divine liturgy, the Mass, Eucharist, and love-feast.

The oldest evidence we have of a common meal being held in memory of Jesus comes from Paul in 1 Corinthians, where he called it the Lord’s Supper.

Was Jesus speaking literally or figuratively when he called the bread his body and the wine his blood?

The Church debated this question for centuries!

In 1215, the 4th Lateran Council formally adopted the doctrine of transubstantiation – that the bread and wine are transformed into the body and blood of Jesus once the priest consecrates them.

Communion started as a sort of memorial meal.Early Christians shared a meal once a week – including singing hymns, praying, and eating.Which was a big deal when it was with people of different social classes!!

The Early Church

Varieties of Early Christianity:

Beliefs

The beliefs that prevailed came to be accepted as orthodox, that is, as consistent with proper Christian teachings.

The beliefs that did not prevail came to be viewed as heresy, that is an inconsistent with accepted Christian teachings.

Heresies helped define what became mainstream Christian doctrine by forcing theologians and church leaders to defend what they believed was correct!

(making it clear what Christianity

was not)

An early heretic, Marcion, raised questions about what Christians should consider as authoritative scripture.

Marcion believed that Jesus was not really human, but was divine; he merely appeared to be human.

Maricion thought that Paul’s letters supported this idea because Paul appeared to be criticizing the Jews.

Maricion therefore attempted to “de-Judaize” all of scripture – remove all references to the creator God

He put together a Bible that consisted only of Paul’s letters and a heavily edited version of Luke’s gospel.

Other early Christians shared Marcion’s view that Jesus was never human.

Gnostics believed that Jesus was God’s divine wisdom, descended from heaven to give humanity “gnosis” or knowledge.

Can you think of a part of Genesis that Gnostics would

interpret differently?

Maricion was finally excommunicated in 144 – but Gnostic Christianity remained heresy throughout the Mediterranean.

Not much was known about the Gnostics until 1945 when a number of Gnostic texts were discovered on the banks of the Nile River.

There are genealogies of heavenly beings, retellings of the story of Adam and Even, and a number of gospels that present Jesus as a heavenly teacher of wisdom!!

These gospels depict Peter (Jesus’s key disciple in MMLJ) as a “bad guy”, who is vindictive and unwilling to listen to Jesus.

But depict Mary Magdalene as Jesus’ closet disciple.