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Hot Topics in Church History

Hot Topics in Church History. Saint Anne Adult Forum Lent 2013. Previews of Coming Attractions. Week 1: Lost Christianities Early Christians and faiths we never knew Week 2: Establishment of the Church Canon Books that didn’t make the bible and why Week 3: The Council of Nicaea

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Hot Topics in Church History

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  1. Hot Topics in Church History Saint Anne Adult Forum Lent 2013

  2. Previews of Coming Attractions • Week 1: Lost Christianities • Early Christians and faiths we never knew • Week 2: Establishment of the Church Canon • Books that didn’t make the bible and why • Week 3: The Council of Nicaea • Establishment of Christian orthodoxy • Week 4: The Crusades • Religious wars in the name of Christ • Week 5: Establishment of the Anglican Church • A rift between England and Rome that became a new faith • Week 6: Modern Hot Topics • Contemporary topics, still unresolved after 2000 years of discussion

  3. Lost Christianities Early Christian faiths we never knew

  4. Outline • The Christian world of 100 to 300 AD • Different interpretations of what it meant to be a Christian • Ebonities • Marconites • Gnostics • 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?

  5. The Roman Empire 117 AD

  6. The State of Christianity • No established canon • No established set of beliefs (Council of Nicaea wouldn’t meet until 325 AD) • Many, many books available describing the life and teachings of Jesus • Much information about the life of Jesus was still shared by word-of-mouth • Different groups had very different understandings of what it meant to be “Christian”

  7. 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

  8. The Ebionites • Accepted 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

  9. Marcionites • Theology developed by Marcion (85 – 160 A.D.) of Sinop • Believed 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

  10. Gnostics • Very 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

  11. Gnostic Texts • Followed Gospel of Mark and John • Many other Gnostic texts, including: • Gospel of Thomas • Gospel of Truth

  12. Alternate Universe • What would modern Christianity be like if these other interpretations had “won”? • Ebionites - Christianity would be a specialized subset of Judiasim • Marcionites – much shorter canon (no Old Testament) • Gnostics – Emphasis would be on discovering your inner “divine spark”

  13. 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?

  14. 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 credibility • Gnostics – elitist (only some, but not all, can be saved)

  15. Questions? On display through April 14, 2013

  16. Next Week • Books that didn’t make the bible and why

  17. How the Bible Came to Be Books that didn’t make the New Testament and why

  18. Outline • The state of Christianity 100 – 300 A.D. • A brief history of the books that made the New Testament canon • Gospels • Acts • Epistles • Apocolypse • Selected books that were not accepted • Gospel of Thomas • The Infancy Gospel of Thomas • The Gospel of Peter • How were the books of the New Testament selected? • How did the canon come to be?

  19. 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

  20. Books of the Modern New Testament • Consists of a total of 27 books by 14-15 different authors: • 4 gospels • 1 book of acts of the apostles • 21 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.

  21. 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

  22. 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)

  23. Infancy Gospel of Thomas • Describes the life of Jesus prior to his 12th birthday • Many stories about miracles Jesus performed as a child

  24. The Gospel of Thomas • Consists of a total of 114 “sayings” attributed to Jesus • Widely used by the Gnostic Christians • Was known only by the writings of Ireneaus until 1946 • A 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

  25. Gospel of Peter • Gospel explicitly claims to be written by Peter • The Gospel is written in the first person • Contains an eyewitness account of the resurrection • Was in use in the liturgy of many Christian churches • Declared heretical by Searpion of Antioch

  26. Irenaeus, 2nd Century • Marcion 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

  27. The First Modern Canon • The 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

  28. Jerome • Commissioned 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.

  29. 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”

  30. Questions? On display through April 14, 2013

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