Post on 23-Dec-2015
Lecture 3 – The Second CenturyThe Challenge of Greek
Philosophy
See pages 120-140 of Latourette, plus class handouts
Church History
Greek CultureMany gods (polytheism) often in a hierarchySexually promiscuous, homosexuality
acceptedWidespread use of drugs & prostitution in
religionEcstatic worshipMystery religionsPhilosophy (Aristotle, Plato, Socrates)Sharp distinction between spirit(good) and
matter (evil)Mystical and symbolic, numerology, astrologyStrong belief in “Fate”: prophecy, Sibyls,
oracles
The Tension For New ConvertsVery hard to find the balanceEither totally rejected Greek
culture and went to the opposite extreme (e.g. compulsory celibacy)
Extremism / legalismOr tried to synthesize Greek
culture and the Christian faith (and sometimes became heretical)
Anti-nomianism (rejection of the law), syncretism (mixing up paganism and Christianity)
GnosticismGnosis = knowledgeGnosticism = salvation by knowledgeNo sin, only ignorance of divinity / spiritualitySharp distinction between spirit and matter
(dualism)This world created by an evil god “demiurge”True God is love and is unknowable Many layers of spirit beingsMany different kinds of GnosticismSome very strict morally, others allowed
promiscuity as the body ‘did not matter” and what was done in the body did not affect the spirit.
MarcionismMarcion (110-165AD) a wealthy
shipping magnate went to Rome and about 138 AD started teaching that:
The “God of the Old Testament” was evil and was the demiurge
That Judaism was the religion of this “evil god” and the otherwise unknown God of love was revealed in Christ
That only the letters of Paul and the gospel of Luke were the Scriptures
An attempt to return to pure grace and to the pure gospel untainted by law
Tended to ‘cut and paste’ the BibleForbad marriage, strict celibacy
Simon Magus & Babylonian Religion
Simon Magus was a magician from Samaria (see Acts 8:9-24) who tried to buy the power to confer the power of the Holy Spirit
He is mentioned as having great occult powers by many early church fathers
Early church fathers taught that Simon Magus was the source of all heresies
Simon Magus taught that knowledge conferred supernatural powers
Had a system of ‘divine emanations’Simon was worshipped by his followersTaught Babylonian occult mysteries in
RomeSupposedly fell to his death in a
confrontation with the Apostle Peter in Rome
MontanismMontanus was from Phrygia, Montanism
flourished in the second half of the second century
Stressed the spiritual gifts, speaking in tongues and prophecy, lived very holy lives
Was popular in Phrygia and North AfricaExpected the imminent return of Jesus Christ
and a literal 1000 year reign (known as chiliasm)
The great apologist Justin Martyr eventually joined
Not so much a heresy as an extreme. Montanus and his two female prophets tended to see themselves as anointed and infallible
The Danger Of Defining The Faith
Every attempt to ‘standardize’ Christianity tends to also factionalize it.
There is a strong tension between truth and love – if we emphasize truth too much we can end up being judgmental and unloving but if we emphasize acceptance to much we can admit rampant heresy.
Many disputes were completely unnecessary (such as the long dispute over the date of celebrating Easter)
Other disputes (such as that over celibacy) come from cultural over-reaction
The Rise Of The Bishop Of Rome
The notion of Apostolic SuccessionThe ‘primacy of St. Peter” – many good
popes at first esp. Leo the GreatRome was where Peter and Paul were and
was the center of the Roman Empire Jerusalem, Carthage, Alexandria and
Constantinople were competitors for a while
Acts seems to support Rome as the place where the gospel ends up
At first was just ‘first among equals’Gradually increased in power as center of
empire shifted to Constantinople and the pope was no longer overshadowed by the Emperor and his court.