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.