Most early Christians seem to have lived with a fairly basic understanding of soteriology. Beginning with Tertullian of Carthage, however, deeper investigation into specific aspects of soteriological doctrine began to circulate within the Church.[14] Philosophical language and concepts began to find more frequent use among the Fathers, and soon after the Fathers began teaching thatContinue reading “Thinking about Salvation in Early Christianity (Part II)”
By the early fourth century, the Christianity had spread across the Roman world with surprising speed, tenacity, and relative uniformity of belief. While the early Church was by no means completely uniform in doctrine, belief, or practice, the vast majority of Christians professed what has become known as Christian Orthodoxy.[1] Heresies such as Docetism, Ebionism,Continue reading “Thinking about Salvation in Early Christianity (Part I)”
Since the publication of Walter Bauer’s Rechtgläubigkeit und Ketzerie im ältesten Christentum in 1934, the issue of discerning orthodoxy and heresy in earliest Christianity has taken on renewed importance. Amidst this reinvigorated study, however, scholars have by-and-large failed to appropriately consider the insights of Christian heretical catalogues, or so argues Geoffrey S. Smith in GuiltContinue reading “Book Review: Guilt by Association (Smith)”
This post is part of an ongoing series examining Marcion of Sinope and his influence of the formation of the New Testament canon. Common to the perspectives of Knox, Tyson, and Price is that Marcion not only formed the notion of a Christian canon, but also influenced the writing of the canonical Luke-Acts and conceptionsContinue reading “The Marcion Problem: Canon and Literature Formation (Part III)”
This post is part of an ongoing series examining Marcion of Sinope and his influence of the formation of the New Testament canon. Joseph Tyson Following Knox’s perspective is Joseph Tyson’s work Marcion and Luke-Acts: A Defining Struggle, in which Tyson argues argues for a late compositional dating of Luke-Acts as a response to MarcionContinue reading “The Marcion Problem: Canon and Literature Formation (Part II)”
This post is part of an ongoing series examining Marcion of Sinope and his influence of the formation of the New Testament canon. We now turn to the Canon and Literature Formation school, which understands Marcion not only to have been formed the notion of a Christian canon, but also to have influenced the majorContinue reading “The Marcion Problem: Canon and Literature Formation (Part I)”
This post is part of an ongoing series examining Marcion of Sinope and his influence of the formation of the New Testament canon. Having examined the perspectives on Harnack, Von Campenhausen, and Metzger regarding Marcion influence on the development of the Christian New Testament canon over the past couple of weeks (namely, that his conceptionsContinue reading “The Marcion Problem: Canon Formation (Part III)”
This post is part of an ongoing series examining Marcion of Sinope and his influence of the formation of the New Testament canon. Hans von Campenhausen Hans Von Campenhausen, building upon Harnack’s reconstruction of Marcion, argued in The Formation of the Christian Bible that scholars cannot speak of a ‘canon’ of Pauline epistles before Marcion,Continue reading “The Marcion Problem: Canon Formation (Part II)”
This post is part of an ongoing series examining Marcion of Sinope and his influence of the formation of the New Testament canon. Adolf von Harnack The great Adolph von Harnack was a forerunner in both general canonical studies as well as specific considerations of Marcion, with his works setting the tone for the yearsContinue reading “The Marcion Problem: Canon Formation (Part I)”
Pursuing Veritas