Info Jgf
Justin lays strong emphasis on the doctrine of creation. His language about God shows unmistakable echoes of Plato. Repeatedly we are reminded of the famous predicates of God from the Timaeus 'Creator and father of this universe'.42 Justin points out that the Christians and Platonists agree in saying that God, in the beginning, 'created and ordered everything' through his logos.43 This is a conventional formula in the age of Justin. But he can also say 'God in his goodness created everything...
Info Ths
and Lyons before the end of the second century confirms.67 Wherever Hermas was read, the view prevailed that the new life imparted at baptism could be renewed by formal repentance, an act which involved public confession, a period of exclusion and staged reintroduction to the prayers and communion of the baptised. Tertullian describes vividly what is involved in exomologesis, 'confession' the penitent lives on a sparse diet, wears mourning clothes, including sackcloth and ashes, while groaning,...
Marcion and the Canon Harry Y Gamble
Aalders, G. J. D. 'Tertullian's quotations from St Luke', Mnemosyne 5 1937 , 241-82. Aland, B. 'Marcion Versuch einer neuen Interpretation', ZTK 70 1973 , 420-47. .'Marcion Marcioniten', TRE 22 1992 , 89-101. Balas, D. L. 'Marcion revisited a post-Harnack perspective', in Texts and testaments, W E. March ed. San Antonio, TX Trinity University Press, 1980 , 95-108. Barton, J. 'Marcion revisited', in The canon debate, L. M. McDonald and J. A. Sanders eds. Peabody, MA Hendrickson, 2002 , 241-354....
Info Han
ET The Trinity, S. McKenna trans. , FC 45 1963 . ET The Trinity, E. Hill trans. , John E. Rotelle ed. , in The works of Saint Augustine, pt 1, vol. v Brooklyn, NY New City Press, 1991 . . Retractationes. Text Sancti Aurelii Augustini Retractationum libri ii, P. Knoll ed. , CSEL 36 1902 . Text Sancti Aurelii Augustini Retractationum libri ii, A. Mutzenbecher ed. , CCSL 57 1984 . ET The retractations, M. I. Bogan trans. , FC 60 1968 . Aurelius Victor. Liber de Caesaribus. Text F. Pichlmayr and R....
Info Tlz
and, thus, gave rise to social resentment, debt, banditry and, in the case of women, prostitution. Economic realities roots of conflict Relatively speaking, Galilee was well endowed with natural resources. The melting winter snows from Mt Hermon and seasonal rains ensured good yields and allowed for the production of a variety of crops. Josephus speaks lyrically about the climatic conditions of the plain of Gennesareth in the region of Capernaum, with its luxuriant range of fruits BJ 3.506-21 ....
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enabled by the absence of Romans 15-16 in this edition. Hence it appears that Marcion simply appropriated an existing edition of Paul's letters that was ultimately based on the seven-churches edition but had been revised to offer a chronological sequence. It is not at all likely that Marcion found this edition of Paul's letters only when he came to Rome.53 Like his gospel, it was probably current and familiar to him in his native area. Marcion edited his collection of Paul's letters even as he...
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All of you, go with the bishop, as Jesus Christ with the Father, and go with the presbyterium as the apostles reverence the deacons as the appointment of God. Let none do any thing pertaining to the church without the bishop. Let that thanksgiving eucharistia be reckoned sound which is under the bishop or whoever he commit it to. Wherever the bishop is, there let the people be, just as, where Jesus Christ is, there is the universal katholike church. It is not right without the bishop either to...
I3 Truth and tradition Irenaeus Denis Minns
Abramowski, L. 'Iren us, Adv. haer. III.3.2 ccl si romana and omnis ccl si nd ibid. 3.3 Anacl t s of Rome', JTS 28 1977 , 101-4. Aland, B. 'Fides und s biectio zur Anthropologie d s Iren us', in Kerygm und Logos beitrage zu den geistesgeschichtlichen Beziehungen zwischen Antike und Christentum. Festschrift fu r Carl Andresen zum 70. Geburtstag, A. M. Ritter d. Gotting n V nd nhoeck amp Ruprecht, 1979 , 9-28. An tolios, K. Athanasius the coherence of his thought. London Routledge, 1998 . Andia,...
Info Enr
albeit the first and 'not as one of the creatures'. Perfectly, unchangeably and timelessly, the Son retains the likeness of the Father - but only by virtue of the Father's will. Alexander retorted that, if the Son is unchangeable only by the Father's will, he is changeable by nature. For evidence that the Son is derived uniquely from the Father, he proceeds in his encyclical,13 we need look no further than the title logos in the gospel of John for this means speech, and what is speech, as Psalm...
Info Rvl
to lie behind some Syriac word choices, strengthening the eschatological or soteriological force of a given text.6 For example, John the Baptist's 'vegetarian' diet of milk and honey in the wilderness owes more to images of paradise and redemption than to any sense that the eating of meat flesh might in some way be sinful.7 The importance of such a perspective will become apparent shortly. Syria preserved the earliest known collection of Christian hymns, the Odes of Solomon forty-two short...
Maureen A Tillet
HE 7.13 finds no echo of application in Africa. This does not mean that buildings set aside specifically as churches did not exist before 300 ce, but that there is no evidence of them. Catacombs testify to early Christianity in Africa. The oldest, those at Hadrumetum, date from mid-third century.3 By then the city already had a bishop. Despite the title Bonpasteur, there is no indication that Christians established the catacomb or that their burials constituted the majority there. There is no...
Info Mvf
of apostolic foundation preserves the authentic tradition, it will have the same doctrine as any other church of apostolic foundation. Irenaeus chose to give the succession list of the church of Rome because that church is 'very great, very ancient and known to all'. If any church of apostolic foundation will have the authentic tradition, then a fortiori this church will have it, because of its more excellent origin - that is, its foundation not by one, but by two apostles, and most glorious...
Info Spx
the harmony of our faith' HE 5.24.13 . Once again, the Christians from Gaul had intervened in events in Rome regarding affairs which concerned their fellow Christians from Asia, indicating that they were aware and involved in the life of the church at large. By the time that Cyprian d. 254 wrote Ep. 68 to Stephen in Rome, Faustinus was now the bishop in Lyons, and there was also a community in Arles, led by the bishop Marcianus, who had associated himself with Novatian. We hear nothing more of...
Info Fzk
Statistical estimates for Christianisation A study by Rodney Stark estimates that the Christian population of the Roman empire was 1.9 per cent c.250 ce, 10.5 per cent c.300 ce and 56.5 per cent c.350 ce.18 This framework is based on the supposition that the number of Christians increased at a rate of 40 per cent per decade between c.40 and 350 ce. These figures are more optimistic than traditional estimates going back to Edward Gibbon, who put the Christian population of the empire at the time...
Info Rbj
ET On the apostolic preaching, J. Behr trans. Crestwood, NY St Vladimir's Seminary Press, 1997 . ET Proof of the apostolic preaching, J. P. Smith trans. , ACW 16 1952 . ET The demonstration of the apostolic preaching, J. A. Robinson trans. , TCL ser. 4 1920 . . Fragmenta. Text and German trans. Fragmente vornicanischer Kirchenvater aus den Sacra Parallela, K. Holl ed. and trans. , TU 20.2 1899 . Text and German trans. Armenische Irenaeusfragmente, H.Jordan ed. and trans. , TU 36.3 James, M. R....
Info Sek
threat to the priority of the one true God in whose providence the Christ was pre-ordained to act as agent in bringing his purposes to fruition. Jesus did not teach Christianity, because Christianity is about Jesus. The earliest writings in the New Testament are the epistles of Paul. Their difference from the gospels, particularly the apparent lack of interest in the life and teaching of Jesus, is one of the great conundrums of early Christianity. Yet there are some elements that provide a...
Info Rhz
to be against the forbidden degrees of relationship in Levitical law. If this is not the meaning, then the passage, which already represents only the male's prerogative to initiate divorce, reinforces the patriarchal double standard and Augustan legislation by which a husband may divorce his wife for unchastity, but not the reverse Matt 19 9 . Writing in Rome in the early second century, the Christian freedman Hermas reviews marriage regulations, reminding his listeners from a male point of...
Specialised bibliographies by chapter
Prelude Jesus Christ, foundation of Christianity Frances M. Young Allison, D. C. Jesus ofNazareth millenarian prophet Minneapolis Fortress, 1998 . Bauckham, R. The climax of prophecy Edinburgh T amp T Clark, 1993 . Bockmuehl, M. N. A. ed. . The Cambridge companion to Jesus Cambridge Cambridge University Press, 2001 . Chilton, B. Rabbi Jesus an intimate biography New York Doubleday, 2000 . Crossan, J. D. The historical Jesus the life of a Mediterranean Jewish peasant San Francisco...
Info Djd
of Jesus. Such a 'docetic' position may have involved theories about the relationship between the heavenly divine and the earthly human in Christ, or it may have denigrated the physical Jesus, on philosophical66 or perhaps even paraenetic grounds.67 The writer of the epistle insists, in any case, on the close connection between Father and Son i John 2 22-3 , and maintains that Jesus really did come 'in the flesh' i John 4 i-3 cf. 2 John 7 . Other doctrinal struggles surface in the epistle's...
Info Ydd
Inscriptions and graffiti, mostly funerary and found in catacombs or on sarcophagi Tomb paintings see Figs. 3 and 7 for examples also the Capella Graeca in the Priscilla catacomb is especially important , and mosaics Fig. 9 Sarcophagi such as that of Marcus Aurelius Prosenes 217 ce 11 and the Via Salaria sarcophagus late third century 12 which appear to be Christian, while also reflecting conventional 'pagan' artistic imagery. Rome the capital and Christianity within its ambit When Christianity...
Birger A Pearson
Evidence for Christianity in Egypt consists of non-literary and literary sources. There is virtually no archaeological evidence datable to before the fourth century, apart from a few scattered architectural fragments which are supposed to come from the earliest attested church in Alexandria, that of Theonas bishop 282-300 ce .1 The earliest identifiably Christian tombs date from the fourth century.2 There are no Christian inscriptions from Egypt datable to before the fourth century.3 The meagre...
Info Tzr 1
The former, closer to God, could mediate disputes among the latter M. Perp. 13 . A generation later Cyprian still respected dreams as revelatory.43 Was the church the home of saints or the refuge of sinners The church was envisioned not simply as a gathering of baptised Christians but it was hypo-statised. Tertullian was the first to use the epithet 'mother church' Mart. 1 , and Cyprian felt so strongly that he said, 'one cannot have God as Father who does not have the church as mother' Unit....
Marcion and the canon
Marcion is one of the most intriguing yet elusive figures in early Christian history. It is proof of his prominence that, among the diverse forms of Christianity that flourished in the second century, his was the most frequently and forcefully attacked by anti-heretical writers, and was apparently perceived as the most dangerous Marcion has likewise interested modern scholars, not only because of the peculiarities of his teachings but also because of his possible influence on one of the most...
Dmt And Christianity
comprised of a list of passages culled from the scriptures that Christians took to be references to Jesus - his life, actions especially miracles , death and remarkable resurrection.12 Hence the first element in the establishment of the Christian 'written record' was the singularly most significant decision -initially through the reflexive retention of the unquestioned literary authority of the word of God by faithful Jews, and later as a conscious step in literary appropriation by Gentiles who...
Nd
Asc. Jas. Ep. Petr. Hom. Keryg. Pet. Recogn. Adversus Judaeos Homiliae 1-88 in Johannem Academicae quaestiones Pro Cluentio Definibus De haruspicum responso De natura deorum De republica Paedagogus Protrepticus Quis dives salvetur Stromateis Ascents ofJames Epistula Petri ad Jacobum Homiliae Kerygmata Petrou Recognitiones Constantine Const. Oratio ad sanctorum coetum Catech. 1-18 Catecheses illuminandorum Catech. 19-23 Catecheses mystagogicae Ep. Const. Epistula ad Constantium de visione crucis...
Info Bjf
the idea of systematic regional gatherings producing a decree for the universal church belongs in the fourth century, not the second. Solid evidence for councils and their procedures begins with the fall-out of the Decian persecution, 249-51 ce. But those records themselves furnish some evidence of gatherings, a generation or more earlier, to deal with the validity of heretical baptisms, at Iconium in Phrygia, involving bishops from neighbouring provinces, as well as of the bishops of Africa...
Info Nat
equal with God. It would not be a great thing, if God made the world out of pre-existent matter. 'Even a human artisan, when he obtains material from someone, makes whatever he wishes out of it. But the power of God is revealed by his making whatever he wishes out of the non-existent exouk onton .' God's unique power of creating out of nothing has its parallel in his unique ability to give life and motion to human beings. God 'made whatever he wished in whatever way he wished'. In this...
Info Bul
it is better to hold that this is about the one community meal of the Didache.44 Early Christian ritual meals varied in their meaning, function and content food other than bread was widely offered, and wine was by no means universal.45 The prayers and rituals associated with the formal meals of congregations are poorly attested for the early period - it is a mistake to read the contents of the great liturgical texts of the fourth century back. This has often been attempted, at the cost of...
From Jerusalem to the ends of the earth
Both the apostle Paul and the risen Jesus according to Luke envision a spreading of the Christian movement out from Jerusalem into the circumference of the Mediterranean world, as far as Rome, and 'to the ends of the earth' Acts 1 8 Rom 15 19, 24 . The chapters in this section will trace the progress and effects of that dispersion of Christian communities in the first three centuries -to Asia Minor, Achaea, Egypt, Syria, Mesopotamia, Gaul, North Africa and Rome. The purpose of such regional...
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third, in 'the Holy Spirit and the holy church and the resurrection of the flesh'. After this triple baptism, the candidate is anointed again, but now with the 'oil of thanksgiving', a perfume, apparently once at the font, and once again by the bishop, with laying on of hands in the presence of the congregation. Then the newly baptised for the first time is allowed to join in the prayers and the eucharist, and receives symbolic milk, honey and water to drink, as well as the eucharistic bread...
Mitchell Abercius
Figure 4. Abercius inscription fragments, Museo Pio Cristiano, Musei Vaticani photo Margaret M. Mitchell companions' who celebrated the eucharist and knew Paul and shared Aber-cius' faith, reinforced his grand conception of a single 'people' and 'kingdom'. Nothing about the inscription is other-worldly.59 Apart from the special Christian images, Abercius employs the usual conventions of an epitaph, including warnings of fines to be paid to the fiscus of Rome and to the patris Hieropolis by...
Info Lub
simple everyday family and business letters e.g. epistolary prescript, health wish, disclosure formulae, greetings, farewells , and they are real letters written to known and directly addressed readers.3 But their epistolary bodies i.e. the centre of the letter where its main business is accomplished are far more elaborate, including complex and highly developed arguments which are much closer to the literary letters of the orators and philosophers and Hellenistic Jewish authors, like the...
Info Vyh
councils have often been noted.19 The distinction between the ordo clericus clergy and the ordo laicus laity parallels that between the plebs ordinary citizens and the curial class, propertied men who had the responsibility of ruling and equipping the city's public affairs. Roman social orders senatorial, equestrian, curial, etc. seem reflected in the different orders within the church bishops, presbyters, deacons, widows, virgins, subdeacons, lectors . The church took on the identity of the...
Markus Vinzent
All roads lead to Rome. The perspective adopted here is that Rome absorbed many cross-currents from around the early Christian world, and, far from itself generating or disseminating a specific theology, the Roman church was fragmented and subject to repeated internal upheavals in the first three centuries. Time and again, this church found itself affected by controversies imported by immigrants from around the empire. This seems, generally speaking, a truer characterisation than Walter Bauer's...
Info Mez
communities in Rome.29 At some point, Irenaeus was in contact with Flori-nus, whom he had previously met in Polycarp's house in Asia, when he was a 'man of rank in the royal hall', but who was now a presbyter in Rome. Flori-nus, however, had become attracted by Valentinian teaching, and so Irenaeus wrote to him, warning him about 'the teachings which not even the heretics outside the church ever dared to proclaim'.30 Eventually Irenaeus wrote to Victor, warning him of Florinus' teaching, which...
Frank Trombley
Methods, sources, and demographic judgements The demographic study of earliest Christianity began with Adolf von Har-nack's Die Mission und Ausbreitung des Christentums. Relying on the critical analysis of literary sources, Harnack saw demographically significant Christian communities wherever there was a martyrdom narrative or clear evidence for an episcopal see. This assessment was influenced by Tertullian and Origen, who both argued that Christianity was expanding rapidly in all parts of the...
Info Wad
The early Christian community of Rome drew its membership from the artisans and freedmen living in large tenement blocks insulae , and from freedmen and slaves working in the imperial household, particularly in the time of Com-modus, Septimius Severus and their successors. Most non-servile Christians in Rome and elsewhere were peregrini, expatriate citizens of the towns and their territories of the Roman orient. They enjoyed neither Roman citizenship nor Latin rights until the Constitutio...
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Origen speaks of a 'meek and quiet' community in Athens c.250, and one of its inscriptions from the later third century survives.43 There also appear to be pre-Constantinian funerary inscriptions in Beroea, Corinth, Edessa, Philippi and Thessalonica.44 The early churches in provincial Greece and the Aegean islands are known from pre-fourth-century installations and artefacts these include a catacomb on the island of Melos, burials pre-dating the construction of the early fourth-century...
Kek
NewDocs New documents illustrating early Christianity, 9 vols., G. H. R. Horsley and S. Llewelyn eds. North Ryde, NSW Ancient History Documentary Research Centre, Macquarie University, 1981 NHMS Nag Hammadi and Manichaean studies Leiden Brill NHS Nag Hammadi studies Leiden Brill NICNT New international commentary on the New Testament Grand Rapids, MI Eerdmans NovTSup Novum Testamentum supplements Leiden Brill NPNF1 Nicene and post-Nicene fathers, series 1 Grand Rapids, MI Eerdmans NPNF2 Nicene...
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little or no reliable information about the beginning of any of those churches. It is only the mission of Paul and his wide-flung network of associates for which we have abundant primary evidence, thanks to the survival of letters, written by both Paul and his disciples, and to the central role accorded to Paul by the author of Acts. These sources reveal an intense effort over three or four decades, which planted Christian groups in cities on the trade routes of central and western Asia Minor,...
Info Rnc
With this narrative in mind, the gospels have been read within the Christian tradition, not as biographical accounts of aJewnamedJesus, but as epiphanies.35 The divine has shone through the earthly story, because it is about the Son of God, who pre-existed creation, yet, for love of the human race, emptied himself of divinity, became human by being born of the Virgin Mary and the Holy Spirit, lived a human life marked by miracles and healings, gave his disciples the supreme ethical teaching,...