In telling the story of the Bride of Christ, the best place to start is the beginning...well, near the beginning. We are going to pick up our story around the time when all of the Apostles died off. The period stretching from 100 A.D. to 451 A.D. is usually referred to as the Patristic period.
The designation of "patristic" comes from both the Latin and Greek words for father (pater). The reason for this designation is that the early Christian writers are usually referred to as the Church Fathers.
You may not realize this, but this era in church history is probably the most important era. It was a time of great flux, persecution, and theological development. What we consider orthodox theology (trinity, divinity of Christ, etc) were hammered out, and there were times when the only thing standing between orthodoxy, and heresy overtaking the church, was the pen of a gifted theologian. With that being said, let's look at some of the major developments during this period.
First, early on, the relationship between Judaism and Christianity was finally coming to light. Christianity was now set apart as a totally different religion.
Second, much of the first two centuries of the church were spent in trying to survive persecution and defending her beliefs. In essence, at the beginning of this period, the Church was mainly engaged in what we call apologetics.
Thirdly, with the rise of Emperor Constantine, Christianity became the dominant religion of the empire, thus allowing true theological development to take place.
Finally, during the close of this period (310-451) major theological consensus began to take place.
Within every major period, there were major theologians that helped shape the story of the Christian Church. Those of the Patristic period are, but not limited to:
•Justin Martyr (c.100-c.165)
•Irenaeus of Lyons (c.130-c.200)
•Tertullian (c.160-c.225)
•Origen (c.185-c.254)
•Cyprian of Carthage (d.258)
•Athanasius (c.293-373)
•The Cappadocian fathers
–Basil the Great (c.330-79)
–Gregory of Nyssa (c.330-c.395)
–Gregory of Nazianzus (329-89)
•Augustine of Hippo (354-430)
Each of these theologians were involved in at least one or more of the theological issues of their day. In future articles, we will talk in detail about what each one of these theologians contributed, but for now, I will just give a brief overview of the major theological debates of the Patristic era.
1. The Extent of the New Testament Canon.
With the rise of Gnosticism, it became important to appeal to the traditions that were handed down by the apostles. In doing so, a "canon" or fixed rule of Scripture had to be decided on. This is an often convoluted and misunderstood aspect of Church history, and something we will dive into deeper in the future. But for now, it is sufficient to know that it was during this time that the term "Scripture" began to officially apply to the books of the New Testament that we have today.
Debates took place over which books to include, the arrangement of the books, and most importantly, the criteria for canonicity. All things considered, a clear acknowledgement of the 27 New Testament books is found in Athanasius' 39th Festal Letter (367 A.D.)
2. The Role of Tradition and the Gnostics.
The greatest challenge to Christianity during the early Patristic period was Gnosticism. Gnosticism is really hard to define, since there were several branches, but basically it is this: Human flesh is bad. The apostles revealed secret forms of knowledge which only the "gnostics" (from Greek word gnosis- knowledge) had access to. Because human flesh is evil Jesus only appeared to be a man. This is a very simplistic explanation but we will revisit Gnosticism in the future.
All you need to know at this point is that the challenge of Gnosticism forced the Church to appeal to apostolic tradition as passed down, as well as define a "rule of faith"- which lead to the development of the New Testament canon.
3. The Ecuminical Creeds.
Because of all of the theological controversy, several creeds were agreed upon as authoritative for orthodox theology. Two of the most important were the Nicene Creed (agreed upon at the Council of Nicea in 325 A.D.) and the updated Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed (an updated form of the Nicene Creed that was agreed upon at the Council of Constantinople in 381 A.D.).
4. The Arian Controversy.
During the Patristic era, much controversy arose over the two natures of Christ. One of those controversies was Arianism. Arianism is attributed to the teachings of Arius (c 256-336), who was a priest in Alexandria. Arius taught that Christ was not of the same essence of God the Father, and was the highest of the creatures of God. He taught that there was a time when the Son was not; there was a time when God the Father existed without the Son. His teachings were the subject of the Council of Nicea (325) and Athanasius was instrumental in having Arius' views condemned.
5. The Doctrine of the Trinity.
After the divinity of the Son had been decided on, this discussion gave birth to reflections on the trinity. Two lines of thoughts were developed: In the East, the Cappadocian Fathers developed one view of trinitarian theology, while in the West, Augustine developed another. What is of most importance is that during this time, modalistic heresies, such as Sabellianism, were condemned, and a clear biblical and philosophical defense of the three-in-oneness of God was developed.
6. The Donatist Controversy.
During the fourth century, under the persecution of Diocletian (303-313), many Christians lapsed in their faith. After the persecution died out, they wanted to rejoin the church. These who wanted to rejoin the church were given the negative name "traditores" by the Donatists. The Donatists were a group of native African Christians who resented the growing influence of the Roman church in North Africa. They argued that the church was a body of saints, and that the sinners had no place within her. This belief led to them refusing to reinstate the "traditores" to the faith.
Things came to a head when Felix of Aptunga, a "traditores", was later consecrated as a Caecilian bishop. This enraged some of the local Christians and lead them to reject the authority of the Caecilian. The hierarchy of the catholic church was tainted, and the Donatists began to gain a larger following. So strong was this movement, that eventually, they began to outnumber the catholics. By the time Augustine returned to North Africa in 388, the Donatists were well established. Augustine got involved in the debate, and eventually settled the issue. More on this in the future.
7. The Pelagian Controversy.
Up until the time of Augustine, the doctrine of grace had not been an issue of significance as far as its theological development, especially in the east. But this would change, when in the second decade of the fifth century, a hot debate broke out in the west over the doctrine of grace.
The debate was started by Pelagius, a British monk who was based in Rome. He was alarmed at the moral laxity that he saw in the Roman church, and insisted on the need for constant self improvement in light of the OT law and the example of Christ. In doing this, he seemed to deny both the need and place for grace. This concerned Augustine, who met him head on. The controversy is quite complex, but can be summed up under four doctrinal topics:
1. Freedom of the Will
2. Sin
3. Grace
4. Justification.
In the future, we will get into the theological details of this debate, but for now, you just need to know that Pelagius was excommunicated by Pope Innocent and his views were condembed by four regional councils and one ecemunical council (Council of Ephesus 431 A.D.).
In the weeks and months to come, we will be looking at both these theological developments and the Patristic theologians in a bit more depth.
The designation of "patristic" comes from both the Latin and Greek words for father (pater). The reason for this designation is that the early Christian writers are usually referred to as the Church Fathers.
You may not realize this, but this era in church history is probably the most important era. It was a time of great flux, persecution, and theological development. What we consider orthodox theology (trinity, divinity of Christ, etc) were hammered out, and there were times when the only thing standing between orthodoxy, and heresy overtaking the church, was the pen of a gifted theologian. With that being said, let's look at some of the major developments during this period.
First, early on, the relationship between Judaism and Christianity was finally coming to light. Christianity was now set apart as a totally different religion.
Second, much of the first two centuries of the church were spent in trying to survive persecution and defending her beliefs. In essence, at the beginning of this period, the Church was mainly engaged in what we call apologetics.
Thirdly, with the rise of Emperor Constantine, Christianity became the dominant religion of the empire, thus allowing true theological development to take place.
Finally, during the close of this period (310-451) major theological consensus began to take place.
Within every major period, there were major theologians that helped shape the story of the Christian Church. Those of the Patristic period are, but not limited to:
•Justin Martyr (c.100-c.165)
•Irenaeus of Lyons (c.130-c.200)
•Tertullian (c.160-c.225)
•Origen (c.185-c.254)
•Cyprian of Carthage (d.258)
•Athanasius (c.293-373)
•The Cappadocian fathers
–Basil the Great (c.330-79)
–Gregory of Nyssa (c.330-c.395)
–Gregory of Nazianzus (329-89)
•Augustine of Hippo (354-430)
Each of these theologians were involved in at least one or more of the theological issues of their day. In future articles, we will talk in detail about what each one of these theologians contributed, but for now, I will just give a brief overview of the major theological debates of the Patristic era.
1. The Extent of the New Testament Canon.
With the rise of Gnosticism, it became important to appeal to the traditions that were handed down by the apostles. In doing so, a "canon" or fixed rule of Scripture had to be decided on. This is an often convoluted and misunderstood aspect of Church history, and something we will dive into deeper in the future. But for now, it is sufficient to know that it was during this time that the term "Scripture" began to officially apply to the books of the New Testament that we have today.
Debates took place over which books to include, the arrangement of the books, and most importantly, the criteria for canonicity. All things considered, a clear acknowledgement of the 27 New Testament books is found in Athanasius' 39th Festal Letter (367 A.D.)
2. The Role of Tradition and the Gnostics.
The greatest challenge to Christianity during the early Patristic period was Gnosticism. Gnosticism is really hard to define, since there were several branches, but basically it is this: Human flesh is bad. The apostles revealed secret forms of knowledge which only the "gnostics" (from Greek word gnosis- knowledge) had access to. Because human flesh is evil Jesus only appeared to be a man. This is a very simplistic explanation but we will revisit Gnosticism in the future.
All you need to know at this point is that the challenge of Gnosticism forced the Church to appeal to apostolic tradition as passed down, as well as define a "rule of faith"- which lead to the development of the New Testament canon.
3. The Ecuminical Creeds.
Because of all of the theological controversy, several creeds were agreed upon as authoritative for orthodox theology. Two of the most important were the Nicene Creed (agreed upon at the Council of Nicea in 325 A.D.) and the updated Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed (an updated form of the Nicene Creed that was agreed upon at the Council of Constantinople in 381 A.D.).
4. The Arian Controversy.
During the Patristic era, much controversy arose over the two natures of Christ. One of those controversies was Arianism. Arianism is attributed to the teachings of Arius (c 256-336), who was a priest in Alexandria. Arius taught that Christ was not of the same essence of God the Father, and was the highest of the creatures of God. He taught that there was a time when the Son was not; there was a time when God the Father existed without the Son. His teachings were the subject of the Council of Nicea (325) and Athanasius was instrumental in having Arius' views condemned.
5. The Doctrine of the Trinity.
After the divinity of the Son had been decided on, this discussion gave birth to reflections on the trinity. Two lines of thoughts were developed: In the East, the Cappadocian Fathers developed one view of trinitarian theology, while in the West, Augustine developed another. What is of most importance is that during this time, modalistic heresies, such as Sabellianism, were condemned, and a clear biblical and philosophical defense of the three-in-oneness of God was developed.
6. The Donatist Controversy.
During the fourth century, under the persecution of Diocletian (303-313), many Christians lapsed in their faith. After the persecution died out, they wanted to rejoin the church. These who wanted to rejoin the church were given the negative name "traditores" by the Donatists. The Donatists were a group of native African Christians who resented the growing influence of the Roman church in North Africa. They argued that the church was a body of saints, and that the sinners had no place within her. This belief led to them refusing to reinstate the "traditores" to the faith.
Things came to a head when Felix of Aptunga, a "traditores", was later consecrated as a Caecilian bishop. This enraged some of the local Christians and lead them to reject the authority of the Caecilian. The hierarchy of the catholic church was tainted, and the Donatists began to gain a larger following. So strong was this movement, that eventually, they began to outnumber the catholics. By the time Augustine returned to North Africa in 388, the Donatists were well established. Augustine got involved in the debate, and eventually settled the issue. More on this in the future.
7. The Pelagian Controversy.
Up until the time of Augustine, the doctrine of grace had not been an issue of significance as far as its theological development, especially in the east. But this would change, when in the second decade of the fifth century, a hot debate broke out in the west over the doctrine of grace.
The debate was started by Pelagius, a British monk who was based in Rome. He was alarmed at the moral laxity that he saw in the Roman church, and insisted on the need for constant self improvement in light of the OT law and the example of Christ. In doing this, he seemed to deny both the need and place for grace. This concerned Augustine, who met him head on. The controversy is quite complex, but can be summed up under four doctrinal topics:
1. Freedom of the Will
2. Sin
3. Grace
4. Justification.
In the future, we will get into the theological details of this debate, but for now, you just need to know that Pelagius was excommunicated by Pope Innocent and his views were condembed by four regional councils and one ecemunical council (Council of Ephesus 431 A.D.).
In the weeks and months to come, we will be looking at both these theological developments and the Patristic theologians in a bit more depth.