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Therefore, on the question of the value of classical culture, Christians took two opposite tacks. Some insisted on a radical opposition between Christian faith and pagan culture. Typical of this attitude was Tertullian,
What prompted him to write these lines was his conviction that many of the heresies that circulated in his time were the result of attempts to combine pagan philosophy with Christian doctrine.
who gloried in the “barbarian” origin of Christianity, over against the claims of classical culture and philosophy. Such was the case of Tatian, Justin Martyr’s most famous disciple,
All that the Greeks have that is of any value—so said Tatian—they have taken from barbarians:
they learned astronomy from the Babylonians, geometry from the Egyptians, and writing from the Phoenicians.
Homer and the other Greek poets tell shameful things about them, such as adultery, incest, and infanticide. How are we to worship such gods, clearly inferior to us?
Finally, Tatian adds, let it not be forgotten that many of the statues that the pagans worship are in fact representations of prostitutes whom the sculptors used as models.
them—for instance, in contrast to the philosophers, Christian hope is not based on the immortality of the soul, but rather on the resurrection of the body.
According to a tradition of long standing in Greek philosophy, the human mind can understand reality because it shares in the Logos or universal reason that undergirds all reality. For instance, if we are able to understand that two and two make four, the reason for this is that both in our minds and in the universe there is a Logos, a reason or order according to which two and two always make four.
The Fourth Gospel affirms that in Jesus the Logos or “Word” was made flesh.
Whatever truth there is in
the writings of Plato was granted to him by the Logos of God, the same Logos who was incarnate in Jesus. Therefore, in a way, Socrates, Plato, and the other sages of antiquity “were Christians,” for their wisdom came from Christ.
Justin’s use of the doctrine of the Logos provided a basic framework within which Christians could claim whatever they wished from the rich lode of classical culture.
Christians are no different from the rest in their nationality, language or customs…. They live in their own countries, but as sojourners. They fulfill all their duties as citizens, but they suffer as foreigners. They find their homeland wherever they are, but their homeland is not in any one place…. They are in the flesh, but do not live according to the flesh. They live on earth, but are citizens of heaven. They obey all laws, but they live at a level higher than that required by law. They love all, but all persecute
Error never shows itself in its naked reality, in order not to be discovered. On the contrary, it dresses elegantly, so that the unwary may be led to believe that it is more truthful than truth itself.
The name “gnosticism” derives from the Greek word gnosis, which means “knowledge.” According to the Gnostics, they possessed a special, mystical knowledge, reserved for those with true understanding. That knowledge was the secret key to salvation.
Salvation was the main concern of the Gnostics.
all matter is evil, or at b...
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That is what the world is in gnosticism: an abortion of the spirit, and not a divine creation.
Marcion, whose father was bishop of Sinope in Pontus, knew Christianity from an early age. But he had a profound dislike towards both Judaism and the material world. He thus developed an understanding of Christianity that was both anti-Jewish and anti-material.
Since Marcion was convinced that the world is evil, he came to the conclusion that its creator must be either evil or ignorant.
When early Christians spoke of “Scripture,” what they meant was the Hebrew Scriptures, usually in the Greek version known as the Septuagint. It was also customary to read in church passages from one or several Gospels, as well as from the epistles—particularly Paul’s.
read in different churches, and the same was true of other books. But Marcion’s challenge required a response, and thus the church at large began to compile a list of sacred Christian writings.
It is important to note that those early Christians decided to include more than one Gospel in their canon.
a direct response to the challenge of Marcion and gnosticism. Many Gnostic teachers claimed that the heavenly messenger had trusted his secret knowledge to a particular disciple, who alone was the true interpreter of the message. Thus, various Gnostic groups had a book that claimed to present the true teachings of Jesus. Such was, for instance, the Gospel of Saint Thomas.
book of Acts and the Pauline epistles enjoyed early recognition. Thus, by the end of the second century, the core of the canon was established: the four Gospels, Acts, and the Pauline epistles.
harsh. It was in the second half of the fourth century that a complete consensus was achieved as to exactly which books ought to be included in the New Testament, and which ought not to be included.
Another element in the church’s response to heresies was what we now call the “Apostles’ Creed.”
The truth is that its basic text was put together, probably in Rome, around the year 150.
Do you believe in God the Father almighty? Do you believe in Christ Jesus, the Son of God, who was born of the Holy Ghost and of Mary the virgin, who was crucified under Pontius Pilate, and died, and rose again at the third day, living from among the dead, and ascended unto heaven and sat at the right of the Father, and will come to judge the quick and the dead? Do you believe in the Holy Ghost, the holy church, and the
resurrection of the flesh?
belief in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Closer scrutiny clearly shows that this early creed is directed against Marcion and the Gnostics.
as does our present Creed. The important point here is that Jesus is the Son of the God who rules over this world and over all reality. The birth “of Mary the virgin” is not there primarily in order to stress the virgin birth—although, quite clearly, that is affirmed—but rather to affirm the very fact that Jesus was born, and did not simply appear on earth, as Marcion and others claimed.
agree with Marcion’s views regarding the Old Testament. Over against Marcion and the Gnostics, the church at large claimed to be in possession of the original gospel and the true teachings of Jesus. Thus, what was debated was in a way the authority of the church against the claims of the heretics.
At this point, the notion of apostolic succession became very important.
When first developed, late in the second century, the principle of apostolic succession was inclusive rather than exclusive: over against the closed and secret tradition of the Gnostic teachers, it offered an open and shared tradition that based its claim, not on a single favorite disciple of Jesus, but on the witness of all the apostles.
To separate itself from the various heretical groups and sects, the ancient church began calling itself “catholic.”
Ironically, through an evolution that took centuries, debates regarding the true meaning of “catholic” came to be centered on the person and authority of a single apostle
During the early decades of the life of the church, most of what Christians wrote addressed a concrete problem or specific issue.
This is the case of the epistles of Ignatius of Antioch, to which we have already referred.
In summary, all the writings of the so-called apostolic fathers deal with a single issue, and none of them seeks to expound the totality of Christian doctrine.
These are the works of Irenaeus, Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian, and Origen.
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Irenaeus was above all a pastor. He was not particularly interested in philosophical speculation nor in delving into mysteries hitherto unsolved, but rather in leading his flock in Christian life and faith.
the Demonstration of Apostolic Faith,
Against Heresies.
Irenaeus, who sees himself as a shepherd, also sees God as above all a shepherd.
They were not mature beings, but were rather “like children,” with their own perfection as such. This means that God’s purpose was that human beings would grow in communion with the divine, eventually surpassing even the angels.
The function of angels is similar to that of a tutor guiding the first steps of a prince.
This does not mean, however, that we are somehow to be lost in the divine, nor that we shall ever be the same as God.
On the contrary, God is so far above us that no matter how much we grow in our likeness to the divine we shall always have a long way to go.
