The Search for Christian Identity

1
The Search for Christian Identity

• (2nd century)

2
Christianity in the Sub-Apostolic Period

• Sharpening of the lines between Judaism and
  Christianity
• Shaky relationship with the Roman state
• Loss of the Apostles as authority figures
• Rise of apostolic writings as substitute
  authorities
• Beginnings of standardized Church government
  structures
• Beginnings of attempts to define the boundaries
  of Christianity

3
The Rise of 2nd-Century Heresy

• Gnosticism
• Marcionism
• A truncated canon of Scripture
• A dualistic view of the world and God
• A docetic view of Christ
• The Church responds by
• Beginning to delineate the Canon
• Beginning to articulate the Rule of Faith

4
2nd-Century Gnosticism

• Sharp dichotomy between spiritual and physical
  realms.
• Spiritual realm (pleroma) emanates from the
  supreme God (the One).
• Physical realm is created by the evil, fallen god
  of the Old Testament (the Demiurge).
• Within each person, body and soul are created by
  the Demiurge, but spirit is created by a
  representative of the One (Sophia).

5
2nd-Century Gnosticism (cont.)

• Salvation consists of the spirits escaping the
  prison of the body and returning to the spiritual
  realm from which it originally came.
• Salvation is made possible through Christ, who
  teaches the spirit about its divine origin.
• Three categories of people pneumatics, psychics,
  and hylics.
• Strict determinism.

6
The Churchs Response to Gnosticism

• The unity of God
• The unity of Christ
• The reality of human choices

7
Irenaeus of Lyons (ca. 130 ca. 200)
Lyons

• From Smyrna in Asia Minor.
• Taught at Rome and became bishop of Lyons in 178.
• Suffered greatly under persecution and may have
  died as a martyr.

8
Irenaeus Writings

• Against Heresies (ca. 180)
• A very long explanation and refutation of
  Gnosticism
• Emphasizes Scripture and theological tradition
  (Rule of Faith)
• Proof of the Apostolic Preaching (ca. 190)
• A summary of the content of the Rule of Faith
  (Christian doctrine)

9
The Arian Crisis

• (4th century)

10
Christianity Meets the World

• The Church goes from its worst persecution to
  favored status in the 310s.
• Freedom to examine theology/salvation
• Intertwining of political and ecclesiastical
  concerns
• The Church must wrestle with the challenge posed
  by the Neoplatonic trinity.
• The battle over subordinationism

11
The Rise of Subordinationism

• Origenism
• Most common in Egyptian monasticism
• Christian life as an ascent to God through
  praktike, psychike, and theologike
• Little sense of the need for God to come down to
  save us
• Little need for the full deity of the Son
• The Son becomes a subordinate intermediary

12
Origen and Origenism

• Pre-Cosmic Cosmic/Temporal Eternal
• Creation of Souls Union with God
• (likeness)
• Creation of
• Fall physical world (loss of
  individuality)
• Union with bodies
• (image of God)

13
Subordinationism/Arianism

• God (Father)
• ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
• Son
• Holy Spirit

14
The Council of Nicaea (June 325)

• We believe in one God, Father, all-sovereign,
• maker of all things seen and unseen.
• And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God,
• begotten from the Father as only-begotten, that
  is, from the Fathers substance,
• God from God, light from light, true God from
  true God,
• begotten, not made, of one substance with the
  Father,
• through whom all things came into existence, the
  things in heaven
• and the things on the earth,
• who because of us men and our salvation, came
  down
• and was incarnated, and was made man, suffered,
  and arose on the third day,
• ascended into heaven, and is coming to judge the
  living and the dead.
• And in the Holy Spirit.

15
The Aftermath of Nicaea

• Suspicion of the term homoousios
• Imperial fragmentation 337-350
• Constans favors the Nicene faith.
• Contantius favors Arianism.
• The darkest period 350-361
• Nicean bishops exiled
• Arian proclamations of faith approved
• The turning of the tide 362

16
Cyril of Jerusalem (ca. 315-387)

• He was a native of Jerusalem and gave winsome
  descriptions of the great holy sites before the
  mid-fourth-century churches were built on them.
• He was ordained a priest by Maximus of Jerusalem
  (a great champion of Nicene orthodoxy) in 335.
• He became bishop of Jerusalem about 350 under
  obscure circumstances. There was later some
  suspicion that he had been consecrated by the
  Arian Acacius of Caesarea in order to bring
  Jerusalem over to the Arian cause.

17
Cyril of Jerusalem (ca. 315-387)

• He was banished three times by Arian leaders,
  first in 357 by Acacius. He spent about 15 years
  in exile over a 22-year period from 357-378.
• At the Council of Constantinople in 381, he was a
  leader of the homoousian majority, but he was
  still investigated because of suspicions of past
  Arian sympathies.
• He was found to be orthodox, and it is possible
  that the whole notion of his heterodoxy and
  consecration by an Arian was simply a smear
  campaign.

18
Catechetical Lectures

• One typical baptismal practice in the 4th
  century
• -- A long period of instruction (catechesis)
• -- Baptism on Easter eve
• Cyril wrote one Protocatechesis and 18 Catecheses
  for delivery during Lent to those who were in
  final preparations for baptism.
• These date from about the time he became bishop
  of Jerusalem, although they may have been
  modified later to reflect current liturgical
  practice.

19
Mystagogical Catecheses

• We also possess 5 Mystagogical Catecheses (for
  delivery during Easter week to those who have
  just been baptized.
• In ancient times, these were sometimes attributed
  to others besides, or in addition to, Cyril.
• The Reformers, embarrassed by their strongly
  sacramental character, questioned whether Cyril
  wrote them.
• It is perhaps best to regard them as coming from
  Cyril, but dating to the end of his life, rather
  than the beginning of his episcopacy (so ca.
  385).

20
The Rise of Western Theology

• (4th - 5th centuries)

21
The East-West Drift

• East West
• Politics Rise of Byzantine Empire
  Barbarian Threat
• Leadership Emperor, Bishops Pope
• Theological Focus Trinity, Incarnation
  Church, Sacraments
• Perspective Mystical, Personal
  Legal, Personal
• But in spite of these differences, a basic
  similarity
• and harmony in the middle of the fourth century.

22
Augustine of Hippo (354-430)

• Son of a pagan father and a Christian mother
  named Monica.
• Sought the truth in various sects and
  philosophical groups.
• Became a Christian in 386.
• Became bishop of Hippo in 397.
• Was the Western Churchs most influential thinker
  and writer.

Hippo
23
Augustines Theological Battles

• Against the Donatists (400-411)
• Against the remnants of Arianism (400-420)
• Against the remnants of paganism (411-426)
• Against the Pelagians (412-425)
• Against the Semi-Pelagians (427-430)

24
Augustines Enchiridion (421)

• Written during a lull in the great battles of
  Augustines life
• An answer to a number of theological questions
  posed by his friend Laurentius
• The best short statement of Augustines mature
  theology

25
The Enchiridion Structure

• Introduction with Laurentius questions (Chs.
  1-8)
• Faith An exposition of the Creed (Chs. 9-113)
• Hope An exposition of the Lords Prayer (Chs.
  114-16)
• Love The fulfillment of the great commandment
  (Chs. 117-121)
• Conclusion (Ch. 122)

26
The Christian East Faces Islam

• (7th - 8th centuries)

27
The Islamic Threat

• Muhammad died in 632.
• Muslim forces captured most of North Africa and
  the Middle East by 700.
• Muslims threatened Constantinople in 717 and
  Western Europe in 732.

28
The Iconoclastic Controversy

• Emperor Leo III forbade the use of icons in 726.
• Patriarch Germanus of Constantinople and Pope
  Gregory II rejected the decree.
• Leo deposed Germanus in 730.
• John of Damascus was the major champion of the
  iconodules in the early phases of the
  controversy.
• Opposing councils were held by the iconoclasts
  (in 753) and the iconodules (in 787).
• The iconodules finally carried the day in 843.

29
John of Damascus (ca. 655-ca. 750)

• He was born into a wealthy Christian family in
  Damascus.
• He was a court official in the government of the
  Caliph (Muslim ruler).
• About 725, he resigned his position to become a
  monk near Jerusalem.
• From 726-30, he wrote three treatises defending
  icons.

30
John of Damascus, The Orthodox Faith

• Part of a longer work called The Fount of Wisdom,
  which included sections on philosophy, heresies,
  and the orthodox faith
• The first major comprehensive presentation of the
  teachings of the Greek Church fathers
• Heavily dependent on the Cappadocians
• One of very few Greek works known to the West in
  the Middle Ages

31
John of Damascus, The Orthodox Faith

• Divided into four parts
• Book 1 God as unity and Trinity
• Book 2 Creation, especially humanity
• Book 3 Christology
• Book 4 (chs. 1-8) Christology, cont.
• Book 4 (chs. 9-27) Faith, baptism, Eucharist,
  saints, icons, etc.

32
Atonement Doctrine in the West

• (11th century)

33
What We Have Seen So Far Early Views of the
Atonement

• Emphasis on the power of sin
• Matt. 2028, Col. 213-15, Heb. 214-15
• Emphasis on the incarnation

34
What We Have Seen So Far To Whom Was the Ransom
Paid?

• To the Devil?
• Origen (early third century)
• Gregory of Nyssa (late fourth century)
• Rufinus of Aquileia (ca. 400)
• Gregory the Great (late sixth century)

35
What We Have Seen So Far To Whom Was the Ransom
Paid?

• To the Devil
• Origen (early third century)
• Gregory of Nyssa (late fourth century)
• Rufinus of Aquileia (ca. 400)
• Gregory the Great (late sixth century)
• NOT to the Devil
• Gregory of Nazianzus (late fourth century)
• John of Damascus (early eighth century)

36
Where We Are Going

• Shift from emphasis on the incarnation to
  emphasis on the death of Christ
• Shift from emphasis on the power of sin to
  emphasis on the guilt of sin
• Rise in the concept of rectitudo
• (honor or rightness)

37
Anselm of Canterbury(1033-1109)

• Anselm of Canterbury (1033-1109)
• Abbot of the monastery at Bec (France)
• Became Archbishop of Canterbury
• Wrote Why God Became Man while in exile in the
  Italian Alps.

Canterbury
Bec
Italian Alps
38
Anselm Why God Became Man

• Written while Anselm was in the Italian Alps
  seeking refuge from King William. It was
  completed ca. 1098.
• An example of faith seeking understanding (fides
  quaerens intellectum)
• Not a biblical defense of his atonement doctrine,
  nor a logical proof, but an attempt to
  demonstrate by reason what he already believes on
  the basis of Scripture
• A dialogue between an inquirer named Boso and
  Anselm himself

39
Western Scholasticism

• (12th - 13th centuries)

40
Scholasticism

• A method, not a creed
• Examination of authoritative texts
• Comparison of contradictory statements, so as
  to find the underlying unity
• Priority of reason

41
13th Century The Challenge of Aristotle

• Neoplatonism
• The eternal world is the most real.
• This world is a copy of that world.
• Reason is subordinate to faith/authority.
• Reason moves from the top down.
• Aristotelianism
• Reason is a separate source of truth from faith/
  authority.
• Reason moves from the bottom up, not from the top
  down.

42
13th Century Responses to Aristotle

• The conservative response
• Sought to preserve Augustinian thought
• Used Aristotle only for logic
• Best represented by Bonaventure (ca. 1217-1274)
• The innovative response
• Reconstructed Augustinian theology on an
  Aristotelian basis
• Best represented by Thomas Aquinas

43
Thomas Aquinas(ca. 1225-1274)

• From near Naples, Italy.
• Became a Dominican monk.
• Studied and then taught scholastic theology in
  Paris and Cologne.
• Divided his last two decades between teaching in
  Paris and being a monastic adviser in Italy.
• Repudiated all of his writing as a result of some
  mysterious experience on Dec. 6, 1273.

44
Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae

• Written from 1265-72.
• Originally intended for Dominicans who were not
  planning to study in a university.
• Because the master of Catholic Truth ought not
  only to teach the proficient, but also to
  instruct beginners, we purpose in this book to
  treat of whatever belongs to the Christian
  Religion, in such a way as may tend to the
  instruction of beginners.
• -- from the Prologue

45
Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae

• Consists of four parts
• Pars prima ( Ia)
• God (his one essence and three persons) and the
  procession of creatures from God
• Pars prima secundae ( Ia-IIae)
• The return of humanity to God in general the
  purpose of human life
• Pars secunda secundae ( IIa- IIae)
• The return of humanity to God in particular the
  cardinal virtues
• Pars tertia ( IIIa)
• Christ as the way to return to God

46
Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae

• Each part consists of questions ( topics)
• Each question consists of articles ( questions)
• Each article consists of five sections
• Title (formulation of the question)
• Objections to Thomas position on the question
• Thomas position
• Proof of Thomas position
• Answers to objections

47
Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae

• We will read summaries of certain questions and
  their articles, not the full articles themselves.
• These will come from the discussions of
• The Trinity (in Ia)
• Humanitys goal (in Ia-IIae)
• Grace (in Ia-IIae)
• Faith (in IIa-IIae)
• Christ (in IIIa)
• The sacraments (in IIIa)