This is part 6 of the Early Church History class.

In the latter half of the second century, two kinds of Christians arose to defend the faith. On the one hand, apologists wrote defenses of Christianity directed at the Roman government. They responded to rumors, arguing that Christians were decent people who should be shown toleration. On the other hand, heresy hunters (or heresiologists) began to combat Christian groups that diverged significantly from apostolic Christianity, such as the Gnostics, Valentinians, and Marcionites. Today we'll briefly overview this fascinating period of Christianity when persuasion not coercion was the means to defeat one's opponents.

Listen to this episode on Spotify or Apple Podcasts

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43mIuUVqCK0&list=PLN9jFDsS3QV2lk3B0I7Pa77hfwKJm1SRI&index=6

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—— Notes ——

Apologists (Defenders) of the 2nd C.

- Quadratus (130?)- Aristo of Pella (c. 140?)- Aristides (c. 145)- Miltiades (c. 160-180?)- Justin Martyr (d. 165)- Athenagoras (c. 170-180)- Melito of Sardis (c. 170-180?)- Appolinaris of Hierapolis (170-180)- Tatian (d. 180?)- Theophilus of Antioch (c. 180-185)- Epistle of Diognetus (150-225)

Quadratus of Athens (130)

- addressed book to Hadrian (r. 117-138)- claimed to know people healed by Jesus

Epistle of Diognetus (150-225)

- author ideas: Hippolytus, Aristides, Pantaenus- common criticisms are that Christians are incestuous b/c we call each other brother and sister, cannibals b/c we eat body and blood of Jesus, atheists b/c we didn’t believe in the gods, politically subversive b/c we didn’t honor the emperor by offering incense to his statue- Diog. 5.1-17 provides an excellent example of an effective apologist

Justin Martyr (100-165)

- Stoic -> Peripatetic -> Pythagorean -> Platonist -> Christian- founded a school in Rome- claimed Greek philosophers accessed truth of the Logos, thus Christianity is not a novel religion- Justin addressed his case to the Roman emperor and his sons and the senate and the Roman people (First Apology 1.1-2)- Dialogue with Trypho employed the idea of heresy as defined by a key belief—resurrection (see chapter 80)

Heresy Hunters

- Justin (140-160)- Irenaeus (180-199)- Tertullian (200-213)- Hippolytus (200-230)- Eusebius (324)- Epiphanius (374-377)- Theodoret (452-453)

Standard Arguments

- too complicated- trace beliefs to heresiarch- unnatural interpretation of scripture- can’t trace beliefs back to the apostles- perverted truth leads to pe

This is part 5 of the Early Church History class.

Have you heard of the Gnostics before? Gnostics of different types claimed to have secret knowledge of humanity's true origins and destiny. They were intellectuals who combined the philosophical thinking of their day with Jewish and Christian scripture to produce a compelling alternative to biblical Christianity in the second century. In today's episode you'll learn what the Gnostics believed, mostly from their book, The Secret Revelation of John. Next we'll see briefly how Valentinus adapted the Gnostic myth and recruited Christians to join his secret meetings. Although this material is esoteric and somewhat difficult to grasp, I'm convinced a working knowledge of Gnosticism is necessary to understand theological and christological development in the third and fourth centuries (especially in Alexandria).

Listen to this episode on Spotify or Apple Podcasts

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxGsWx7OfKE&list=PLN9jFDsS3QV2lk3B0I7Pa77hfwKJm1SRI&index=5

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—— Notes ——

The Gnostic Myth According to The Secret Revelation of John1

– the Monad (SRevJohn 4.1-4, 10-11, 28, 30, 34)– initial emanations of aeons in the pleroma (5.13-17, 20, 23; 6.1-3, 7- 10, 12-14, 18-20, 23, 25)– Christ’s unique origin and creation of the All (7.1-6, 8-10, 19, 22, 29-30; see also John 1.1-5 in the Bible)– Sophia’s rogue reproduction (10.1) and repentance (14.22)– Yaldabaoth generates his own aeons (12.11-12; 14.2)– Yaldabaoth and his aeons create Adam (15.12-15, 19; 17.64; 18.7, 18; 19.12-13)– paradise as a prison and the trees of life and knowledge (20.1, 6, 22; 21.16, 20, 26-31)– Cain, Abel, and Seth (22.16-21, 32-33)

Afterlife Possibilities

– souls who flees from evil “will be admitted into the repose of the aeons” (SRevJohn 23.24)– souls who are ignorant goes to Yaldabaoth’s authorities who “cast it into prison and they consort with it until it awakens from the forgetfulness and receives knowledge” (SRevJohn 23.29-30)– souls who understood but turned away will be tortured “and they will be punished with an eternal punishment” (SRevJohn 23.40)

David Brakke: “David Brakke “The myth, then, emphasizes the transcendence of the ultimate God and the corresponding unfolding of God into lower, mediating divine principles, the lowest of which

This is part 4 of the Early Church History class.

Our focus for this episode is the collection of second-century Christian literature known as the Apostolic Fathers. In total, there are 11 authors in this collection, 9 of whom we will briefly cover today. You'll learn about the earliest Christian documents outside the New Testament, two of  which were possibly written even before the last book of the New Testament. What did Christians write about? Although the Apostolic Fathers is far from cohesive, they do give us a great window into some of the dominant threads of Christian thought in the generation after the apostles died.

Listen to this episode on Spotify or Apple Podcasts

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyJwqv-Y87M&list=PLN9jFDsS3QV2lk3B0I7Pa77hfwKJm1SRI&index=4

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The Apostolic Fathers is a collection of Christian writings primarily from the second century.

Sources for APF (Apostolic Fathers)

Didache (60-150)

Research Recommendation

Epistle of Barnabas (70-132)

1 Clement (80-100)

Shepherd of Hermas (100-150)

Epistles of Ignatius (108-160)

This is part 3 of the Early Church History class.

Today we begin to look at the second century. We’ll start by considering Jewish Christian movements, including the Nazarenes and the Ebionites. Next we’ll shift gears and explore the cultural pressure of asceticism and how it began infiltrating Christianity. We’ll briefly survey the influence of Marcion and his followers before sketching out the various christologies of second century. This episode is a hodgepodge of unrelated topics that overlap in the same time period. This will serve as a good introduction before we get into other topics in the second century.

Listen to this episode on Spotify or Apple Podcasts

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—— Notes ——

Outline

Jewish Christianity

Patricia Crone: “Originally, the bastion of law-observing Christianity was the Jerusalem church, the undisputed center of Christianity until the first Jewish war with Rome (AD 66–70). When this war broke out, the Jerusalem Christians reportedly fled to Pella (Ar. Fiḥl) in the Decapolis in Transjordan, and though some returned to the devastated city in 70, they were expelled again after the suppression of Bar Kokhba’s revolt in 135, when Hadrian forbade Jews to reside in Jerusalem. Thereafter, Jewish Christians were concentrated in the Aleppo region in northern Syria, in the Decapolis around Pella…and in the Dead Sea region, as we know from Epiphanius (d. 403) and Jerome (d. 420). They would seem also to have been present in the Golan, where excavators of an abandoned village have found lintels decorated with a combination of crosses, menorahs, and other mixed Jewish and Christian symbols, probably indicating that the building was a Jewish Christian synagogue. After Epiphanius and Jerome, however, we have no certain evidence for the existence of Jewish Christians in Greek, Latin, or Syriac sources written before the rise of Islam.”[1]

For Nazarenes see Epiphanius, Panarion 29.7.1-6; 29.9.2-4

For Ebionites see Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History 3.27.1-6

Asceticism

Marcion of Sinope

This is part 2 of the Early Church History class.

Before the great revolution of 66 in which the Jewish nation declared independence from the Roman empire, no fewer than five micro-revolution occurred between 4 BC and 58 AD. In the years that led up to the first Jewish-Roman war (66-73), incompetent Roman governors repeatedly and egregiously antagonized the Jewish populous until there was no turning back. After the war that destroyed the temple that Herod had renovated, Christians and Jews began parting ways. This episode will briefly cover the three Jewish-Roman wars and how Christians and Jews gradually began to separate.

Listen to this episode on Spotify or Apple Podcasts

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZ9ExalbABs&list=PLN9jFDsS3QV2lk3B0I7Pa77hfwKJm1SRI&index=2

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Flavius Josephus (AD 37-100)

Revolutionary Movements

Four Types of Judaism

The First Jewish-Roman War (66-73)

Christians Fled from Jerusalem

Exclusion of Christians from Synagogue

Rabbinic Judaism

This is part 1 of the Early Church History class.

Introducing Early Church History

Get answers to questions, like: Did early Christians prophecy and perform miracles? How do I research church history for myself? How did heaven replace paradise on earth? What happened to the Jewish Christians? How did the Trinity become mainstream? How did Constantine affect Christianity? Who were Dynamic Monarchians? Who were the Gnostics? And so much more...

Some people believe the strand of Christianity that eventually merged with the government and became dominant is the authentic original form. Others believe Christianity got off track immediately after the first century and has not been restored until recent times. This class will put you in touch with what really happened. As it turns out, there were quite a few Christian groups that competed for adherents in the first few centuries. Some of these groups maintained key New Testament beliefs and practices while others mutated under pressure from philosophy, society, and the government. This class will cover what happened in the main Christian groups in the first five centuries of our history in Europe, Africa, and Asia.

Part 1: Christianity in the First Century

In this episode you'll learn why Church history matters, why primary sources are king, and how historical dating systems work. In addition to introducing this class, we'll also briefly cover the life of Christ and the early growth of the church in the Greco-Roman world. Lastly, we'll look at early persecution, including the fire that decimated Rome and the emperor Nero's viscous pogrom of the Christians in that city.

Listen to this episode on Spotify or Apple Podcasts

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etUHkoDdevU&list=PLN9jFDsS3QV2lk3B0I7Pa77hfwKJm1SRI&index=1&

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How do you engage with culture? Are you aware of how culture is shaping your sensibilities about meaning, power, morality, religion, and aesthetics? Do you blindly reject everything in the culture so that you can remain separate from the world or do you blindly accept everything so that you remain relevant? My guest today is Dr. Justin Bailey of Dordt University in Iowa. Today we’re talking about his book Interpreting Your World. Rather than accepting or rejecting culture, professor Bailey advocates exegeting the culture and evaluating it in light of the gospel and the Christian worldview. Then we can better understand our own hearts as well as reach unbelievers with the gospel.

Listen to this episode on Spotify or Apple Podcasts

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What do we do when the science in the bible seems wrong by today's standards, but typical for their world? For example, those who believe in a flat earth often point to scripture as evidence for their belief. Indeed the bible arguably does contain some texts that imply a flat earth. But, if the Hebrew people believed in a flat earth, does that mean we should today? Should we posit an elaborate conspiracy that Google, SpaceX, and NASA are trying to hide the truth of a flat earth? In addition to tackling scientific inaccuracies, Will Barlow will also cover many scientific accuracies that point to divine inspiration in scripture.

Listen to this episode on Spotify or Apple Podcasts

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBPmdNyROgQ&list=PLN9jFDsS3QV1Etu1jXO3jbUQ6CFI-2k6W&index=16

See below for notes.

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Science in the Bible

• Cases when the science is “wrong”• Cases when the science is “right”• Overview and concluding thoughts

Cases when the science is “wrong”

• Flat Earth• Dome over the Earth• Unmovable Earth• Foundations of the Earth• Thinking with your intestines

Flat Earth

Isaiah 40:22   It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them like a tent to dwell in;

Daniel 4:10-11   The visions of my head as I lay in bed were these: I saw, and behold, a tree in the midst of the earth, and its height was great. The tree grew and became strong, and its top reached to heaven, and it was visible to the end of the whole earth.

Matthew 4:8   Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory.

Dome over the Earth

Job 37:18   Can you, like him, spread out the skies, hard as a cast metal mirror?

This question by Elihu assumes a hard dome ove

When COVID first broke out many endeavored to put their extra time to good use. Tom Huszti began listening to podcasts. He was intensely curious about theology. Huszti came to question several key beliefs he had imbibed as a lifelong Anabaptist, living in rural Ohio. Eventually he saw that the church's God and the bible's God were at odds with each other. Huszti embraced unitarianism and faced significant troubles because of this change. He is now launching a new ministry on YouTube called "The Unitarian Anabaptist" in which he intends to share his insights about Christ's identity with others.

Listen to this episode on Spotify or Apple Podcasts

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vKDRJOklzU

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Dr. Steven Nemes is an analytic philosopher and theologian who uses a phenomenological approach to reading scripture and constructing theology. In this interview I ask him about his unique approach to evaluating doctrine, especially the Trinity, from a phenomenological perspective. We also discuss restorationism as a common ground and delve into Church history extensively. In the end Nemes argues for freedom rather than dogma when evaluating various doctrines related to the Trinity.

Listen to this episode on Spotify or Apple Podcasts

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—— Questions for Interview ——

1. Most people know what systematic theology is–simply the categorizing of doctrines or beliefs–but most don’t know what phenomenology is. Can you offer a brief explanation?