TTHT 505-Midterm

Ante-Nicene Theology I: Know why Christians aroused popular animosity in the early days

- They were held responsible for various calamities since they did not worship the traditional gods. - When Christians refused to burn incense, acknowledge Caesar as lord, perform acts of loyalty, the authorities took an unfavorable stance towards them. - The Christian Apologists repeatedly responded to three charges: Atheism, Cannibalism, and Incest.

Prolegomena: Know the taxonomy of the classic divinity curriculum (four disciplines and key words to describe the approaches)

1. Biblical Theology: Inductive approach 2. Historical Theology: Diachronic approach 3. Systematic Theology: Deductive approach 4. Practical Theology: Praxiological approach

Review notes on the Logos doctrine and its apologetic value

1. The Logos Christology of the second-century Greek Apologists became the basis of later orthodox speculations on the Trinity. Five stages in the development of the concept of the logos: Logos as the reason or wisdom, spoken word, immanent in the world, the revealed word of God, and incarnation as Jesus: This scheme had great apologetic value and provided later theologians with a basic framework for Christological thought: 1. It connected Jesus, the object of Christian faith, with Greek philosophy and familiar concepts to the Greeks, how Jesus could be one with God and yet distinct from him 2. As the word in the mind becomes the word on the tongue, so Christ as the eternal reason of God, while remaining one within him came also to have a separate existence in God's work of creation and revelation. 3. Going beyond anything in Greek or Jewish thought, this Word of God was not only the means of God's creating activity, but also became the means of God's saving activity by taking flesh in the person of Jesus.

Know which apostolic father wrote to the church in Corinth from Rome intervening in the internal matters of another church

Clement (c.96 AD) wrote to the Corinthians from the church at Rome.

What was Tertullian contribution to the western theological tradition?

He introduced legal phraseology into theological discussion. This represents a significant contribution to Trinitarian language. It is Trinitarian thought: a. He provided the (Latin) West with Trinitarian and Christological language: 1) Trinitas, 2). Substantia, 3). Persona

Know in what way Judaism served as the cradle of Christianity

Judaism provided the immediate religious context for Christianity. The synagogues of the Diaspora, the Jewish scriptures were the Bible of the early church, especially in their Greek translation, the Septuagint (LXX). The God of the Jews was the God of the early Christians, and the central affirmation of the early church - Jesus as the Messiah, his resurrection from the dead, the new age of the forgiveness of sins, and the gift of the Holy Spirit - took their meaning from Jewish hopes, beads on the interpretation of the scriptural prophets and apocalyptic literature of the Jews.

Prelim considerations: Review notes on the 3 concentric circles of influence on early Christianity

Three concentric circles of influence circumscribed the world in which the early Christianity began. From the inside moving out, these influences were the Jewish, the Greek, and the Roman. This was the movement of the Christian faith: Palestine (Hebrew) -> East (Greek) -> West (Latin).

What's unique about the Didache (i.e., what was it consulted for)?

a. It is also called "The Teaching of the 12 Apostles" b. It is a manual of church life in three parts: i. The two ways of life and death on moral teachings to new converts ii. Instructions on baptism, fasting, prayer, eucharist, treatment of itinerant prophets and teachers, the Sunday assembly, and election of local leaders iii. Eschatological conclusion

Know Origen's principles of biblical interpretation, view of the Trinity/Christology/use of terms

d. Trinitarian doctrine i. Origen has a strong sense of three-ness ii. Origen's doctrine of "eternal generation" 1. According to Origen, "The Father did not beget the Son and set him free after he was begotten, but he is always begetting him" 2. Eternal Generation: "The eternal and changeless activity in the Godhead by which the Father produces the Son without division of essence and by which the Second Person of the Trinity is identified as an individual subsistence or modus subsistendi, mode of subsistence, of the divine essence. The generation, moreover, is not voluntary but natural and necessary." (Muller, DGLT, 127) 3. In Origen, one finds certain features inconsistent with the above orthodox definition. 4. Origen speaks of the "eternal generation of the Son from the will of the Father" 5. There are statements in Origen that distinguish the essence of the Son from that of the Father. 6. There is a problem with speaking of the Son as "begotten": does not his make the Son dependent on the Father for his existence? How do you overcome this subordination? Answer: Make the begetting eternal. 7. This means the Son has not temporal beginning. "There is not when he was not" (Good) 8. But the doctrine of eternal generation can be construed so to make the Son subordinate in His essence to the Father. (Bad) 9. The orthodox after Origen use this concept of eternal generation in defense of the deity of Christ. Although Origen was condemned for certain of his teachings, this was not one of them. That is, the orthodox appropriate and develop this aspect of Origen's trinitarianism. iii. Use of homoousios 1. The Son possesses the same nature (ousia) as the Father. 2. Yet, he is as separate hypostasis. 3. The orthodox use this language of homoousios in their defense of the true and complete deity of Christ iv. Use of hypostasis 1. Sometimes Origen uses this as a synonymous with ousia, i.e., to refer to the divine being itself. 2. At other times he uses it to designate an individual subsistence, i.e., a particular instance of the divine being (Person in Trinitarian terms) 3. Note that difference between Origen (in the East) and Tertullian (in the West). Tertullian provided unambiguous Latin terms, which served as precise linguistic tools for discussing Trinitarianism. In the East there is a confusion in the terminology used. This confusion eventually gets straightened out at the end of the 4th century through the work of the Cappodocian fathers. v. Subordination of the Son 1. Although the uses of homoousios would seem to require the complete equality of the divinity of the Son and the Father, yet there are subordinationistic features in Origen. 2. Passages which clearly teach the consubstantiality of the Son with the Father in Origen must be taken with viewed in the context in which they come to us. It is possible that Rufinus attempted to make Origen look more orthodox. 3. The Son is described as the "second God" (Kelly, 130). This fits with the emanation theory of neo-Platonic thought. 4. The Father is the pege (fountain-head) of deity, and the Son and the Spirit are derivatively divine 5. The Son is God, but only as the image of the Father. vi. Holy Spirit 1. Origen regards the Holy Spirit at inferior to the Logos 2. He is uncreated 3. The hypostasis (personhood) and the divinity of the Holy Spirit are firmly maintained. vii. Summary of the influence of Origen's ideas about the Trinity 1. Origen serves as a point of departure for the both the orthodox and the heretics on the doctrine of the Trinity 2. The Arians draw upon the subordinationistic elements of his teaching. 3. On the other hand, the orthodox draw upon his concept of eternal generation as a means of defending Christ's deity. 4. "Origen, on the one hand, attributed to Christ eternity and other divine attributes which logically lead to the orthodox doctrine of the identity of substance; so that he was vindicated even by Athanasius...But on the other hand, in his zeal for the personal distinctions in the Godhead, he taught with equal clearness a separatedness of essence between the Father and the Son, and the subordination of the Son, as a second or secondary God beneath the Father, and thus furnished a starting point of the Arian heresy." (Schaff, HC, 3:609-610).

Review notes on the Syriac tradition of the church (Be able to identify the two "non-Chalcedonian" strands of this tradition today)

Syriac speaking Christianity preserved traditions of an association with the apostle Thomas. Those traditions claim that the gospel was first preaching in Edessa by Addai at the encouragement of Thomas. Much of the early literature from the region bears the name of Thomas: the Gospel of Thomas (a collection of sayings of Jesus preserved in Coptic and incompletely in Greek; another Gospel of Thomas in Greek about the infancy of Jesus; the Acts of Thomas, preserved in both Syriac and Greek versions. *[more info needed for two "non-Chalcedonian" strands of this tradition today"]*

Review notes on the contribution of the apologists

1. In a world that stressed antiquity, they argued that Christianity was not really a new religion but reached back to the original religion of humanity and represented the culmination of God's plans 2. Doctrinally, they stressed monotheism and the Creator. Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit were placed in relation to God and thereby pioneered the development of Christian theology. 3. They mark an important development in the intellectual activity in the Church. The apologists explicitly used a larger corpus of pagan philosophy and literature to defend and clarity Christian thought than the apostolic fathers.

Review notes on Marcion

1. Marcion was not technically a Gnostic, but had some ideas in common with them. 2. He was a wealthy ship builder who came to Rome around 139. 3. Joined the Roman congregation and made a significant money donation. However, his views rejected and his money was returned 5. He started a rival church. 6. Irenaeus reports an encounter which took place in Rome between Marcion and Polycarp (Schaff, 2:484) a. Marcion to Polycarp: "do you know me?" b. Polycarp's reply: "I know the first born of Satan" 7. His teaching: a. He recognized only 10 letters of Paul and a form of the Gospel of Luke b. The God of the Mosaic covenant and the God of Paul and Jesus were totally different c. The God of the Jewish Scriptures is an inferior deity. He is distinct from and opposed to the true God. d. Maintained a radical distinction between Law and Grace i. Marcion's earliest work was called The Antithesis, which makes this radical distinction ii. The legal claim of the god of this world is shown in the OT law iii. One can escape the god of this world and his law through faith. e. Results of Marcion's teaching i. He forced the Church to consider the question of canon ii. It also forced the Church to deal with the issue of our conformity with the Jewish heritage.

Post-Apostolic Age: Be able to distinguish between the three strands of Jewish Christianity, their unique doctrines and emphases

1. The Ebionites (poor or needy): a. Their hero was James the Just, and were antagonistic toward Paul. b. They took the position that Gentile converts must submit to the Law of Moses c. Emphasis on poverty, prohibition of meat, concern with purity, keeping the Sabbath, circumcision d. Their emphasis on strict monotheism led them to regard Jesus as a man and to reject the virgin birth, while affirming him to be a true prophet, the new Moses, and the Messiah by virtue of his righteous life. 2. The Elkesaites a. They had their own revelation given by their leader, perhaps named Elkesai b. An angel of gigantic dimensions (Christ), accompanied by a female angel (The Holy Spirit) handed Elkesai a book with new revelations. c. This book discusses a second baptism in the name of the Most High God and his Son, for the forgiveness of sins. The baptism was efficacious for forgiving/healing: i. Adultery ii. Healing of mad dogs and other diseases d. The Elkesaites taught that one must observe the Law, including circumcision, as a way to salvation. e. They denied Christ's divinity and virgin birth. f. The engaged in theosophic (mystical insights into the being of God possessed by initiates or those "in the know"). g. Mani, the third-century founder of Manichaeism, grew up in an Elkesaite community and so establishes a linked ideas developed later to Gnostic thought 3. Normative Christianity in Jewish Forms (not heretical) a. believed that Christ is the Son of God, virgin born, suffered and rose from the dead. b. they wish to be both Jews and Christians they are neither; this forms another cultural understanding of Christianity (rather than heresy): i. It might be akin to a group like "Jews for Jesus" today. ii. They kept the law but did not impose it on all Christians c. They were simply trying to express basic doctrinal insights (e.g., the person of Christ) in vastly different vocabulary (no abstract terms to deal with the person of Christ) d. They looked to theosophic models in the OT to define Christ. They advanced what might be termed an "angelomorphic Christology". i. God was in Christ, but how do we convey this idea? They looked at the narratives involving angelic presence and used this as a paradigm. E.g. the "Angel of Yahweh" becomes a model for talking about Christ. ii. Christ is a quasi-divine or divine subsistence iii. It is an attempt to come to grips with Trinitarianism without the language to accompany it. e. Even the Gentile church at this time in history was struggling to find ways of expressing these doctrines. Therefore, one should not be unfairly hard on the Jewish Christians.

Know what the Gnostics believed about the God of the OT and the God of the NT

1. The God of the OT was a bad deity 2. Christ is a special emissary from the good God of the NT

Be able to identify the leaders at the church in Ephesus

1. The beginning of the church in Ephesus is associated with the work of Paul and his co-laborers. 2. Paul was the leading figure in the early history of the church of Ephesus, the apostle John according to tradition was the leading figure at the end of the first century.

Review notes on the church at Antioch

1. The church began in Antioch when believers from Jerusalem were scattered because of the persecution arising from the preaching of Stephen. 2. The more Hellenized Christians brought the message of Jesus to Greeks, so that it was in Antioch that the new name "Christians" (Acts 11:26) came into use to designate people that included both Jews and Gentiles. 3. Under the initiative of the Holy Spirit, Paul and Barnabas went forth from Antioch on journeys to spread the gospel of Jesus. Their mission took them to the synagogues of Diaspora Jews in the Greek cities of Cyprus and Asia Minor. Although Paul continued to look to Jerusalem as the mother church, he found Antioch to be a strategic base for his subsequent missionary travels.

Review notes on the church at Rome

1. Visitors from Rome both Jews and proselytes are reported to have been present at Jerusalem on the first Pentecost after the resurrection of Jesus (Acts 2:10). 2. By the mid-to-late fifties, there was already a large number of Christians composed of both Jews and the Gentiles, in Rome when Paul wrote his major letter to the Romans. 3. Clement of Rome (c. 96) and Ignatius of Antioch (c. 116) writing to Rome, associated both Peter and Paul with the church in Rome, and Clement implied their martyrdom there.

The Beginning of the Church and Early Christianity: Be able to identify the three groups in the Jerusalem church and their leaders

1. the followers of Jesus from his Galilean ministry, led by Peter and the Twelve 2. Judean converts, who came to look for leadership to James, brother of Jesus ("James the Just") 3. those from the Greek Diaspora and others sympathetic to them, of whom Stephen became the spokesman After the execution of Stephen, the imprisonment of Peter, James the brother of Jesus came to prominent leadership in the Jerusalem church.

Know basic the difference between Historical Theology and Church History

Church History is more concerned with the outward political and social events. Historical theology is more concerned with the history of thought.

Ante-Nicene Theology II: Be able to distinguish between Dynamic and Modalistic Monarchianism

Dynamic (sometimes Dynamistic, Adoptionistic or Humanitarian) Monarchianism: - "Dynamic": The power (dunamis) of God empowered the man Jesus Christ. - "Adoptionistic": Christ was "adopted" into the Godhead. - "Humanitarian": Christ, though empowered by God and adopted into the Godhead, is nevertheless a mere man. - Theodotus brought his doctrine to Rome around AD 190 - Doctrine: 1. Earliest representatives: Theodotus of Byzantium, 2nd Century: a. The Christ from above, in the form of a dove, descended on Jesus at His baptism in the Jordan. b. Some said that he did not become "God" until the descent of the Spirit. Others said it did not happen until after his resurrection from the dead. 2. Paul of Samosata, bishop of Antioch in Syria, c. 260-272 (the most noted representative) - Doctrine: a. The Logos is consubstantial with the Father. Hence the Logos is Divine. b. But the Logos is not a distinct person in the Godhead. c. The Logos is to be identified with God as reason exists in man. i. If God is divine, then His reason also must be divine. It cannot be human reason. So God's reason is "consubstantial" (i.e., the same substance) with Him. ii. It is similar to the indwelling of Wisdom in the prophets. d. The "reason" (Logos) was especially operative in the man Jesus in a unique way. i. This impersonal Logos penetrated the humanity of Jesus and deified it. ii. Hence Jesus was "adopted" into Godhead. Modalistic Monarchianism, Sabellianism or Patripassian Monarchianism i. Theses are all names for the same teaching. ii. It was the more influential and widely prevalent form of Monarchianism. a. Past: Dynamic monarchianism influenced a few church leaders. But a lot of Christians were modalists. It seemed to be a defense of monotheism. c. Early Representatives i. Noetus, the founder according to Hippolytus 1. Noetus was from Smyrna. He said that the Father became the Son at the incarnation. The Father was born, suffered and died. 2. Statement of Hippolytus: "He (Noetus) said that Christ is Himself the Father, and that the Father Himself was born and suffered and died." d. Sabellius, the most important representative. i. Sabellius differed from Praxeas and Noetus due to his consideration of the Holy Spirit as well as the Father and the Son. God is a unity who reveals Himself in three modes or forms. ii. He was the first to systematize the doctrine, and to give it a philosophical shape iii. His doctrine 1. Father, Son and Spirit are only different designations of the same person, corresponding to the degree and form of his revelation. 2. The Godhead is a monad (huiopator i.e., "Son-Father") which expressed itself in three operations. 3. He uses the analogy of the sun, a single object which radiates both warmth and light

Know what aspects of Greek culture influenced the world of early Christians

Greek influences were predominant in language, education, literature and philosophy at the beginning of Christianity. Greek was the language of the church in Rome until the middle of the 3rd century.

Which Apostolic Father was the first to use the term "Catholic Church"?

Ignatius (d. c. 117AD)

Which Apostolic Father was the first to set forth the monarchial episcopate and a three-tier structure of church government?

Ignatius was the first to set forth the monarchial episcopate, with the supremacy of the bishop in the church: threefold structure: Bishops -> Elders -> Deacons.

Review notes on Justin Martyr and Tatian

Justin Martyr: 1. Arguably the most influential and important second century Christian Apologists was Justin Martyr, a Christian philosopher who ran a school in Rome 3. Extant works: Two Apologies, a Dialogue with Trypho and about him an account of his trial the Acts of Justin 4. Fought apologetic battles on four fronts: against pagan intellectuals, the state, the Jews, and heretics. 9. In explaining the relationship of Christ to God, Justin gives expression to the doctrine of the Logos Tatian: 1. Born a pagan in east Syrian and was converted during a journey to Rome, where he became a student of Justin. 2. Composed the harmony of the four Gospels, Diatessaron, eventually became the standard form of the gospels in the Syriac-speaking areas. 3. His approach to Apologetics was the negative one of tearing down the pagan alternative. His work Orations against the Greeks is principally a frontal attack against the Greek culture and the superiority of Christianity. 4. Eventually became a leader of Encratite thought (from the Greek, Enkrateia = self-control, renunciation, ascesis), and condemned marriage and procreation.

Know the name of the figure that commented on the uniqueness of the Gospel of Matthew and the influences on Mark.

Papias of Hierapolis (c. 130 AD) Special attention is given to his testimony that Matthew wrote his Gospel originally in Hebrew and that Mark faithfully set down the preaching of Peter (but not in good order).

Who was the most noted representative of Dynamic Mornarchianism

Paul of Samosata, bishop of Antioch in Syria (c. 260-272)

Be able to identify the bishop of Smyrna who was the disciple of the apostle John

Polycarp (115/135 AD): He wrote a short Epistle to the Philippians (mid-2nd century), and died as a martyr.

Know what was Rome's contribution to early Christianity and the western civilization in general

Rome provided the larger governmental, military, and legal context for Christianity. The organization of the empire seems to have provided a pattern for the eventual development of the church's hierarchy, and procedures in the senate at Roma at city councils influenced the conduct of the church synods. The army, a constant presence in the frontiers, also built roads and securing safety of travel; Christian travelers used these roads and carried the gospel with them

The Patristic Period of the Church: Be able to recognize the names of the 8 doctors, be able to distinguish which tradition they belonged to (East or West); Learn the Latin titles and their meaning for Athanasius and Augustine

The term "Doctor" is applied to preeminent teachers of the church. This term is applied to theologians both in the early church and middle ages. The eight doctors of the early church (Patristic era) are : 1. East: Athanasius, Basil the Great, Gregory of Nazianzus, and John Chrysostom. 2. West: Ambrose, Jerome, Augustine, and Gregory the Great. *[info for "the Latin titles and their meaning for Athanasius and Augustine"]*

Review notes on Clement's (of Alexandria) view of the senses of Scripture

Various senses of Scripture: a. Literal sense. i. This is the first meaning of the text ii. The literal meaning does allow for figurative language. But by "literal" Clement refers to the meaning of the text that is more obvious. b. Allegorical sense i. One must have the literal sense as a point of departure for the allegorical sense. ii. There are always one or more "further meanings" in a text. Any text has more than one meaning.

What was unique about the Apostolic fathers (i.e., who were they and why do they matter)?

a. The name "Apostolic Fathers" is for those writers immediately following the Apostles. b. These are people who had received the gospel from the Apostles or from those immediately following the apostles. c. They were not writing systems of theology, but Christian instruction d. In the Apostolic Fathers we see an impressive vitality of witness. e. They had an enormous amount of Scripture memorized f. Their writings are crucial for our understanding of how preaching became dogma. They provide a link between the preaching of the apostles and that of the later church. g. Their writings mark the beginning of our meditation on the Apostolic writings as Scripture; they are the first to use the Apostolic writers as Scripture. h. The Apostolic Fathers were primarily bishops who wrote as a part of their job as such. These were pastoral theologians (no separation between the seminary and the church!)

Know what is Irenaeus' doctrine of Recapitulation

b. Christ is the new Adam, and in him the history of the old Adam is repeated, but in an opposite direction. c. Christ's recapitulation is a new starting point, but is also closely relates to what went before it. d. The incarnation is a new beginning in history, but is also a continuation of the fulfillment of creation. e. Christ is all that Adam was intended to be, had Adam not sinned. f. Parallels between Christ and Adam: i. Adam was formed from virgin soil; Christ was formed in the womb of a virgin. ii. The Fall took place through the disobedience of a woman; the obedience of a woman was involved in the restoration. iii. Adam was tempted in paradise; Jesus was tempted in the desert. iv. Death entered the world through a tree; life was given to us by the tree of the cross. v. In Adam we were made subject to the Devil, but in Christ we are liberated. g. This is similar to certain themes found in Romans 5, through Irenaeus develops and elaborates this more than Paul. In some cases the parallels appear fanciful, though plausible in others. h. Irenaeus makes explicit reference to Eph. 1:10, which speaks of "bringing together" all things in Christ.

Review notes on the important motifs of Gnosticism

i. God's transcendence 1. There is a supreme God who is utterly transcendent 2. He has no relation to physical things 3. He is unknowable 4. This supreme God is not the creator ii. Emanations from the high God 1. The supreme God emanates aeons, or middle beings. In other words, the high God differentiates into lesser beings 2. These lesser beings in turn differentiate 3. The being who creates the world is a low being 4. These aeons collectively considered constitute the "pleroma" or fullness. iii. The creation of the kosmos 1. The kosmos was created in a tragic, unplanned cosmic accident by other, lower powers through a fall in the pleroma 2. The kosmos is outside the realm of the high God 3. The world was created by a hostile deity called the "demiurge" 4. The demiurge = the God of the OT. This is in contrast to the good God of the NT 5. The demiurge is limited and inferior 6. The material world is evil 7. These lower powers, who are part of the material order, would delude us and hide the truth from us. iv. Human beings 1. Human beings came about as a result of a this tragic accident. 2. There was confusion in the created process. Specifically, bits of soul got trapped into matter. 3. The Gnostics saw themselves as being cruelly imprisoned in the visible material cosmos of darkness and ignorance. 4. Salvation from the fallen, material world comes through special gnosis. Revelation comes from beyond the cosmos.