Christian Beginnings from Nazareth to Nicea, AD 30-325 is a 2012 book by the historian Geza Vermes, Professor of Jewish Studies at the University of Oxford, [1] which traces the development of the figure of Jesus from charismatic Jewish prophet to being considered equal with God by the fourth century Council of Nicea. It follows his earlier works on Jesus the Jew .
Vermes surveys the notion of Charismatic Judaism which he introduced in his 1973 book Jesus the Jew. Although Judaism was centred on adherence to the Torah, charismatic prophets such as Elijah, Elisha and Isaiah were also an important part of Jewish life and this continued with the Essene Teacher of Righteousness, Jesus ben Sira and Hanina ben Dosa, many of whom were miracle workers.
Jesus entered the public domain as a follower and disciple of John the Baptist who he compared with Elijah. From the accounts in the synoptic gospels, Jesus emerges as a highly popular itinerant spiritual healer, exorcist and preacher. The most important part of his message was the imminent onset of the Kingdom of God which occurs about one hundred times in the synoptic gospels and remains important in the letters of Paul but almost entirely disappears from the Gospel of John, which was written later. His emphasis was situated between the apocalyptic imagery of a final cosmic battle and the rabbinic hope for a restored earthly kingdom of Israel. Though he calls God his Father, this was common in Judaism and his teaching stays within the scope of the Torah, though his stress on a childlike trust in God is unique.
The picture supplied in some of the letters of Paul, together with those of James and John and the Didache provide an earlier picture than the Acts of the Apostles. The early church was characterised by faith healing, manifestations of the Spirit and the breaking of bread, also known as the love feast and taught the Kingdom of God, the crucified risen and glorified Messiah and the imminence of his Second Coming, though the urgency of the Parousia declined as the century progressed. It reflects traditional Judaism in the light of Messianic faith.
The synoptic gospels show Jesus as a teacher divinely appointed to deliver a message, but Paul's Christ is the very object of the message. Paul's view of Christ's death as a redemptive act which saved the world from sin brings the idea of the Adam's primeval sin affecting everyone into the Jewish tradition for the first time. Baptism isn't simply a sign of repentance and cleansing but an identification with the death and resurrection of Jesus. He still held to the idea that Jesus would return to establish the Kingdom within the lifetime of people then living. However the status of Christ was not firmly established. Although he referred to the Son of God and Son of the Father, Jesus is seen as subordinate to God and isolated texts (e.g. Phil 2:6-11) are not representative and may not be original.
The Jesus of the Fourth Gospel has little in common with the popular preacher familiar from the Synoptic Gospel tradition. There is little emphasis on the Kingdom of Heaven, few if any parables and Jesus is lordly, transcendent and authoritarian. He is not an ordinary human being but a mysterious otherworldly personality.
Though traditionally associated with the Apostle John, the unknown author of the fourth gospel, probably writing in the first decade of the second century, had a strong Hellenistic background with knowledge of Philo of Alexandria and Hermeticism. This is shown most clearly in the first chapter which was probably composed after the rest of the gospel since its ideas are not referred to elsewhere. Jesus is portrayed as the Logos which emanates from God, the Son of God and the sacrificial Lamb of God, but he still claims "The Father is greater than I" (John 14:28). The Holy Spirit is personified in a new way, not seen in the other gospels, as the "other Counsellor" or "Advocate".
A fuller introduction is given to the non-New Testament works which represent the doctrinal legacy of Christianity from about AD 100 to 325 as these are less well known. The Didache, or Teaching of the Twelve Apostles, is the earliest text which portrays the common rules of the early church. It influenced later Church Orders though it was rejected for the New Testament. The emphasis is on rules for living rather than doctrine and Jesus is never identified as God, but rather the Servant of God. The anti-Jewish Epistle of Barnabas by contrast promotes a Johannine Logos-like Son who reveals God.
The letters of Ignatius of Antioch (110 AD) were the first to declare the divinity of Jesus repeatedly and they criticize the Judaizers who still insisted that Christians should follow Jewish practices and the Docetists, who didn't believe Jesus was really human and opposed the idea of his suffering and death. The anonymous Letter to Diognetus uses the image of the Craftsman or Demiurge who God sent as the Servant.
Justin Martyr had been a sophist and thought Plato, not understanding the Jewish scripture, had talked of three gods. He offered various proofs that Jesus was the eternal logos. He accuses the Jews of murdering Christ in his Dialogue with Trypho, as did Melito of Sardis. Irenaeus of Lyons was the leading opponent of Gnosticism, challenging the dualistic Valentinus and Marcion in Against Heresies. He stressed the importance of the succession of bishops and the Eucharist.
The greatest standard bearers of the third century were not bishops, all came from North Africa, lived under Roman persecution and are not proclaimed saints by the church. Tertullian was a lawyer who in opposing the Gnostics produced the first clear statement of Christ as both man and God, though he denied the perpetual virginity of Mary as favouring the Gnostics, and the co-eternity of the Son. But he joined a charismatic group, the Montanists, which was condemned by the Bishop of Rome. Clement of Alexandria stressed the need for real knowledge rather than the false knowledge of the Gnostics. Origen allegedly castrated himself in his teens to maintain his purity and went everywhere barefoot. Since the beginning of the twentieth century, some scholars have questioned the historicity of Origen's self-castration, with many seeing it as a wholesale fabrication. [2] His examination of the Old Testament produced the Hexapla comparing the original Hebrew and different Greek translations. He rebutted the Talmudic account of Jesus in Against Celsus but floundered in his support of the virgin birth.
The Council of Nicea happened soon after the Roman emperor Constantine had become the patron of Christianity in 312. It was triggered by a public disagreement between Alexander bishop of Alexandria and his presbyter Arius whose clear formulation of the relationship between Jesus and God, following the pattern of Origen and Eusebius of Caesarea, placed Jesus in an inferior position, seeing this as the only way to avoid formal polytheism. When Alexander excommunicated him, he sought the protection of Eusebius and Eusebius of Nicomedia who both had the ear of the emperor. Eventually Constantine invoked a council to settle what he considered "these small and very insignificant questions". Only some 200-300 bishops out of 1,800 invited came, almost exclusively from the Greek east. After an inconclusive debate, Alexander and his secretary Athanasius asserted that the son was of the same essence as the Father, that he was homoousios or consubstantial with God. This carried the council but the issue continued to be debated until Theodosius I made the profession of Arianism illegal in 381.
The last chapter reviews the argument and concludes that the Council of Nicea could have ended very differently and that the ideas of consubstantiality and the equality of Jesus with God did not occur before then. It hopes that a new reformation will re-establish the charismatic message of Jesus.
Rowan Williams, the ex-Archbishop of Canterbury:
Stuart Kelly:
Arianism is a Christological doctrine first attributed to Arius, a Christian presbyter from Alexandria, Egypt. Arian theology holds that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, who was begotten by God the Father with the difference that the Son of God did not always exist but was begotten/made before "time" by God the Father; therefore, Jesus was not coeternal with God the Father, but nonetheless Jesus began to exist outside time as time applies only to the creations of God.
Eusebius of Caesarea, also known as Eusebius Pamphilus, was a Greek historian of Christianity, exegete, and Christian polemicist. In about AD 314 he became the bishop of Caesarea Maritima in the Roman province of Syria Palaestina. Together with Pamphilus, he was a scholar of the biblical canon and is regarded as one of the most learned Christians during late antiquity. He wrote Demonstrations of the Gospel, Preparations for the Gospel and On Discrepancies between the Gospels, studies of the biblical text. As "Father of Church History", he produced the Ecclesiastical History, On the Life of Pamphilus, the Chronicle and On the Martyrs. He also produced a biographical work on Constantine the Great, the first Christian Roman emperor, who was augustus between AD 306 and AD 337.
The First Council of Nicaea was a council of Christian bishops convened in the Bithynian city of Nicaea by the Roman Emperor Constantine I in AD 325.
Irenaeus was a Greek bishop noted for his role in guiding and expanding Christian communities in the southern regions of present-day France and, more widely, for the development of Christian theology by combating heterodox or Gnostic interpretations of Scripture as heresy and defining proto-orthodoxy. Originating from Smyrna, he had seen and heard the preaching of Polycarp, who in turn was said to have heard John the Evangelist, and thus was the last-known living connection with the Apostles.
The extant manuscripts of the book Antiquities of the Jews, written by the first-century Jewish historian Flavius Josephus around AD 93–94, contain two references to Jesus of Nazareth and one reference to John the Baptist.
The resurrection of Jesus is the Christian belief that God raised Jesus from the dead on the third day after his crucifixion, starting – or restoring – his exalted life as Christ and Lord. According to the New Testament writing, Jesus was firstborn from the dead, ushering in the Kingdom of God. He appeared to his disciples, calling the apostles to the Great Commission of forgiving sin and baptizing repenters, and ascended to Heaven.
Ebionites as a term refers to a Jewish Christian sect, which viewed poverty as a blessing, that existed during the early centuries of the Common Era. The Ebionites embraced an adoptionist Christology, thus understanding Jesus of Nazareth as a mere man who, by virtue of his righteousness in following the Law of Moses, was chosen by God to be the messianic "prophet like Moses". A majority of the Ebionites rejected as heresies the orthodox Christian beliefs in Jesus' divinity, virgin birth and substitutionary atonement that were accepted by the early Church; and therefore maintained that Jesus was born the natural son of Joseph and Mary, sought to abolish animal sacrifices by prophetic proclamation, and died as a martyr in order to move all Israel to repentance.
Nontrinitarianism is a form of Christianity that rejects the mainstream Christian theology of the Trinity—the belief that God is three distinct hypostases or persons who are coeternal, coequal, and indivisibly united in one being, or essence. Certain religious groups that emerged during the Protestant Reformation have historically been known as antitrinitarian.
Marcionism was an early Christian dualistic belief system that originated with the teachings of Marcion of Sinope in Rome around the year 144. Marcion was an early Christian theologian, evangelist, and an important figure in early Christianity. He was the son of a bishop of Sinope in Pontus. About the middle of the 2nd century (140–155) he traveled to Rome, where he joined the Syrian Gnostic Cerdo.
Most scholars who study the historical Jesus and early Christianity believe that the canonical gospels and the life of Jesus must be viewed within their historical and cultural context, rather than purely in terms of Christian orthodoxy. They look at Second Temple Judaism, the tensions, trends, and changes in the region under the influence of Hellenism and the Roman occupation, and the Jewish factions of the time, seeing Jesus as a Jew in this environment; and the written New Testament as arising from a period of oral gospel traditions after his death.
Géza Vermes, was a British academic, Biblical scholar, and Judaist of Jewish–Hungarian descent—one who also served as a Roman Catholic priest in his youth—and scholar specialized in the field of the history of religion, particularly ancient Judaism and early Christianity. He is best known for his complete translation of the Dead Sea Scrolls into English; his research focused on the Dead Sea Scrolls and other Ancient Hebrew writings in Aramaic such as the Targumim, and on the life and religion of Jesus. Vermes was one of the most important voices in contemporary Jesus research, and he has been described as the greatest Jesus scholar of his time. Vermes' written work on Jesus focuses principally on the Jewishness of the historical Jesus, as seen in the broader context of the narrative scope of Jewish history and theology, while questioning and challenging the basis of the Christian doctrine on Jesus.
Homoousion is a Christian theological term, most notably used in the Nicene Creed for describing Jesus as "same in being" or "same in essence" with God the Father. The same term was later also applied to the Holy Spirit in order to designate him as being "same in essence" with the Father and the Son. Those notions became cornerstones of theology in Nicene Christianity, and also represent one of the most important theological concepts within the Trinitarian doctrinal understanding of God.
The term proto-orthodox Christianity or proto-orthodoxy describes the early Christian movement that was the precursor of Christian orthodoxy. It was coined by Bentley Layton, but is often erroneously attributed to New Testament scholar Bart D. Ehrman. Ehrman argues that this group from the moment it became prominent by the end of the third century, "stifled its opposition, it claimed that its views had always been the majority position and that its rivals were, and always had been, 'heretics', who willfully 'chose' to reject the 'true belief'." In contrast, Larry W. Hurtado argues that proto-orthodox Christianity is rooted in first-century Christianity.
Heresy in Christianity denotes the formal denial or doubt of a core doctrine of the Christian faith as defined by one or more of the Christian churches.
The doctrine of the Trinity, considered the core of Christian theology by Trinitarians, is the result of continuous exploration by the church of the biblical data, thrashed out in debate and treatises, eventually formulated at the First Council of Nicaea in AD 325 in a way they believe is consistent with the biblical witness, and further refined in later councils and writings. The most widely recognized Biblical foundations for the doctrine's formulation are in the Gospel of John, which possess ideas that originate in Platonism and Greek philosophy.
Christianity in the ante-Nicene period was the time in Christian history up to the First Council of Nicaea. This article covers the period following the Apostolic Age of the first century, c. 100 AD, to Nicaea in 325 AD.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to Christianity:
Early Christianity, or Palaeochristianity, describes the historical era of the Christian religion up to the First Council of Nicaea in 325. Christianity spread from the Levant, across the Roman Empire, and beyond. Originally, this progression was closely connected to already established Jewish centers in the Holy Land and the Jewish diaspora. The first followers of Christianity were Jews who had converted to the faith, i.e. Jewish Christians. Early Christianity contains the Apostolic age and is followed by, and substantially overlaps with, the Patristic era.
Historiography of early Christianity is the study of historical writings about early Christianity, which is the period before the First Council of Nicaea in 325. Historians have used a variety of sources and methods in exploring and describing Christianity during this time.
Traditionally in Christianity, orthodoxy and heresy have been viewed in relation to the "orthodoxy" as an authentic lineage of tradition. Other forms of Christianity were viewed as deviant streams of thought and therefore "heterodox", or heretical. This view was challenged by the publication of Walter Bauer's Rechtgläubigkeit und Ketzerei im ältesten Christentum in 1934. Bauer endeavored to rethink Early Christianity historically, independent from the views of the current church. He stated that the 2nd-century church was very diverse and included many "heretical" groups that had an equal claim to apostolic tradition. Bauer interpreted the struggle between the orthodox and heterodox to be the "mainstream" Church of Rome struggling to attain dominance. He presented Edessa and Egypt as places where the "orthodoxy" of Rome had little influence during the 2nd century. As he saw it, the theological thought of the "Orient" at the time would later be labeled "heresy". The response by modern scholars has been mixed. Some scholars clearly support Bauer's conclusions and others express concerns about his "attacking [of] orthodox sources with inquisitional zeal and exploiting to a nearly absurd extent the argument from silence." However, modern scholars have critiqued and updated Bauer's model.