Attack on Heresies
Heresy in general refers to a doctrinal belief held in opposition to the recognized standards of an established system of thought. Theologically it means an opinion at variance with the authorized teachings of any church, notably the Christian, and especially when this promotes separation from the main body of faithful believers. By the time Irenaeus wrote Against the Heresies the word became fixed to designate a group cut off from the Church by reason of false doctrine.
From apostolic times the church claimed authority to safeguard the deposit of faith handed down from Christ and consequently condemned what were considered substantial deviation from Christian orthodoxy. In the sub-apostolic age and before the year 200, there were fewer than forty distinct sects, usually named after their founder or leading exponent, which are branded heretical by Christian writers. Irenaeus attacks at least fifteen, mostly of Gnostic origin, that were current in his day.
Irenaeus’ Against the Heresies contains a profound exposition of Gnosticism and other heresies. In refuting heterodox systems he gives important testimony regarding the common beliefs of the early Christian Church. He writes: “The Church, though dispersed through the whole world, even to the ends of the earth, has received from the Apostles and their disciples this faith…” He then records Catholic belief in the genuineness of the Gospels, in the Real Presence, and in a certain pre-eminence of the Church of Rome, the precise nature of which can be determined only from the whole context of Irenaeus’ writings.
In Irenaeus’ Against the Heresies his principal attack is against the Valentinian Gnostics, whose myths shifted away from “creation” to Epist...
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...th a Gnostic myth of the creation. It is basically a retelling of the book of Genesis in an allegorical way. Irenaeus refutes the myth with the Apostalic Succession, mos maiorum, and original tradition of the Apostalic Church.
In conclusion, Irenaeus’ attacks against Christian Heresies had a major impact on the social world of that time and influenced many other heresy hunters to follow, so it is evident that his description Gnosticism and other Christian heresies is historically accurate. We can assume that the heretical groups of Christians still exists but that the true Christians don’t even acknowledge them as a threat. During Irenaeus’ time they were a threat because Christianity was still developing and people were trying to understand Christianity, and what it really is. All these critics and writers helped in developing a true understanding of Christianity.
The Catholic Church referred to most groups that attempted to improve the Church and failed as ‘heretics;’ heresy could include “resistance to or rejection of Catholic sexual belief” (Crawford 73). Through use of this term, Catholics attempted to discredit these groups by categorizing them as counters to Catholic morality. Catholics previously had used this method to discredit groups like the Cathars, Waldensians, and Albigensians; all three of which rejected Catholic hierarchies regarding sex (Crawford 74). Like the Catholic Church, throughout the chronicle, Jeanne de Jussie continuously referred to Protestants as ‘heretics.’ Jeanne de Jussie too used the term to discredit the Protestants and to create a division between them and those who she considered to be true Christians: the
The four fundamental claims of the Catholic Intellectual Tradition, Human beings exist in a relation to a triune God, God’s presence in the world is mediated through nature and reality, faith and reason are compatible, the dignity of the human being is inviolable and therefore the commitment to justice for the common good is necessary. However, the great books in the Catholic Intellectual tradition show that they represent these fundamental claims in a broad distinctive way. This essay will show that these readings better represent one of the fundamental claims, human beings exist in a relation with a triune God, from the view point of three great books from the bible, Genesis, Exodus and the Gospel of Matthew. The Bible clearly supports the
Eusebius’ account of Constantine’s conversion is comparable to Gregory of Tours’ accounts of Clovis’ and Gundobad’s conversions to Christianity, in the sense that they all initially called upon the “Christ-God” (albeit Gundobad perhaps indirectly) to come to their aid, which he did, during periods of military crisis. The si...
...ve Theology of Maimonides and Aquinas." The Review of Metaphysics Vol 41,(June 1988) pp.723-738. Print .
Throughout the first 400 years that Christianity was present in the world it changed dramatically. It started small in an area near the eastern Mediterranean area but within these 400 years, it grew to encompass the whole of the Mediterranean and its surrounding. Throughout this time of growth, there was also much change within the beliefs of Christianity with the main belief centering around Jesus Christ. While Christianity grew and made it to new areas it was introduced to new people that interpreted the different scriptures and preaching of what it meant to be a Christian. Some of the most influential writings in these years came from Irenaeus of Lyons, a second-century writer, Christian, theologian, and bishop. He expressed his beliefs of what made a Christian a Christian within his writing. One of his most famous writings, The Demonstration of the Apostolic Preaching, highlights the idea of the Holy Trinity and the Rule of Faith in the interpretation of the bible. Irenaeus believed that the Rule of Faith was ultimately necessary and required when reading and interpreting the word of Christianity saying, in the words of Isaiah, “If ye believe not, neither shall ye understand” (paragraph 3). In the eyes of Irenaeus, the Rule of Faith is one of the main things that makes a Christian a Christian.
In this paper I will argue about the points where John Donne, Emily Dicks, and Michael Obi are struggling with their faith. The speaker in Holy Sonnet 14 struggles with not deserving to have a relationship with God because of sin. Emily Dickson fights with if there is an afterlife, if it is real, and can I belong in there (Poem 501). Michael Obi struggles with whole ideas of religion and remaining to look to the past since he is all about the looking forward (Death Men’s Path). The themes that are underlines is the desire to reconnect with God, believing in a God, but with some doubts, and completely not wanting a relationship with God at all.
History is replete with examples of persecution. Gonzalez reminds us, “Christianity is no easy matter” (41). Early Christians such as Ignatius (52), Polycarp (Bettenson 9) and Felicitas and Perpetua (Kerr 24) among thousands of others bear witness to this struggle, which
Throughout the history of the Church, it has struggled to reach a state of unity. A challenge that has presented itself is the teachings of heresies. Through the centuries, many different heresies have threatened the unity of the Church, one significant heresy being Nestorianism, named after its teacher Nestorious. It claims that Jesus was only human when born to Mary, denying Mary to be the Mother of God, and therefor jeopardizing the unity of the Church.
Paul’s incorporation of Platonic views to the religious sphere enlightened him, and he only followed this religious voice. Since he considered these other theologies disaggregated subsections of “his” Christianity, he could not accept them as truth, making him intolerant of these alternative voices. Hellenism was the prominent cultural delegator around 50 CE (Dean Frisina’s Lecture, 10/29/15). The spirit-matter distinction, that we can only have opinions about the physical world, while having knowledge of unchanging realities, was a strong theological idea at this time. We should aspire to escape this known, physical realm to leave a world of suffering and pain behind. Hellenism is shown to associate perfection with changelessness, and imperfection with decay and disintegration (Dean Frisina’s Lecture, 10/29/15). Early Christians were heavily influenced by the Hellenistic ideas around them as well, despite Christianity taking a more spiritual approach than its theological counterparts at this time. Jesus seldom mentioned escaping Roman rule, and never predicted such matters. He was more focused on the otherworldly, and believed we should use our time on Earth for a higher salvation in the afterlife. Paul’s emergence began the split in Early Christian views. Paul was even viewed as a persecutor of
Religion is undergoing a lot of reformations up to today. We cannot talk of these reformations without making mention of the sixteenth-century reformation. There was a lot of dispute in terms of religion during this century. The most important issue under dispute in the sixteenth-century religion reformation was a doctrinal issue. Based on the readings given, Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam, Martin Luther King Jr, John Calvin and Saint Ignatius of Loyola argued on this issue from different perspectives.
This paper will expose what controversies he was involved in throughout his theological career; why and how he is considered to be a key figure in the development of Christianity; and what insights
I propose to write a monograph about John Spencer (1630-93), a most remarkable scholar who rose to become master of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge (1667) and University Preacher. Spencer discovered, more sharply than his contemporaries, the laws of religious evolution. It was during the seventeenth-century transformation of discourse on religion, when a handful of scholars, both Catholic and Protestant, recognized, in distinct ways and from distinct perspectives, the multiplicity of observable religions—past and present. In due course, comparisons would come to be stripped of their polemics, and, would come to recognize the correspondence between cults and beliefs, near and distant in time and place. From Christian perspective, serious scholarship about “other” peoples, mainly Jews and Muslims evolved gradually, alongside a renewed appreciation of, and fascination with, the ancient Near East.
The first followers of Christ were Jews. Non-Jewish followers, called Gentiles (Wiesner pg. 67), created an argument of whether or not they should conform to Judaism. A direct result of that argument was the separation of Jews and Gentiles, and the development of Christianity. Christianity was based on the lessons of Jesus, but there was initial diversity in the ideas of the Gentile followers. The Apostle’s transformed initial diversity in Christianity into a definite split between orthodoxy (truth) and heresy (false) by institutionalizing the orthodoxy in the Apostolic Creed, the Church, and the Apostolic Tradition.
The Catholic Church has done many battles over false teachings of the Church, heresy, for over 2000 years. The word heresy means a teaching of the Catholic Church that is explicitly stated yet a person knowingly rejects this teaching for a different point of view. Donatism is a famous heresy that came around during the year 311 in response to Bishops being ordained when they had rejected the Bible during the persecution of Diocletian a few years prior. It states that a priest, under sin, who administers the sacraments will not be valid to. The Church rejects this heresy and through this shows the effectiveness of the sacraments and the reliance on God for His love and forgiveness, rather than be like Judas and go into despair.
During the third century, Emperor Constantine made Christianity popular, however, his version was a mix of Christianity and paganism that became a State religion and the foundation for the Catholic church. During this time there were several Christian groups that were separate from this State religion, and suffered for it. One of these groups was called the Donatists.