Labels

Abortion Allah America ancient anti-feminism Apostle Arab Arabia Aristotle Augustine autobiography bank banking beliefs Bhudda Bible biblical bigot bigotry biography Buddha Day Buddhism canon catholic Catholicism character charisma children christian christianity Christmas church Cinema civilization clutter commentary compromise conflict controversy conversion convert courtship creed crisis Crito culture custody dating debate deed democracy dhamma dharma dialogue differences diversity divorce dukkha Eastern Orthodoxy economics elections elephant esoteric essay ethics ethnicity Evangelical Evangelism extremism extremist fable faith family fatwa feminism fiction Folk four noble truths friends fringe Fun Gandha Baba gender generosity Giri Bala; Babaji global studies gnostic God golden rule good goodness Gorgias Gospel greed hadith hate Hebrew Bible heretic Hinduism hoarding Holiday home I AM ibn Baz idiom idols individuality initiative insurance interest interfaith interpretation interracial Iranaeus Iraq islam Israel Israeli jannah Jesus Jesus freak Jesus movement Jew jihad Judaism jurisprudence kids Kindness knowledge Kriya Yoga language law liberal liberals life Life of Pi love manners Mark marriage meaning Mecca meditation mess Middle East miracle Mission moderation Mohammed monastery money monk movie Muratorian muslim myth mythology Native American New Years opinion opportunity Padre Pio pagan Palestine pastor path Paul Paula Fredriksen pay it forward peace perception perennialist personality philosophy Pink Floyd Plato polite politeness politics pro-choice pro-life progressive proof Protestant proto-orthodox proverbs psychology Qaradawi Qur'an reincarnation relationship religion repentance respect responsibility retrospection revert review Rick Santorum rights rules Saint sala salvation science scripture secrets semantics sermon shari'a sharia shrine shura sin Socrates Soroush spirituality St. Theresa of Avila Strangers stuff Subculture Symposium tact Tanakh Tariq Ramadan temple terrorism terrorist Thanksgiving theology Theravada Therese Neumann tradition translation turkey understanding universalism USA values Vesak Visakha Puja wisdom women Xenophon Yogananda Yogi zealot

Sunday, November 25, 2012

Proto-Orthodoxy Canon Logic


After reading the “Muratorian Canon” fragment and Irenaeus’ Against the Heretics, it seems to me that the proto-orthodox Christians already had a creed in mind, and if the writings of the Jesus followers didn't fit with their idea of who Jesus was, it wasn't included. Specifically, the writings needed to indicate Jesus’ miraculous birth, crucifixion, and resurrection. These were the requirements, as well as an indication that Jesus was the Savior who was divine.

Writings that were from the gnostic groups were immediately considered heresy by Iranaeus, especially anything that referred to mysteries. Iranaeus held a definition of truth for Christianity to be that which speaks of Jesus being born of a virgin, the passion, and his resurrection and bodily ascension to heaven; Jesus was Son of God, Lord, Savior, King, and God (him)self. God was one and only, and the creator of all, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Anything that deviated from this or the teachings found in the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John were considered heresy by him, especially the gnostic materials, as he said “their statements are quite varied and numerous”.  He also equates Gnosticism with idolatry and as practitioners of magic.

Iranaeus also objected to the gnostic tendency to do anything they desired because they believed there was no such thing as a good or bad deed – that the classification is a human creation, opinion, and to be ignored, as they (the Gnostics) felt that it was the souls desire to experience everything to grow and transcend the need for the human body. All of this to Iranaeus was out of his realm of thinking for what he thought Christianity was or should be, thus he despised it and pushed forward his definition as if it was the norm.

This is a response paper that was originally written in reference to the “Muratorian Canon” fragment and Irenaeus’ Against the Heretics (pp. 196-211 of After the New Testament
A Reader in Early Christianity) for REL 420: Birth of Christianity at Michigan State University on 3/27/12.

No comments:

Post a Comment

I would love to hear your comments and critiques. The only thing I ask is that you be respectful to me and others. Thank you!