Christian Doctrine And The Doctrine Of A New Testament

The two gospels, The Old Testament and The New Testament provide mirror images of Terrestrial Humans mentality Evolution and the comprehensive overview of the mental developmental trends over a span covering last five millennia. The Old Testament moral norms served in establishing a legal system with base in an absolute, irrevocable right of private ownership. Incontestable proof of continuous process of Evolution in this micro-segment of Spiral is an emergence of ‘The New Testament’, as a herald of a new mental era on the Earth, which naturally succeeds ‘The Old Testament’. Needless to remind, that The Old Testament also inspired adherents to vehemently follow the principle "an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth", a total ‘defence of ownership’ “…based on the superstition or the illusion that one was ‘God 's chosen people’ and was superior to all ‘heathens’ ". (Quote from ‘Livets Bog’, Vol IV #1310)

In Chapter one, “The Bauer Thesis: An Overview,” Rodney J. Decker orients the reader to the work of Walter Bauer. Though he summarizes Bauer’s other research and highly praises his lexical work enshrined in BDAG (p.9-10), Decker focuses the chapter on summarizing Bauer’s “paradigm shaping book,” Orthodoxy and Heresy in Earliest Christianity. First, he sketches the broad outlines of Bauer’s thesis without entangling the reader within the minutia of Bauer’s arguments (p.11-17). Next, taking up the bulk of the chapter, Decker surveys several major responses, both positive and negative (but mostly negative), that have been leveled at Orthodoxy and Heresy since its publication, from the first critical response by H. E. W. Turner in 1954, to Köstenburger and Kruger’s book published in 2010 (p.17-32). Decker concludes the chapter by declaring, in the words of Darrell

Christians’ relationship to the Old Testament has been an issue that has attracted huge concern across the globe. This issue has generated much controversy because of the various misunderstandings across both sides of the spectrum. In essence, there are Christians who believe that the Old Testament law is biding to all believers while others think that they are not bound by this law. There are some Christians who argue that the Old Testament law is not binding to believers except the Ten Commandments whereas others state that the ceremonial law has been eradicated. The confusion regarding Christians’ relationship to the Old Testament is also fueled by the fact that there are many laws that seem to be part of this religion. Moreover, the Old Testament is associated with complexities, which makes them to find it confusing, wordy, and cumbersome .

In sixteenth century, there was a European program in which Calvin, Luther, Zwingli, and so on disconnected from the Catholic Religious. This was because the church and

Irenaeus of Lyon was a very influential theologian during the second century. From his defining works changing Christians views on Gnosticism, to his letters concerning Roman priest and controversial topics, Irenaeus began to change the view of Christianity.

Heretics were Christians who did not believe in traditional religious practices and therefore their “incorrect belief would lead, in orthodox opinion, to damnation, and might also

Liberal is a word whose meaning has multiple connotations. For many the word is synonymous with freedom and open-mindedness. For others, it refers to people and ideas that lack practicality and discipline. When the Puritans came to America in 1630, their leader John Winthrop told them to be liberal in spirit in a way that was like the prophet Nehemiah’s urgings and Matthew’s teachings of kindness. However, he also reminded his followers to balance benevolent generosity for strangers with prudent care for their families. He felt that kindness and liberality to the poor was the best way to show God’s love and grace. Winthrop felt that the Puritans should be willing to give up their desires to help provide the poor with the things that they needed. This is because materialism was thought to be counterproductive to the teachings of the Bible. The Bible teaches that one should have no god but God and that if a person focused too much on obtaining profit and materialistic pleasures they would perish. Since this period there has been a struggle in America to balance concern for oneself and one’s family with that of the community.

Irenaeus, born 130-202, was one of the early apologists that defended Christianity against Greco-Roman paganism and against Judaism; they also sought to protect it from modification and heresies. He was born Smyrna, which was an ancient city in Turkey. Irenaeus was the pupil of Polycarp, who in turn was supposed to be a disciple of John the Apostle. Irenaeus became the Bishop of Lugdunum in Gaul (modern Lyons, France). In 177, Pothinus, the Bishop of Lyons, sent Irenaeus on a mission to Rome, however during Irenaeus absence severe persecutions of bishops broke out in Lyons. In 190 or 191, Irenaeus negotiated with Pope Victor to lift the sentence of excommunication laid by that pontiff upon the Christian communities of Asia Minor which persevered in the practice of the Quartodecimans in regard to the celebration of Easter. Irenaeus is

It is important to note that the New Testament was not yet complete. Thus, teaching the tradition followed along with whatever “scriptures” a particular bishop or church had in their possession. Williams provided excerpts from Ignatius of Antioch’s letters in which creedal-like fragments similar to the Apostle’s Creed were used. “The creedal-like fragments and simple confessions formulated in the apostolic era established patterns by which subsequent Christian communities strove to identify and transmit their faith (pp. 75).” To conclude the chapter, Williams reiterates to the reader that the early apologists had to rely on tradition over scriptures for two reasons. First, the scriptures as we know them today were not determined at that time. Secondly, Gnostics used the same biblical texts giving it their own spin, so the apologists used tradition to solidify their points. “Irenaeus concludes that one cannot proceed with proofs from Scripture without resorting to a reference outside of it ... the truth is found in the Tradition of the apostles manifested to the world through the agency of the churches (pp.

Of all the early church fathers, only a few would stand up to the story, importance and work of Athanasius. Not only did he take over as Bishop in one of the most prominent cities of ancient Rome, he had a very tumultuous life and spent many years in exile for his defense of doctrine and he steadfast approach to understanding the Trinity, specifically the relationship of Jesus Christ to the father, and remains controversial to this day. This paper will take an overall look at the life of Athanasius, his upbringing, the stage that was set for him in Alexandria, and the controversies and work that surrounded his life, and most of all, showcasing, in their time, some of his most important works that are still used almost 2000 years

On one level this was theological. Exemplifying this was Henry of Lausanne, a twelfth century French heresiarch. Weaved throughout his preaching, was a Pelagian stance on original sin. Hereby man was not tainted by the Fall, so only fell through his own actions. From this, Henry concluded there was no need for the sacraments. Subsequently orthodox salvation was attacked, arguably showing the Church was controlling the people. Moreover some taught the complete removal of the clergy. Thus anarchy would ensue as services, tithing and Rome’s supremacy would be scrapped. Moreover since this Henrician stance was widespread, validated by the Free Spirit movement later and Messalianism earlier, heresy as a whole in this period can be seen as a major threat. Indeed the Church was also under attack regarding their secular influence too. The Twelve Confessions of the Lollards proves so. Within this manifesto is the declaration, ‘he that hath taken him to the one (a temporal or a spiritual office) should not meddle … with the other’. Therefore, a desire for division between the two existed, reducing the Church’s political influence. This was not necessarily a widespread belief among Lollards though, as its author John Purvey represented Lollardy’s greatest minds. Nevertheless this was the face the world saw (as it was sent to Parliament) and even if a minority, was a threatening one. Furthermore, since heretics’ theology was applied practically, they were incredibly threatening. The Waldensian preachers, who after the Third Lateran Council disobeyed Pope Alexander III and continued preaching, prove so. Subsequently Moore is justified when he proclaims that heresy attempted ‘to subvert the Christian order and bring … chaos’, since through their actions, the clergy were attacked. Yet Moore was wrong to see the issue as beyond doctrinal disputes and Church made. Heterodox beliefs

Overall, there seems to be a very high Christology in the New Testament. However, due to the various authors of the books that comprise the anthology, there is an inherent variation of the level of Christology found between the different books. In order to examine the Christology of a religious text, one must first understand the notion of Christology. Christology refers to the level of divinity that Jesus is portrayed to have, and can be understood as a spectrum with an extremely high Christology at one end and an extremely low Christology at the other. The highest possible Christology refers to texts in which Jesus is described at being equal to God, while the lowest possible Christology refers to texts in which Jesus is described as being completely human. These extremes are typically never fully realized in the New Testament; a position on the spectrum between them is usually taken. When analyzing the Christology of the Gospel of Mark, the Book of Revelation, and the Pauline Epistles, it becomes apparent that there is in fact a difference in the Christology of the three. Mark seems to have a lower Christology than the Pauline Epistles, which have a lower Christology than the book of Revelation, which has a very high Christology.

Being accused of heresy and his ideas said to be dangerous deviations from the church he had to defend himself from opposition. (C/S 436) He once proclaimed “the bible teaches us how to get to heaven, not know how heaven goes” in his defense. (C/S, 438)

Perhaps the greatest achievement to come from early church history is the establishment of a universal New Testament Canon. While we may not put much thought into it today, which books should be included or excluded from the New Testament was once the center of much controversy. It took the church many years to settle upon the current collection of books as being the proper Canon, making it more of a process than an event. Ironically enough, the need for a universal Canon was only realized after many disputes over the version suggest by the Christian heretic Marcion. Marcion’s collection of books were revised by Athanasius and later endorsed by the church through councils. Once the New Testament Canon was established, all other suggested books became part of a collection known as the Apocrypha and their use dismissed by the church.

the formation of early Christendom. Born in Caesarea around 260c.e., he was mentored by Pamphilus,