1. Church History
Lecture 3 – The Second Century The Challenge of Greek Philosophy
See pages of Latourette, plus class handouts

2. Greek Culture Many gods (polytheism) often in a hierarchy
Sexually promiscuous, homosexuality accepted
Widespread use of drugs & prostitution in religion
Ecstatic worship
Mystery religions
Philosophy (Aristotle, Plato, Socrates)
Sharp distinction between spirit(good) and matter (evil)
Mystical and symbolic, numerology, astrology
Strong belief in “Fate”: prophecy, Sibyls, oracles

3. The Tension For New Converts
Very hard to find the balance
Either totally rejected Greek culture and went to the opposite extreme (e.g. compulsory celibacy)
Extremism / legalism
Or tried to synthesize Greek culture and the Christian faith (and sometimes became heretical)
Anti-nomianism (rejection of the law), syncretism (mixing up paganism and Christianity)

4. Gnosticism Gnosis = knowledge Gnosticism = salvation by knowledge
No sin, only ignorance of divinity / spirituality
Sharp distinction between spirit and matter (dualism)
This world created by an evil god “demiurge”
True God is love and is unknowable
Many layers of spirit beings
Many different kinds of Gnosticism
Some very strict morally, others allowed promiscuity as the body ‘did not matter” and what was done in the body did not affect the spirit.

5. Marcionism
Marcion ( AD) a wealthy shipping magnate went to Rome and about 138 AD started teaching that:
The “God of the Old Testament” was evil and was the demiurge
That Judaism was the religion of this “evil god” and the otherwise unknown God of love was revealed in Christ
That only the letters of Paul and the gospel of Luke were the Scriptures
An attempt to return to pure grace and to the pure gospel untainted by law
Tended to ‘cut and paste’ the Bible
Forbad marriage, strict celibacy

6. Simon Magus & Babylonian Religion
Simon Magus was a magician from Samaria (see Acts 8:9-24) who tried to buy the power to confer the power of the Holy Spirit
He is mentioned as having great occult powers by many early church fathers
Early church fathers taught that Simon Magus was the source of all heresies
Simon Magus taught that knowledge conferred supernatural powers
Had a system of ‘divine emanations’
Simon was worshipped by his followers
Taught Babylonian occult mysteries in Rome
Supposedly fell to his death in a confrontation with the Apostle Peter in Rome

7. Montanism
Montanus was from Phrygia, Montanism flourished in the second half of the second century
Stressed the spiritual gifts, speaking in tongues and prophecy, lived very holy lives
Was popular in Phrygia and North Africa
Expected the imminent return of Jesus Christ and a literal 1000 year reign (known as chiliasm)
The great apologist Justin Martyr eventually joined
Not so much a heresy as an extreme. Montanus and his two female prophets tended to see themselves as anointed and infallible

8. The Danger Of Defining The Faith
Every attempt to ‘standardize’ Christianity tends to also factionalize it.
There is a strong tension between truth and love – if we emphasize truth too much we can end up being judgmental and unloving but if we emphasize acceptance to much we can admit rampant heresy.
Many disputes were completely unnecessary (such as the long dispute over the date of celebrating Easter)
Other disputes (such as that over celibacy) come from cultural over-reaction

9. The Rise Of The Bishop Of Rome
The notion of Apostolic Succession
The ‘primacy of St. Peter” – many good popes at first esp. Leo the Great
Rome was where Peter and Paul were and was the center of the Roman Empire
Jerusalem, Carthage, Alexandria and Constantinople were competitors for a while
Acts seems to support Rome as the place where the gospel ends up
At first was just ‘first among equals’
Gradually increased in power as center of empire shifted to Constantinople and the pope was no longer overshadowed by the Emperor and his court.