Early Christianity

One text that has been not only influential to my understanding of my call and potential vocation, but also informative in my understanding of the historical development and growth of the Christianity has been The Future of Faith, by Harvey Cox. Harvey Cox divides Christianity into three distinct ages that lead ultimately to the current age, which he terms “the Age of the Spirit.” His book explores human compulsion and necessity for faith as well as new trends that are emerging within the church…

During the early church there were many controversies on how to determine the canon of the New Testament. How did some books make the “cut” to be determined to be put in the infallible, inherent Word of God? Why did the church accept some books and rejected the others. There were key events and movements that were influential in the recognition of the canonical books of the New Testament. The foundation of the Canon should be understood in a believer’s life. It is sad to say, but, there are…

Robert Louis Wilken is the William R. Kenan Professor of the History of Christianity at the University of Virginia. He has written numerous works including The Christians as the Romans Saw Them and The Land Called Holy: Palestine in Christian History and Thought. In this particular work, Wilken set out to narrate the development of early Christian thought in the first centuries of the church with specific intentions to show how the Christian intellectual tradition came about, or as the author…

theological scholars of Christianity should be looking into the canonization of this text. Clement of Rome, as part of his moral instruction, cited the example of the obedience of the inanimate creation. The Passage he cites is in close parallel to 1 Enoch 2-5 and 101. This would reflect either knowledge of 1 Enoch from a personal experience, or a Jewish instructional tradition that was inspired by 1 Enoch. Either way, this proves the function of 1 Enoch in the early church as much more…

CThe conflicting elements had caused a significant rupture in the forming of the Christian church. Forinstance,” the doctrine of Docetism. Docetism has long been believed to have been integral to the teachings of the early Christian belief system of several the Gnostic schools however,the doctrine of these schools was to refute that God, in the form of Christ, had taken human form and were allowed to suffer and die on the cross. The doctrine suggested that, human body is composed of matter,…

Spirit of Early Christian Thought” demonstrates how the “Christian intellectual tradition came into being” (pg. xiv). Intellectualism isn’t disconnected from believing, rather, the function and belief of the Church established its pattern of intellectual thought. The Church was Christocentric and thus, their intellectualism was Christocentric as their tradition was in “thinking about the God who is known and seeking the One who is loved” (pg. 311). The hearts and attention of the early church…

God and ate and drank of the bread and wine in remembrance of Christ. This love feast became one of the major tenants of first century Christianity. The believers celebrated the Lord’s Supper each week, which helped them created a close connection with their…

Perpetua is a Christian martyr from the days of early christianity, when it was still illegal to be a Christian. She writes about her experiences, about being arrested and having visions about heaven, as well as what her time in prison was like, because it was more similar to house arrest. When her story ends, it tells about her getting trampled by a female cow in the arena, and when she doesn’t die from that, where she guides the hand of the soldier who executes her. Throughout all of her…

and Antipas and Luke will slowly convert Antipas into a Christian. Antipas being a smart man and is also a curios one who would want to grow on his knowledge about Christ. At the time that Antipas and Luke are writing each other is the time of the early church when Christian faced much persecution. As Antipas grew closer to Luke he learned more about Jesus Christ and the gospel. He also slowing became more e humble and filled himself with humility (157). In this story Antipas is the only dynamic…

Being immersed in a Christian environment for the last couple of years at Bryan College it has been difficult to see a different perspective on living a life for Christ that does not demonize socialism and endorse capitalism, until reading Christianity and the Social Crisis. Walter Rauschenbusch, the author, paints a picture of what it is to be politically liberal, yet religiously conservative on a scale that he calls the church to action by utilizing the influence it now has over the common…