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Discussion Board Initial Post – Josh Cougle
Discuss the impact of key theological concepts on the development of the early Christian Church.
Among the key theological concepts the early Church worked through, were the christological controversies of Ebionism and Docetism. The Ebonites held to the authority of the Hebrew Bible and the necessity of observing the Mosaic Law. What was most troubling about this view, was that they argued that there was no preexistence of Christ as God, no virgin birth, and that he was instead, adopted by God at his baptism. Similarly, Docetism challenged the full humanity of Christ.
Another major challenge to the early church and her doctrine, was Gnosticism. Gnosticism “emphasized personal spiritual knowledge above the proto-orthodox teachings, traditions, and authority of religious institutions” (wiki).
Early Church thinkers not only called out the heresy of the above, they provided extensive defense of Christ’s pre-existence, the virgin birth and the humanity of Christ. They also provided defense against the Gnostics, further defining the Biblical record as to who Christ is and what salvation entails.
In the second and third centuries, the twin errors of monarchianism sprang up in the church. These had to do with the persons in the Trinity, some claiming that Jesus was a person, not part of the God-head, and others, denying the unique role of each person of the Trinity to focus on the one-ness of God. The early Church, as they continued to study and work through the beauty of Christianity, was met with many controversies. For example, Arianism taught that that Son was created rather than being the co-equal eternal Son of God, and Apollinarianism, that Jesus had a divine mind and not a human rational mind.
As each of these were defended against, the early Church clarified the claims of the Bible and how they relate with our understanding of God, salvation, Jesus and the way the Spirit moves. Rather than starting from scratch, whenever we read the Bible and go to church, we are benefitting from 2,000 years of wonderful Christian thinkers, working through the complexity of our faith and sharing what it means to follow Jesus.