Lecture 6: Varieties of Early Christianity

Varieties of Early Christianity ............................................................

Lecture 6

As we move beyond the New Testament, we end up taking a step out

of a Jewish world into an almost entirely Gentile world. All of the New

Testament writings that we know of ... indicate that they’re all Jewish,

just like nearly all of the main characters are Jewish. But all of the

early Christian writings beyond the New Testament that we have are

Gentile writings.

I

n the sometimes bewilderingly large variety of early Christian

theologies, a central issue was always the relation of Christian belief

to its Jewish roots. Jewish Christians soon became a marginal group,

leaving no extant writings after the New Testament. They continued to live

as Jews observing the Law of Moses until the 4th century. Originally, they

were called Nazarenes and were based in Jerusalem. They were rejected by

mainstream Judaism and increasingly disapproved of by Gentile Christians.

Jewish Christians believed in Jesus as Son of God and did not accept the

emerging rabbinic interpretation of Judaism. They also refused to live like

Gentiles. In addition, they accepted Paul and hence the validity of Gentile

Christianity—for Gentiles. They were labeled heretics in the 5th century,

when they were dying out, but not before.

The Ebionites believed Jesus was a righteous man, but not divine and not the

Son of God. They evidently arose by splitting from the Nazarenes and are

the classic example of a low Christology, denying the divine origin of Jesus

as Son of God. The Ebionites also rejected the writings of Paul, whom they

regarded as a renegade against the Law of Moses.

Among Gentile Christians, the most important alternatives to what later

became orthodoxy is a large variety of teachings usually brought under

the broad label of Gnosticism, which comes from the Greek term gnosis,

meaning knowledge. For Gnostics, salvation means knowledge of who you

are and where you come from. The physical world, including earth and

heaven, planets and stars, is an evil prison for our spirits, which come from

outside this world, beyond space and time. The angels in the heavens are