chapter two
Although Barth is mainly interested in the formation of ethnic identity,
it is clear that the median level of his analysis can also be applied to
illuminate the role of heresiologies in the formation of Christian identity,
especially as far as this identity is formed in relation to an ethnic group
such as the Jews. Epiphanius—and other heresiologists—can be seen
as social entrepreneurs who create stereotypes and collectives in order
to control the actions of individual Christians and their relation to
outsiders.
One central aspect in the formation of social identities is the patterning
of time by highlighting significant events in the history and future of
the people whose collective identity is being created. The concept of
“social time” refers to the recording of events of social change which
a group finds significant. Those who have the power to impose their
interpretation of the significance of events on others, largely determine
which events will become significant within a group. Consequently,
when power relations change within the group or when new events call
forth restructuring of the social time, the history of the community
needs to be rewritten. Philip Esler has aptly described this process:
“Thus, as power relations in society at large or within a particular group
change, modifications are made to the patterning of social time. Those
in power rewrite the meaning of some events, erase some, and invent
others.”^93
In the case of early Christian heresiologies, one can clearly see that
the heresiologists not only aimed at refuting undesirable doctrines and
practices but also imposed their interpretation of the history of the
“heresies” they were discussing. The history of the early Catholic Church
was purified and all ties to “heretic” groups cut by claiming that the
heresies were sprouting from one single root separate from the Church.
The heresiologists, who were writing mainly for their own community,
had full power to create a prehistory for the groups and doctrines they
were refuting. At some points, where the writers were involved with
polemics, glimpses of the way in which their opponents themselves
viewed their own earlier history come to the surface, as can be seen in
Epiphanius’ note about the Ebionites who traced their origins back to
Apostolic times. Yet it was easy for Epiphanius to place the Ebionites
in the history created for the heretics by claiming that the Ebionites
originated with a certain Ebion—who had already been invented by
(^93) Esler , .