Movements

15.1.1 Erasmus of Rotterdam; Translator, Researcher, And Humanist Pioneer; The Movement Back to Evaluating Greek Manuscripts To Get To The Originals;  The Danger in Integrating Christianity and Worldly Philosophies Or Religions

The Reformation was never the work of a solitary man bravely facing all others. In fact, there were pre-Protestants going back as far as the eighth century and probably further. Byzantine iconoclasm was an eighth-century movement back then to eliminate all the statues and icons adorning all the churches. Protestants integrated this as part of […]

15.1.1 Erasmus of Rotterdam; Translator, Researcher, And Humanist Pioneer; The Movement Back to Evaluating Greek Manuscripts To Get To The Originals;  The Danger in Integrating Christianity and Worldly Philosophies Or Religions Read More »

11.76 The Waldenses, Why Believers Complied With Roman Catholic Doctrine, Bans on Reading the Bible, The Inquisition and other Repressive Measures

Waldo (also called Valdez) was a prosperous merchant in Lyons in 1176 AD. At that time, he was affected by the song of a wandering minstrel who was singing about the best way to God. He was affected by this verse: Jesus said to him, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you

11.76 The Waldenses, Why Believers Complied With Roman Catholic Doctrine, Bans on Reading the Bible, The Inquisition and other Repressive Measures Read More »

03.25.1 The Great Councils Continued, Finishing the Development of Trinitarian Doctrine and Related Issues; Over 500 Years of Debate on the Nature of Christ and the Trinity

This article does not include a comparison to original Christianity in the matters discussed.  It presents what happened in these matters along with occasionally reporting what the writers of these histories deemed important for our understanding.  Remember the point of this website is to see how different doctrines developed over time, and how they compare

03.25.1 The Great Councils Continued, Finishing the Development of Trinitarian Doctrine and Related Issues; Over 500 Years of Debate on the Nature of Christ and the Trinity Read More »

03.25 The Great General Councils Begin for the Purpose of Doctoral Development and Other Issues

This is just an overview of the beginning of the movement in the church to have general councils without addressing how they compare to original Christianity other than to say that the only council mentioned in Acts involved actual apostles and prophets and the decision “seemed good to the Holy Spirit” so the Holy Spirit

03.25 The Great General Councils Begin for the Purpose of Doctoral Development and Other Issues Read More »

01.50 Marcion the Heretic is the One who Names the Old and New Testaments And Starts the Process to Canonize a List of Acceptable Scriptures, The First Creed

As the old saying goes, Marcion was “the son of a preacher man”.  Actually, his father was Bishop at Sinope.  But Marcion’s upbringing in the Church did not lead him to accept the orthodoxy of the times.  He was a wealthy shipowner and merchant who evidently compared the religion of his father with the religions

01.50 Marcion the Heretic is the One who Names the Old and New Testaments And Starts the Process to Canonize a List of Acceptable Scriptures, The First Creed Read More »

02.0 Rome had a Policy of Amalgamating Religions and Clement of Alexandria Believed and Taught that the Philosophers were sent to Greece just as the Prophets were sent to Israel to Satisfy that Policy

Even though he is named the Clement of Alexandria, Clement was actually probably from Athens.  He was not raised in a Christian household, and the method of his conversion is not known. What is known is that he set out on a life quest to find a Christian teacher who could school him in his

02.0 Rome had a Policy of Amalgamating Religions and Clement of Alexandria Believed and Taught that the Philosophers were sent to Greece just as the Prophets were sent to Israel to Satisfy that Policy Read More »

03.8.2 The Sanitizing of the Writings of the Church Fathers

This is a 2018 post in which I have added a little more information for clarification. The writing of the early church fathers is a wonderful resource for learning what early Christians believed and how different elements of the church including doctrines and rites developed.  However, the problem with reading the early church fathers is

03.8.2 The Sanitizing of the Writings of the Church Fathers Read More »

01.1.1.1   Trajan’s Response to Pliny as an example of the Roman View on Christianity

The Roman response to Christianity varied from severe  persecution to an attitude of “Don’t ask … don’t look for them.”  This latter attitude was initiated by the Emperor Trajan.  Before we discuss Trajan it needs to be noted that the Roman Empire was a huge place, and obviously, people couldn’t travel nor communicate at the

01.1.1.1   Trajan’s Response to Pliny as an example of the Roman View on Christianity Read More »

04.0 Augustine, the Most Influential Christian Theologian of All Time

Wayne Grudem, in his SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY, says that Augustine’s On the Trinity, “is considered the most thorough development of the orthodox doctrine of the Trinity in the history of the church.”[i] That is just one example of how the accolades for Augustine abound everywhere in Christian texts. Williston Walker begins his chapter on Augustine with

04.0 Augustine, the Most Influential Christian Theologian of All Time Read More »

01.6.0 Church Sects during the Antonine Era

There have always been divisions in the church.  This article talks about sects that abounded in the mid-second century and some of the fallout. According to Encyclopedia Brittania, the Antonine Era is the period of years between 132 and 180 AD when “the Roman emperors Antoninus Pius (reigned AD 138–161) and his adopted son and heir, Marcus Aurelius (reigned AD

01.6.0 Church Sects during the Antonine Era Read More »

15.1.5 Medieval Enlightenment Works To Show the Basis for the Sacrament of Penance to be Faulty

As discussed in an earlier post, 15.0.1 At the Heart of the Reformation was the Call to Return to the Practices of Early Christianity, one of the things happening in the 15th century were comparisons of Greek texts to Latin Vulgate translations.  Here is an example: In the year 1440, a humanist scholar named Lorenzo Valla examined

15.1.5 Medieval Enlightenment Works To Show the Basis for the Sacrament of Penance to be Faulty Read More »

15.0.1 At the Heart of the Reformation was the Call to Return to the Practices of Early Christianity

The beginning of the 16th century was one of the worst times in Christianity. Corruption was everywhere from the pope down. “The decline and corruption of the papacy was well-known. After its residence at Avignon, where had it had served as a tool of French interest, the papacy had further weakened by the Great Schism,

15.0.1 At the Heart of the Reformation was the Call to Return to the Practices of Early Christianity Read More »

13.7 John Wyclif, Pre- Luther Reformer, Wrote of Early Christianity

While Martin Luther is credited with starting the Reformation, the truth is that he had predecessors. About a century and a half before Luther posted his 95 theses there was a man named John Wyclif. Wyclif rose to become a master at Oxford, Balliol College. He was considered the “ablest theologian of its faculty”.[i] The

13.7 John Wyclif, Pre- Luther Reformer, Wrote of Early Christianity Read More »

14.1 The Borgias – Wealth, Power, Influence, and the Highest Position in the Roman Catholic Church

“Sex…Power…Murder…Amen” is how the series, The Borgias, opens. The reason that it is relevant here in the website on original Christianity and the developments since is that it sets the stage for the Reformation.  By most accounts, the dealings of the Borgias, some of whom were popes, were not abnormal to the times.  They may

14.1 The Borgias – Wealth, Power, Influence, and the Highest Position in the Roman Catholic Church Read More »

01.3.2.1 Justin Martyr Itemizes 2nd Century Baptism and Worship Practices That He Says Were Handed down From Christ’s Post Resurrection Instruction

Baptism Justin’s first apology gives an eyewitness account into the practices of worship, baptism and communion in the mid-second century. Interestingly, Justin calls baptism a “washing”, which is what the word” baptism” really means, and in my humble opinion, is what this ritual was called in the original Christian church. As far as what was

01.3.2.1 Justin Martyr Itemizes 2nd Century Baptism and Worship Practices That He Says Were Handed down From Christ’s Post Resurrection Instruction Read More »

01.3.1.1 Justin Martyr Ranked Jesus, The Logos Made Flesh, as Inferior to the Father

In the previous post we looked at how Justin promoted the Logos.  He embraced the Stoic view, and furthered it by proclaiming that Jesus was the living incarnation of the Logos. Justin wrote that the Logos inspired the both the Jewish prophets, and the Greek poets and philosophers. He also declared that the Logos manifested

01.3.1.1 Justin Martyr Ranked Jesus, The Logos Made Flesh, as Inferior to the Father Read More »

01.3.1 Justin Martyr on the Logos – the Integration of Original Christianity with Greek Philosophy

Justin is the most famous of the first apologists and shows the beginning of the integration of Greek philosophy with Christian doctrine. As a caveat it must be stated that, like all the early Church fathers, everything that Justin wrote was not accepted as definitive for Christian theology.  In fact, the earlychurch.org.uk website puts it

01.3.1 Justin Martyr on the Logos – the Integration of Original Christianity with Greek Philosophy Read More »

01.3.0 Justin Martyr – Philosopher Turned Christian and Powerful Promoter of Christianity as a Philosophy

Justin the Martyr’s life spanned from 100 to 165 A.D[i]. Unlike the previous Christians we have looked at, Justin did not have the experience with the Jewish tradition and culture of Christianity of his predecessors.  Justin, being born to a pagan family in Sheckham, Samaria, embraced philosophy as a young man, ” being first a

01.3.0 Justin Martyr – Philosopher Turned Christian and Powerful Promoter of Christianity as a Philosophy Read More »

Scroll to Top