Early Third Century Christianity

The Church was a new phenomenon in the Roman Empire. Christians had exploited the empire’s improved communications to create an institution with a unity of structure that none of the other faith traditions had attempted by the third century. Each local church was headed by a bishop, the “overseer” who was said to derive his authority from Jesus’s apostles, and was supported by presbyters and deacons. The network of such near-identical communities seemed almost to have become an empire within the empire.

Irenaeus, the bishop of Lyons (c. 130-200), who was anxious to create an orthodoxy that excluded aggressive sectarians, had claimed that the Great Church had a single Rule of Faith, because the bishops had inherited their teaching directly from the apostles. This was not only a novel idea but a total fantasy. Paul’s letters show that there had been considerable tension between him and Jesus’s disciples, and his teachings bore little relation to those of Jesus. Each of the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Luke & Mark) had its own take on Jesus, while John was different from them. In addition, at that time there were also a host of other gospels in circulation that were used in churches. When Christians finally established a scriptural canon (New Testament) — between the fourth and sixth centuries (centuries after the crucifixion) — the diverse visions of the authors of those books were included side by side. After that it would be up to Church authorities, theologians and councils to try an reconcile long-held differences between those ancient sources.

Unfortunately, however, some in powerful positions in Christianity would develop a peculiar yearning for intellectual conformity that would not only prove to be unsustainable -- but that set it apart from other faith traditions. It also laid the foundation for endless disputes that continue to this very moment.

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