To understand how the church fathers established the canonical books and determined what methods and criteria to be used to determine their inclusions, one must recognize the historical context in which the need for the canon arose. The era of peace and freedom of worship finally arrived for the often persecuted Christians of the 3rd century Roman Empire, when Emperor Constantine became a Christian. Suddenly an incongruent, diversified, non unified Christianity came out of hiding, which eventually divided the church along the lines of the nature, humanity and deity of Christ. Particularly the teachings of Arius and those of Gnosticism threatened the unification of the church the most. The orthodoxy of the church and the Canonization of the bible was the church’s defense to the Arian and Gnostic heresies, set in motion by the conversion of Constantine.
Orthodoxy’s Timeline
The historian, Arian bishop and confidant of Constantine, Eusibius of Caesrea, tell us that the emperor converted just before his Battle of Midvian Bridge in A.D.312. At the time that persecutions of Christian’s were common, paganism was the common religion in Rome. Upon his return from a victory attributed to his conversion to Christianity, Constantine began the change in Rome that eventually led to Christianity becoming the official religion of the Empire. Constantine, along with the Eastern emperor, Licinius, signed the Edict of Milan in A.D. 313. This document established religious tolerance and put an immediate end to the persecutions of Christians.
Rather than a show of public confession of Christianity and proof of his conversion, the sole purpose of the Edict of Milan was to restore public order in the empire. This fact is also seen as reason some scholars speculate whether or not Constantine’s conversion was sincere. Coupled with the fact that he did not baptized until his deathbed, which was common, some scholars argue that he secretly remained pagan and only used Christianity as a method to control the empire and promote his own agenda. They also argue that his conversion was not genuine because he never did anything that showed overwhelming allegiance to Christianity and he never publically renounced paganism.
Regardless of his personal sincerity in Christ, the impact of edict elevated Christianity within the empire by leaps and bounds. The new law brought Christianity into the mainstream, ended persecutions, and lead to Christian participation in higher government offices. In Constantine’s New Rome, churches were built instead of pagan temples which shifted the tradition of Christianity being practiced in homes to Christianity being practiced in basilicas and cathedrals. Most importantly, the shift shed light on the diverse practices, beliefs, teachings, and doctrines of Christians who once worshiped in hiding. Mainstream Christianity began to tackle the subsequent emergence of the heretical teachings of Arianis and Gnosticism. Arianism, roughly, is the belief that Jesus was merely and mortal man. Gnosticism is a belief of dualistic deity, and consequently, the declaration that Jesus was all spirit and non-material. These beliefs denied Christ’s deity and humanity respectively.
Who Was Arius?
Arius (A.D. 250-336), was a self proclaimed theologian who believed and taught that Christ was a mere man. Hill writes, “He believed that there was a tim when the son had to come into being, and that the son was definitely lower than the Father…the Son was not divine: he was a creature like any other. Certainly he was the greatest creature of all…but he was not God. (Hill 2006) ” This teaching directly abutted the Trinitarian teachings of the majority of the church fathers. As a result of his doctrines he was condemned by Alexander, and the bishops of Alexandria. Arius’ impact was great because his beliefs were shared by some bishops and regarded as heresy by others. After his exile he defended his views at the Council of Nicaea which was specifically convened to settle the matter of the deity of Christ.
What is Gnosticism?
Gnosticism was made up of many views that shared a common theme that the spirit is good and the material world and body is evil. God being spirit is good and, therefore, would not be involve with the creation of the material world. The material world was made by an evil deity. Thus the Gnostics taught dualism. They taught that true one must avoid evil by living an austere life, while elevating the spiritual things and denying the desires of the body Christ also being good could not be at all human. This view threatened the doctrine of salvation, because it disqualifies Christ as an adequate sacrifice for the atoning of sin. Gnosticism existed both outside and within mainstream Christianity. Some Gnostics believed that there was a secret knowledge only obtainable by some and only those with this spiritual spark could be save. Thus it shared some influence from mystery religions. The confusion caused by this ambiguous belief system caused for clarity and separation of the body of Christ. Stylianopoulos states in his article, Scripture and tradition in the Church, “[The] Son of God truly took on flesh, died a true death, and rose from the dead in a transformed body, and that the human body and all of creation are intrinsically good and redeemable. All of these major teachings, often disputed by heretical teachers, defined the content of the Church’s doctrinal sensibilities in the heat of controversy (Stylianopoulos 2008) .”
Orthodoxy as a response
The Orthodoxy and the canon rose out of the need to quiet the heretical views that divided Christianity, unify the Christian doctrine, and distinguish Christian doctrine from that of those of Gnosticism and Arius. So, Constantine being the lover of order in his kingdom, called the Council of Nicaea. Historians tell us that the bishops of the empire were ordered to attend and vote upon the first doctrine to emerge from the council – The Nicaean Creed. This doctrine established the Trinitarian view as doctrine. And as a result, all those who held Arian views were exiled as heretics.
This meeting started the tradition of holding ecumenical councils which determine doctrine later on in history. Also determined was the institution of Easter as the first official Christian holiday, by Constantine himself. The fate of those who denounced Christianity to avoid persecution was discussed but not determined.
Creation of the canon
It is not known if the canon was decided at the Council of Nicaea. However, the canon was definitely created as a result of the solidification of the doctrine at council of Nicaea. There were the exclusion of the Biblical books that did not contain Gnostic teachings and the inclusion of views that enforced the Trinitarian views. Stylianopoulos writes,
“Doctrine has to do with normative principles and teachings that define the dogmatic framework of the faith critical to the unity of the Church… The ‘rule of faith’ was not some vague theological awareness but a doctrinal sense of clarity pertaining to foundational beliefs. Examples are that God the Father is the sole true God and Creator of the universe; that the Old Testament is Holy Scripture…these major teachings, often disputed by heretical teachers, defined the content of the Church’s doctrinal sensibilities in the heat of controversy (Stylianopoulos 2008) .”
But, there was a deeper systematic approach to canonizing the biblical books beyond just silencing the heretics.
First of all, the church fathers recognized the scriptures as the inspired word of God. Again we see from stylianopoulos, “The later Church Fathers continued this tradition and viewed the entire corpus of scripture,Old and New Testaments, as directly inspired by God and disclosing God’sexpress will. On that basis, because God is the main actor both behind andin the Bible, the Orthodox tradition advocates the supreme authority and primacy of scripture. (Stylianopoulos 2008) ” They acknowledged the God of Judaism as the God of Christianity subsequently establishing, the Old Testament as being the historical foundation of Christianity. The church fathers understood Christianity to be the natural progression of Judaism, as a result of Christ’s fulfillment as the Messiah. Considering the fact that the scriptures were considered by Christ as being complete at that time, they used the Septuagint as the standard of the OT.
The books of the New Testament were determined by many methods including the aforementioned confirmation of the Trinitarian views and those books that were considered Gnostic were not included in the New Testament. Above all those chosen had to be inspired of God as well. Those which were not considered authentic Apostle Writings were excluded. The New Testament included books that referenced OT doctrines and Scriptures Jasper tells us in his article, Literary readings of the Bible,
“Within the canon of Scripture itself, in both Hebrew and Christian Bibles, an intricate pattern of cross-referencing establishes a web of intertextuality … not only a theological as well as a literary coherence between the books of the canon, but it also makes possible a particular view of 'history', as, for example, in the first two chapters of St Matthew's Gospel, where the 'historical evidence' for the birth narratives lies precisely in the literature of the Hebrew Bible, understood as 'history' because these events were exactly what the writings of prophecy announced would happen (Jasper 2009) .”
There was some early rejection of the book of Revelations because its symbolism was thought o be allegorical. However it was eventually included in the canon.
As we can see the conversion of Constantine had far reaching ramifications for the church that set in motion the chain of events that ended in the canonization of scripture. For the first time the church had to deal with Caesaropapism, which is treating the emperor as pope. Constantine displayed his unprecedented authority over the church’s doctrine and affairs when as he saw fit. In A.D. 336, the emperor lifted the exile of Arius. It was the emperor who called the Council of Nicaea in the first place and it was he who established Easter and Sunday as holidays. As a result nearly all churches protestant and catholic alike still worship on Sunday and the same books remain as in the original canon.
Jonathan Hill, Zondervan Handbook to the History of Christianity. Oxford, England: Lion Publishing Plc, 2006, 80.
Theodore G. Stylianopoulos. Scripture and tradition in the Church.(2008) Cambridge Companions Online Cambridge University Press, accessed September 12, 2009. 8.
Theodore G. Stylianopoulos. Scripture and tradition in the Church.(2008) Cambridge Companions Online Cambridge University Press, accessed September 12, 2009. 8.
Theodore G. Stylianopoulos. Scripture and tradition in the Church.(2008) Cambridge Companions Online Cambridge University Press, accessed September 12, 2009. 8.
David Jasper, Literary readings of the Bible. (2006) Cambridge Companions Online Cambridge University Press, accessed Septembe
Bibliography
Cunningham, Mary B. and Elizabeth Theokritoff. "Who are the Orthodox Christians? A historical introduction. The Cambridge Companion to Orthodox Christian Theology." Cambridge Collections Online. 2008. http://cco.cambridge.org.ezproxy.liberty.edu:2048/uid=2451/extract?result_number=1&search_scope=global&book_id=ccol0521807948_CCOL0521807948&query=The+impact+of+the+Fall+of+the+Western+Empire+on+the+Church.&id=ccol9780521864848_CCOL9780521864848A001 (accessed September 06, 2009).
Hill, Jonathan. Zondervan Handbook to the History of Christianity. Oxford, England: Lion Publishing Plc, 2006.
Jasper, David. " Literary Readings of the Bible." Cambridge Collections Online. 2009.
Stylianopoulos, Theodore G. "Scripture and tradition in the Church." Cambridge Companion Online. Cambridge University Press. Edited by Mary B. Cunningham and Elizabeth Theokritoff. 2008. http://cco.cambridge.org.ezproxy.liberty.edu:2048/uid=2451/extract?result_number=2&search_scope=global&query=the+council+of+Nicaea&id=ccol9780521864848_CCOL9780521864848A014> (accessed September 12, 2009).
Wood, Thomas E. How The Catholic Church Built Western Civilization. Washington, D.C.: Regnery Publishing, Inc., 2005.
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