What are some things you hope you will learn during this course?  Why do you want to learn them?  How do you plan to apply them to your own faith and/or study?

 

The Old Covenant Becomes New Covenant (Creation-c. 100 AD)

 

Questions to ponder for the lectures herein: 

How does Jesus of Nazareth become (or rather, how is he revealed as) the Christ?

 

How do we move from the simple, ancient faith statement “Jesus is Lord” to the highly detailed (yet sufficiently broad) orthodoxy of the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed? 

 

How does the Catholic (universal) Church emerge from the small band of followers of Jesus?

 

Ancient Israel: Seen in light of the redemptive history of God

            --History must be interpreted, because history has meaning (it’s not just a cyclical progression/regression/progression)

                        --Each event is unique and non-repeatable

                        --Each event is touched by the hand of God

            --History has a unique beginning and a unique end; it is not an endless repetition

            --History began with the Creation of the world; history will end with its redemption

                        --World was perfect prior to the Fall of Man

            --Since the Fall, all human history has been redemptive history, God working to

           redeem His people from their sins and return them to a state of righteousness

          (or justice), a proper relationship with Him, the Divine Creator  

 

--The Creation

            --God creates ex nihilo (out of nothing); no pre-existent matter, etc.

                        --God alone is pre-existent

                        --God is not created or born, like the gods of the pagans

            --God creates everything “good” or “very good”

            --God creates humanity, male and female, in His own image (the imago Dei)

            --God commands the male and female He has created to “be fruitful and multiply”

 

--The Fall of Man

            --The Serpent (Satan) tempts Woman, who tempts Man, to “eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil”

            --Humanity, when it eats of the forbidden fruit, sins thereby breaking the perfect communion between God and Man and necessitating divine redemption to restore Man to righteousness

                        --Knowing good and evil is equivalent to “being like God”

                        --Man desired to “be like God,” rather than remain in his pristine innocence

                        --God alone is God, there is no one like Him, and therefore, any presumptuous

rivals must be cut off from communion

                        --God created out of nothing; Man is a creature and cannot create ex nihilo

                        --Man must once again become aware of his need of God, and his subordinate

                        position in relation to God (there is a proper order to creation—the Creator is

                        higher than the creature, an there are things that are not appropriate for the

creature to do that the Creator may do). 

--God curses the Man, the Woman, the Serpent, and the Ground

            --The promise of enmity between the Woman and the Serpent is seen by some

            Christian writers as an anticipation of Mary’s purity

            --The prophecy of “he shall crush you head and you shall bruise his heel” is seen

            by some Christian writers as a foreshadowing of Christ crucified

--The Flood

            --Noah is called to build an ark to save his family, 7 of each kind of clean animal, and 2 of each kind of unclean animal.

            --God destroys the world by water for 40 days, and delivers Noah and his family safely through the deluge

            --Some Christian authors see this story as an anticipation of baptism

 

 --The Call of Abraham

            --Abraham is called by God out of the land of the Chaldeans and is promised that he will be the father of many peoples

            --God promises a son to Abraham and Sarah

            --God gives Abraham the sign of circumcision to seal the covenant

            --God asks Abraham to sacrifice his son, Isaac, but ultimately provides the lamb himself

 

--The Birth of Israel

            --Isaac and Rebekah have twin sons, Jacob and Esau

            --Jacob tricks Esau out of his birthright

            --Jacob sires twelve boys, who eventually become the patriarchs of Israel

            --Jacob wrestles with God at Peniel, becomes Israel

 

--Joseph and Egypt

            --Joseph kidnapped and sold by his brothers to some Egyptians

            --Joseph eventually sold to Potiphar

            --Joseph becomes right-hand man to Pharaoh in Egypt

            --Famine in Israel => Jacob and sons seeking refuge in Egypt

            --Later Pharaohs forget about Joseph and enslave the Israelites

 

--Moses and the Exodus

            --About 400 years pass by for Israel in slavery

            --Moses is born, raised by the Pharaoh’s daughter, becomes significant power player in

Egypt

--Moses kills an Egyptian, flees to the wilderness, meets God in burning bush

--Moses is commissioned to deliver Israel from Egypt

            --Asks several times for Israel to be permitted to worship in the wilderness

            --Pharaoh rejects Moses’ requests

--Exodus from Egypt after the 10 plagues, Passover commemorates the 10^th   (transition

from death to life?)

--Red Sea is parted (symbol of baptism?); Israel crosses over, wanders for 3 months

--Moses receives the Law (Torah) on Mt. Sinai; covenant renewed, with emphasis on

ethical conduct/holy living)

--Period of wandering for  40 years

--Joshua finally captures the Promised Land

 

--Period of the Judges

--The United Kingdom under Solomon, David, and Solomon

--The Divided Kingdom after Solomon

            --The Prophets emerge (Elijah c. 850 BC, Elisha c. 825 BC, 1^st Isaiah c. 742 BC, etc.)

            --Northern Kingdom of Israel is conquered by Assyria in 722 BC

            --Later prophets (Jeremiah c. 627 BC; Ezekiel c. 593 BC)

            --Fall of the Southern Kingdom of Judah to Babylon in 586 BC

                        --Babylonian exile => creation of the Babylonian Talmud

                        --Emergence of Torah in present form—legalism gains ascendancy

                        --Establishment of synagogue rituals; substitution of prayer for sacrifice

                                    --Rabbis emerge, gain disciples

                                    --Sabbath keeping more important

                        --Radical monotheism emerges as sign of Jewishness (distinguished from

                        henotheism common in earlier days)

            --2^nd Isaiah (c. 540 BC); suffering servant prophecies (God’s purpose for Israel)

            --Return from Exile c. 538 BC under Cyrus of Persia

            --Temple rebuilt; 3^rd Isaiah (c. 515 BC)

--Alexander the Great conquers Palestine (332 BC)

            --Hellenizing tendencies increase among Jewish residents of Palestine

                        --division between Hellenizing Jews and non-Hellenizing Jews

            --Seleucids (Syria) and Ptolemies (Egypt) struggle for power in Palestine after

Alexander’s death in 323 BC

            --Antiochus III wins control over Palestine in 198 BC

            --Antiochus IV Epiphanes sells office of high priest of the Jews => conflict

            between Hellenizers who favored the Seleucids and non-Hellenizers who

            preferred tradition; Antiochus IV feared Judaism as source of political opposition

            --Maccabean revolt in 167 BC; cleansing of Temple by Judas Maccabeus in 165

            BC (celebrated now in Hanukkah); establishment of Hasmonean Dynasty

            --Internal corruption within Hasmonean Dynasty and struggles between

            Sadducees and Pharisees => civil war, appeal to Rome by both sides

--Pompey takes control over Judea, 63 BC

--Augustus becomes Emperor, establishes the pax romana

            --extends the Roman Empire

            --creates Roman infrastructure and commerce and military strength

            --cult of the emperor emerges

 

The Birth of Jesus of Nazareth

--c. 6-4 BC, born to Mary and her husband Joseph in Bethlehem in Judea in the lineage of King David (birth is recorded in Matthew 1:18-25; Luke 2:1-20)

--Genealogy of Jesus is recorded in Matthew 1:1-17; Luke 3:23-37)

            --The two gospels give two distinct genealogies

            --Both are designed to show Jesus’ royal lineage; Matthew explicitly traces it back to Abraham; Luke to Adam

            --Matthew (written c. 80 AD, after split between Judaism and Christianity occurred during Jewish rebellion against Rome) demonstrates Jesus’ authentic Jewishness and Messiahship; Luke (written c. 60-70 AD) demonstrates Jesus’ tie to all of humanity, Jew and Gentile, wealthy and outcast

--“Christ” is a title, meaning “Anointed One” (Messiah).  It is not a surname.

 

The Ministry of Jesus

 

--Begun when Jesus was about 30 years old; He appears at the Jordan River to be baptized by John the Baptist who had been calling for repentance and proclaiming the nearness of the kingdom of God

            --Gospel of Mark (written c. 50-60 AD) begins with John’s ministry and Jesus’ baptism

            --The other synoptic gospels also present accounts of Jesus’ ministry, borrowing heavily from Mark and from other unidentified sources

--Jesus calls 12 disciples (the first apostles, i.e., the “sent ones”) to be his followers; these are not the typical band of followers a rabbi might seek out—fishermen, tax collectors, other tradesmen

--Signs, wonders, and miracles performed as Jesus’ natural response to the people’s needs

            --Jesus never performs a miracle to prove his Messiahship

            --Jesus never performs a miracle for personal gain

            --Jesus’ miracles are signs of the Kingdom of God (the sovereignty of God in the world, not a geographical location or earthly realm)

--Teaching in sermons (e.g. The Sermon on the Mount and the Olivet Discourse) and in parables (stories with a hidden meaning that would be understood only by the devout)

 

The Death and Resurrection of Jesus

--The Sadducees and Pharisees had been plotting all along to entrap him, the one because his teaching was a threat to the Roman power structure (Sadducees’ collaboration and privileges with the Romans would be undermined if the public were agitated by Jesus’ message and miracles into revolt against Roman powers) and the other because his teaching was a threat to the Jewish tradition as understood by the legalistic Pharisees (jealousy that the “uneducated” Jesus was attracting more crowds than they were and that he was preaching what they thought was contrary to the Law)

            --Sadducees were wealthy, elite, Jewish leaders with privileges from Roman government, had been cultured by Greco-Roman ideas and tastes; adhered only to the older texts, the Torah itself—dismissed supernatural ideas such as the resurrection, angels, spirits, etc.

            --Pharisees were legalists in the extreme, following the Law to the letter and ostentatiously proclaiming their piety and patriotism; followed letter of the Law in hopes of bringing about the coming of the Messiah—accepted the supernatural ideas Sadducees rejected

            --Zealots—active proponents of armed resistance against the Roman officials; sought a restored Jewish political kingdom

            --Essenes—monastic, isolated adherents to the Law in strict observance; withdrew from the world in expectation of the coming messiah

--During the final week of His life, Jesus sets his sights on Jerusalem; enters the city to the adulation of the crowd while riding on a donkey; cleanses the Temple of the moneychangers

--Passover was prepared in the Upper Room for him and his 12 disciples, during which He instituted the memorial/Eucharistic rite of the Last Supper

            --Establishment of the New Covenant in His blood

            --Hearkening back to Jeremiah’s promise of a new covenant (31:33-34)

            --Disciples are bewildered at first about what this means

--Judas Iscariot, one of the 12, betrays him to the Jewish authorities while He is praying in the Garden of Gethsemane

--Jesus is taken before the Sanhedrin for trial, condemned for blasphemy by false witnesses, and sentenced to death; taken to the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate, for trial and execution, since Jewish authorities had no legal right to enforce the death sentence; Pilate finds no fault with him, but gives in to the crowd who demand His crucifixion 

--Jesus is crucified between two thieves on Golgotha outside Jerusalem and dies before sundown on Friday

            --the disciples are afraid for their own lives

            --forlorn and despairing because they believed that their hopes in Jesus were ill-founded

--Sunday morning, Mary Magdalene and other women discover His body is missing from His tomb, that the stone has been rolled away at the entrance; they report their findings to the disciples who had gathered in hiding for fear of the authorities

--Jesus makes several appearances to His disciples and others for the next 40 days, then ascends into heaven, commissioning the disciples to be His witnesses to the ends of the earth

Pentecost and the Early Church in the Acts of the Apostles

--Acts 2 records the descent of the Holy Spirit on the Jewish holiday of Pentecost (50 days after Passover)

            --This is the first instance of baptism by the spirit

            --Peter preaches to the gathered crowd; Jesus is proclaimed as Lord and Christ; about 3000 convert to faith in Christ

            --The Church continues to grow, and the believers have all things in common (a primitive form of communism, no private property but all was given to the Church for the Lord’s work)

            --The disciples spread the gospel message to many, perform many miracles in Jesus’ name; eventually face persecution from the Jewish leaders

            --Stephen, an early church leader and convert from Judaism, is martyred; Saul (later Paul) was present during his stoning; this sets off a wave of persecution in Jerusalem and leads to the church being scattered, which conduced to more preaching

            --Saul is converted on the road to Damascus, becomes Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles

            --Peter learns that the Christian faith is not just for Jews, but for Gentiles also

            --Antioch converts as a result of the scattering of the Christians during the persecution; Followers of Christ are here first called Christians

            --Paul and Barnabas sent on mission from Antioch; eventually go to Jerusalem, debate with Peter and the Judaizers at the Council of Jerusalem (Acts 15)

            --Paul and Barnabas split ways after dispute over John Mark (who had been a deserter earlier in their ministry)

                        --Barnabas goes on mission with John Mark in Cyprus

                        --Paul joins with Silas and goes to Syria and Cilicia; eventually joined by Timothy in Lystra

            --Paul preaches in Asia Minor and Athens; establishes and nurtures several churches

            --Paul’s Epistles to the churches are earliest sources of biblical material in New Testament

                        --these become authoritative in matters of Christian morality and theology

                        --these establish the basic framework for what becomes Christian orthodoxy

                                    --Jesus is pre-existent Son of God

                                    --Jesus’ crucifixion, resurrection and ascension => Christ becoming head of new humanity/new Israel—the Church is the new covenant people of God

                                    --Christians are the new “sons of Abraham”

                                    --Church is the body of Christ; Church has mission to restore humanity to right relationship with God/preach salvation to all peoples

                                    --All are in need of salvation; salvation is by grace through faith

                                    --Faith is transformative putting on of Christ/living in the Spirit

                                    --Good works are natural outflow of salvation by grace;  Christians should love one another as a sign of Spirit’s activity among them

            --In Jerusalem to bring donations from Asia Minor’s churches to the Church at Jerusalem, Paul is arrested by temple leaders, appeals to Rome

                        --he’s shipwrecked on the way to Rome

                        --dies in Rome, c. 65 AD

The Gospel of John, the Johannine Epistles, and Revelation of St. John

--Gospel of John written c. 90-100 AD; contains a high Christology and incarnational theology

            --Jesus Christ is the Divine Logos (reason, word) made flesh; all things are made in and through this Word, which was with God in the beginning (see relevant parts of Stoic philosophy’s “world reason” or logos, revealed in the natural order and beauty of things)

            --Jesus is the Savior of the world, gives life to the world (the life that was taken in the Fall of Man through Man’s rebellion against God; Jesus as the Divine Logos restores that life)

            --Vein of anti-Semitism in the Gospel of John—Jews are seen as “children of Satan” who reject the life-giver, Jesus Christ

--Similar theology can be found in the Johannine Epistles (1, 2, 3 John) and in Revelation

--Authorship of the Johannine writings is disputed

--Revelation likely written during time of intense persecution (dating of this work is disputed)

            --highly critical of the Roman government (or at least the Roman emperor)—Antichrist

            --gives pride of place to martyrs and those who persevere in the persecutions

 

The End of the First Century AD

--64-68 AD—persecutions under Nero in Rome; Christians there are scapegoated for the fires burning in the city to throw suspicion off Nero

            --Christians are tortured, forced to battle beasts in Roman arenas, and often used as human torches to light the emperor’s parties (the first Roman candles)

            --Christians persecuted ostensibly for their “abominations” and “hatred of mankind” (i.e., for their supposed cannibalism [in Eucharist], sexual immorality [at love feasts], and their refusal to worship the Roman gods and emperor [disloyalty to the empire])

 

--Separation from Judaism (early in the Church’s history, Christians worshipped at the Temple and Jewish synagogues and followed Jewish Law as well as Christian teachings)

            --Jews and Christians conflicted over Jesus’ Messiahship

            --Christians withdraw from synagogues; Jews bar them from the synagogues

            --More and more Christians are coming from the Gentile ranks, abandoning Jewish law

            --Conflicts between Gentiles who wanted complete freedom from the Law and the Judaizers who wanted Christians to have to follow Jewish Law

 

--High expectations of the imminent return of Jesus

            --Many left their jobs, families, homes, etc. to wait for His return

            --Church organization goes neglected for some time, because of this expectation

            --By end of the 1^st century, an institutionalization is beginning to take place

                        --Church offices emerge (bishop, priest, deacon, elder)

                        --sacramental system begins to emerge (with baptism and Eucharist no longer mere initiation rites; now they are portals to the experience of the supernatural)

           

The Patristic Period (c. 100-500 AD)

The Second-Most Important Era in Christianity

            --Establishment of Orthodoxy and Orthopraxy

            --Establishment of a recognizable hierarchy, much in the form we still have it today

            --The survival of the Church during the great persecutions

            --The great age of martyrs and confessors

            --The success of the Church in growing and spreading beyond Jerusalem and Near East

            --The triumph of the Church in becoming the official imperial religion and condemning

            heresy

 

Most Christian churches are informal at the beginning of the Patristic period.  Little distinct organization or  hierarchy

            --Some are established by missionaries, such as Paul and Barnabus

            --Others are results of grassroots movements in a particular city, e.g., in Rome

Gentiles quickly become Christian majority, outnumbering Jews

            --this results in Christianity losing official permission of the Roman government, which

               it had so long as it was part of Judaism

            --Christian views of Jews soured; anti-Semitism and anti-Judaism emerge

            --Christians are excommunicated from the synagogues

Christianity offers: a. eternal life; b. meaning and happiness in world; c. higher religious standing for the oppressed, women, and slaves; d. a supportive religious social network

 

2^nd c. begins to see Christian challenges to the legitimacy of Roman imperial authority and its pagan religious system

 

Heresies arise—e.g., Gnosticism, Donatism, Marcionism, Montanism, Arianism, Monophysitism, etc.

            --Councils and synods are called, regionally at first, later ecumenically, to resolve doctrinal questions and disputes

 

Constantine unites the Church and the State with Edict of Milan in 313, granting toleration to Christianity after his supernatural victory in 312 at Milvian Bridge (in hoc signo est)

 

New Testament is canonized using an established set of standards by which to judge the authenticity of various books

            --Apostolic authority, either directly from the apostles or written under their tutelage

            --Weight of content—doctrine is more important at the time than other things

            --Actual liturgical use of books as scripture in major Christian churches, such as Antioch

            Asia Minor, Rome, etc.

            --Considerations of competing canons among the heretical sects

            --New Testament finally completed with Athanasius’ Easter letter of 367 AD and the Synod of Carthage in 397 AD

 

Persecution and Martyrdom

-- Christianity left largely alone during early patristic period; Persecutions are sporadic throughout the empire; few organized persecutions until the 3^rd century AD

            --“Martyr” means “witness”; martyrs were the supreme witnesses to their faith in Christ

            --Martyrdom seen by many Christians as the highest calling bestowed on an individual

            --Persecutions aimed to make Christianity unattractive and costly; instead did the opposite

            --Many pagans converted to Christianity as a result of seeing the execution of a martyr

--Emperor Domitian begins organized persecution c. 90 AD; may have attacked Christians as a result of his persecution of Jews (who were not clearly distinguished from Christians in Roman Law)

--Emperor Trajan, upon the request of Pliny the Younger (governor of Bithynia), sets imperial policy on persecution

            --Commonly Christians were persecuted for refusing to sacrifice to Roman gods, but there was no real crime defined in the imperial law with which Christians could be charged, other than obstinacy in their refusal to deny their faith and to participate in Roman cultic practices

            --Christian’s crime of faith was insignificant, should not be deliberately ferreted out

            --Accusations against Christians should be brought by public witnesses (not anonymously)

            --Once accused, Christians should have opportunity to deny their faith and perform required rituals of sacrifice to the pagan gods

            --If they refused to comply, Christians should be punished

                        --punishment was for lack of respect for Roman courts

                        --or for questioning the emperor’s right to rule (disloyalty to the Roman empire or “hatred of humanity” in their refusal to serve the Roman gods)

                        --charges of atheism against Christians were common (denial of Roman gods)

            --Anyone in Rome was free to follow whatever religion they chose, provided they performed the proper pagan sacrifices required by the state

            --Christians also suspect for not participating in the Roman festivals and games or army

 

St. Ignatius of Antioch (c. 35-107)—defender of the Virgin Birth, student of John the Apostle, teacher of a three-fold division of churchly office, demanded loyalty to bishops, bishops’ superiority to priests, and the holiness of the catholic Church, urged his Christian friends in Rome to not attempt to free him from his martyr’s condemnation; St. Polycarp (c. 69-155)—student of John the Apostle; St. Justin Martyr (c. 100-165); St. Felicity and her seven sons all are martyred during this 2^nd century—in localized persecutions

 

Emperor Decius (c. 250) begins empire-wide persecution of Christians

            --desire was to force Christians to recant their faith, not kill them

            --many Christian confessors emerge through their torture at the hands of the government

                        --Confessors are not killed in the persecutions

 

What to do with the lapsed?

Christians who sacrificed to the emperor or who bought certificates saying they had done so were considered to have lapsed from the true faith.

            --When persecutions ended, what was the Church to do with those who had lapsed? Readmit them in full communion? Or condemn them for their cowardice?

 

Bishops began to assert their right, as a prerogative of their office, to determine who would be readmitted to the Church and who would not.  Confessors also felt they had a right to judge who would be inside and who outside.

            --Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage (d. 258) fled during Decian persecutions, returned after them to find his authority challenged by the confessors

                        --Confessors allowed readmission of lapsed on easy terms

                        --Cyprian refused easy reinstatement because of the greatness of their crime

            --Clash between Cyprian and confessors => development of penitential system

                        --acts of penance must be performed before absolution could be granted by the bishops or their deputies

 

Novatian Controversy—Novatian opposed election of Cornelius to the Episcopal seat of Rome because Cornelius is too lenient on the lapsed, Novatian practices strict and rigorous policies toward lapsed; Novatian driven out of the Church and founds rival congregations

            --Rome and Carthage under Cyprian collaborate under a moderate policy toward lapsed

            --Rome eventually, under Stephen (d. 257), allows Novatian baptism to be valid for readmission into Orthodox congregations

            --Carthage under Cyprian argues that there is “no salvation outside the Church,” thus those not in orthodox fellowships were in need of rebaptism

                        --Stephen bases his position on Petrine primacy that all churches should follow the advice and teaching of the Roman bishop

                        --Not all churches are willing to accept the Petrine authority of the Bish. Of Rome

 

Eventually, the orthodox position becomes that the Church is made up of “impure” people, who may hold office and be members of the Christian congregations and administer and/or receive the Church’s sacraments

 

Bishops gain the right to grant absolution or not for mortal sins

 

Christ, Culture, and Philosophy—How do they relate?

 

Christian apologists attempt to defend the faith against pagan attacks on Christian morality and beliefs

            --Attacks vary from assertions of sexual immorality and cannibalism, to the futility of belief in God, Jesus, or his Resurrection, to the too-simple faith of Christians in contrast to pagan philosophy, to Christian atheism

            --Key players are:

                        --St.  Justin Martyr (c. 100-165)

                                    --takes the position of there being contact points between Christianity and pagan philosophy; pagan philosophers illuminated by the true light or Logos (Christ); pagan philosophy is incomplete in its wisdom

                        --Tertullian (c. 160-225)

                                    --takes the position of “What has Athens to do with Jerusalem?  What has the Academy to do with the Church?” (heresies were often results of attempts to combine philosophy with religious belief)

                                    --Eventually becomes a Montanist (ascetic, Holy Spirit-oriented)

                        --Origen (c. 185-254)

 

Philosophical schools become more important in Christian theology

            --Plato leaves a significant imprint on Christianity for the next 1000 years

            --Realism

 

Gnosticism (or Docetism) a major heretical movement to arise in full flower during second century

            --Challenged the humanity of Christ

            --Highly dualistic (good God is god of Jesus; evil God is YHWH of the OT)

            --Spiritual things are “good”; material things are “evil”

            --All human beings are divine sparks imprisoned in a fleshly body

            --the Fall of Man was a fall into matter—entrapment in matter will continue because of ignorance of true nature of man and his true home

            --Secret knowledge required to attain salvation

            --Jesus’ body was only seemingly real, not in fact real; Jesus’ physical body was a vehicle for the true Christ, which is spirit

            --Some were ascetic (severe discipline, avoidance of sex and other pollution of the body with material things; often believed in reincarnation); others were so spiritual that they could engage in orgies, etc.

 

Irenaeus, bishop of Lyons (student of Polycarp), defends orthodoxy against Gnostic heresies. 

            --attempts to show incoherence of Gnosticism

            --attempts to prove that the claims of Gnosticism to go back to the apostolic period are false

                        --no apostolic authority to show that Gnostic claims that John was part of an inner circle with Jesus existed.  Irenaeus studied under a student of John, who would likely have told him of such knowledge

                        --assumes that the Gnostics have broken the unity of the Church, not the other way around (Irenaeus prizes visible unity of Church in its Episcopal fellowship)

            --attempts to show that Gnostic interpretations of scripture are absurd or impossible

                        --Affirms that God is creator and redeemer of material world and spiritual world

                                    --cites John’s prologue, various OT passages, and parts of later-to-be canon of the NT, while discounting Gnostic interpretations of references to angels, principalities, etc….

                        --Theory of Recapitulation

                                    --Christ is the new head of humanity

                                    --All of the gospel is centered on the Incarnation

                                    --All of Jesus’ life is necessary for salvation, thus the Incarnation of Christ itself is redemptive and saving (Gnostics had rejected necessity of incarnation for redemption)

                        --Theory of Redemption becomes orthodoxy from Irenaeus onward.  Any and all threats to the Incarnation are treated with severe consequences; Salvation is impossible without the Incarnation.