Program / Course 12: Patristics and Historical Theology / Lesson 2.4
What you will learn
- Define heresy and orthodoxy as the early church used the words.
- Summarize Walter Bauer’s thesis and the main replies to it.
- Explain what the Nag Hammadi discovery changed and what it did not change.
- Weigh the strongest arguments on each side without treating the question as settled.
The big idea
Historians agree that the earliest Christians were not all alike. They disagree about what that diversity means. One view, associated with Walter Bauer, holds that many forms of Christianity existed at first and that what became orthodoxy won out over its rivals, partly through the power of the church at Rome. Another view holds that a core of shared belief existed from the beginning, and that heresies were departures from it. Both sides can point to evidence, and the question is still open.
Key terms
- Orthodoxy
- From Greek words meaning right belief (or right praise). The teaching the church holds to be the faith handed down from the apostles. It is also the name of the Eastern Orthodox churches, which is a separate meaning.
- Heresy
- A teaching the church judges to contradict the received faith. In the New Testament era the Greek word could just mean a party or sect.
- Schism
- A division in the church over leadership or practice, as distinct from a difference in doctrine.
- Canon
- The list of books the church receives as Scripture. The process by which it formed is part of this debate.
- Nag Hammadi library
- A collection of about a dozen codices, mostly translations of Greek writings into Coptic, found in Egypt in 1945. Many are Gnostic or related to Gnostic thought.
- Ebionites
- A group of Jewish Christians known from the Fathers who kept the Jewish law and held that Jesus was a man. Knowledge of them comes mostly from opponents.
- Apostolic faith
- The teaching the apostles delivered, which orthodox writers believed the church preserved.
Background
In the New Testament itself, warnings about false teaching appear early. Paul tells the Galatians that anyone preaching another gospel is accursed (Galatians 1:8). Jude urges readers to contend for the faith once delivered to the saints (Jude 1:3). First John tests teaching by whether it confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh (1 John 4:2). These passages show that the first Christians already expected that some teaching could be wrong.
For most of church history, writers such as Eusebius told the story in this way: the truth came first from Christ and the apostles, and heresies later broke off from it, like weeds sown among wheat (Matthew 13:24-30). That story was the standard account for sixteen centuries. In the twentieth century, historians began to question it, using the evidence of the early texts, the diversity of local churches, and the manuscripts discovered at Nag Hammadi.
This lesson presents the debate without announcing a winner. It helps to remember that historians working with the same evidence can come to different conclusions, and that a person’s judgment about doctrine usually depends on more than historical evidence.
Step-by-step explanation
Step 1: The traditional account
The traditional account says that the church’s teaching came from Jesus and the apostles and was kept in the churches they founded. Heresies came later, when individuals or groups departed from it. Irenaeus, Tertullian and Eusebius hold this view. Their evidence is the New Testament, the agreement of widely separated churches on the rule of faith, and the fact that the Gnostic systems appear later than the first Gospels.
The traditional account holds that diversity existed, but within boundaries. Churches differed in customs, such as the date of Easter, but shared a core of belief in one God, the deity and humanity of Christ, and salvation through him.
Step 2: Bauer’s challenge
In 1934, the German scholar Walter Bauer published Orthodoxy and Heresy in Earliest Christianity. It reached English readers in 1971 and had a great effect. Bauer argued that in some regions, such as Edessa in Syria and Egypt, the earliest Christianity that can be detected looks like what later writers called heresy. He proposed that the church at Rome promoted one form and gradually imposed it on others, so that what came to be called orthodoxy was often the winner.
The popular books of later scholars such as Elaine Pagels and Bart Ehrman carried versions of this view to wide audiences. They stress that different groups used different Gospels, had different pictures of Jesus and argued over who had the right to speak for the faith. Many scholars find this stress on early diversity useful.
Step 3: Replies to Bauer
Critics have raised several objections. Bauer relied heavily on silence, arguing from the lack of evidence for orthodoxy in some places, and silence is weak evidence. Early evidence for Edessa and Egypt is very thin. The New Testament letters already show a core of shared confession, such as the early creedal summaries in 1 Corinthians 15:3-5, and Larry Hurtado has argued that devotion to Jesus as Lord was widespread from the earliest years. Other scholars note that Rome’s influence was less centralized than Bauer assumed.
Many historians accept part of Bauer’s point, which is that early Christianity was more varied than the later story suggests, while rejecting his main claim that heresy came first and orthodoxy was imposed. The middle position is that there was a core, and a wide variety at its edges.
Step 4: What Nag Hammadi added
The Nag Hammadi texts show that many people in the second and third centuries read and valued writings that the church did not accept, such as the Gospel of Thomas and the Gospel of Truth. They give a fuller picture of Gnostic belief than the opponents’ descriptions. Some scholars, such as Karen King, argue that the category of Gnosticism is itself a construct of the opponents. Others retain it as a useful label for a family of related systems.
What the discovery did not do is show that these texts are earlier than the New Testament Gospels. Most scholars date them to the second century or later, with some debate about Thomas. The question of date is crucial, since earlier texts have more claim to reflect the first generation.
Step 5: How the canon and creeds fit in
The debate also touches the formation of the canon. Writers like Irenaeus in the late second century show the four Gospels in firm use, and the lists of the fourth century complete the process. A list was not an arbitrary decision at one council, and no single council chose the canon in the way sometimes imagined. Instead, books circulated and were tested by use, apostolic origin and agreement with the rule of faith. How strongly the later church shaped that process is part of the scholarly discussion.
- What counts as evidence of what the earliest Christians believed?
- Why is an argument from silence weak, and when might it still be useful?
- What are the differences between a group that is diverse within boundaries and one with no boundaries?
- Does the fact that a belief won out prove it was right? Does it prove it was wrong?
- How do the passages in Galatians, Jude and 1 John affect the debate?
- What would you want to know about a text’s date before using it as evidence?
Examples
Two readers of the same city
A historian of Alexandria asks what the earliest Christians there believed. One scholar reads the thin evidence and sees diversity with no clear orthodoxy. Another reads it and finds a quiet orthodox presence. Both are working from the same few sources, and the gaps decide the matter.
The date of a gospel
If a text such as the Gospel of Thomas was written in the first century, it may preserve early sayings. If it was written in the second century, it may show later developments. Scholars disagree, and the date affects the larger story.
A winner’s history
Most of what is known about the Gnostic teachers came from their opponents, until Nag Hammadi. A reader who knows this should read Irenaeus’s account with care. It should also be remembered that the Nag Hammadi texts themselves were selected, copied and buried by someone.
Different perspectives
Catholic
Catholic teaching holds that the apostolic faith was preserved in the church and that doctrine develops without changing in substance. Catholic scholars often accept that early Christianity was diverse in expression while arguing for a shared core, and many reply directly to Bauer. The Church holds that no new public revelation follows the apostles.
Orthodox
Orthodox Christians stress that the faith is a living tradition guarded by the whole church, tested by the councils and received by the people. They see early diversity of expression as consistent with unity of faith, and they see heresies as departures from the common faith.
Protestant
Protestants hold differing views. Many conservative scholars defend a core of early orthodoxy and argue from the New Testament. More liberal Protestant scholars have often welcomed Bauer’s emphasis on diversity. Protestants generally ask whether a teaching agrees with Scripture, so the debate over which books count is important to them.
Scholarly views
Most historians now describe early Christianity as diverse but not without a center. They differ on how large the core was and on how much the later church’s boundaries were fixed by power as opposed to persuasion. Some scholars avoid the words orthodoxy and heresy for the earliest period altogether.
Why it matters
The debate about heresy and orthodoxy is not only history. It shapes how people think about the authority of the church, the Bible and tradition, and whether a single Christian faith exists at all. Knowing the evidence and the arguments makes it possible to hear a claim in the news or at a dinner table and ask what it rests on.
Common misunderstandings
Misunderstanding: Historians have proven that orthodoxy was invented by the winners.
Correction: That is one view, not a consensus. Many scholars accept early diversity but think a shared core existed from the start.
Misunderstanding: The Council of Nicaea chose which books belong in the Bible.
Correction: No evidence supports this. The canon formed gradually through use. Lists from the fourth century and later reflect a wide consensus. Nicaea dealt with other matters.
Misunderstanding: The Nag Hammadi texts are earlier than the Gospels.
Correction: Most scholars date them to the second century or later, though some argue for early traditions inside some of them. The dating of the Gospel of Thomas is debated.
Misunderstanding: Believing in a core means denying any diversity.
Correction: The traditional account also recognized differences in practice and emphasis. The disagreement is over how deep the differences went.
Knowledge check
What was Walter Bauer’s thesis?
Bauer argued that in places such as Edessa and Egypt, the earliest Christianity that can be detected looks like what later writers called heresy, and that the church at Rome promoted one form and gradually imposed it. On this view orthodoxy was often the winner. His book appeared in German in 1934 and in English in 1971.
Give two criticisms of Bauer’s thesis.
He relied heavily on silence, where evidence is thin, and silence is weak evidence. Critics also note that the New Testament shows an early core of shared confession, and that Rome’s influence was less centralized than he assumed. Larry Hurtado, for example, argues that devotion to Jesus as Lord was early and widespread.
What did the Nag Hammadi discovery add to the debate?
It supplied Gnostic and related texts in their own words, so historians no longer had to rely only on hostile accounts. It showed that many people read and valued writings the church did not accept. It did not show that the texts predate the New Testament Gospels.
Is there a scholarly consensus on early diversity?
Most scholars agree that early Christianity was diverse in expression, but they differ about how large the shared core was and how far the later boundaries were set by power rather than persuasion. The answer is a matter of ongoing debate and not a settled result.
Think it through
- How would you tell the difference between a development of the faith and a departure from it?
- What would it mean for your own faith if early Christianity was more diverse than you expected?
- What would it mean if it were less diverse?
- Why is the date of a document so important to historians?
Independent assignment
Weighing two arguments
Write the strongest version of the traditional account and the strongest version of Bauer’s challenge, each in about 150 words, in your own notebook, as if you were a supporter of that side. Then write about 150 words naming what evidence would settle the matter, and what evidence is missing. Aim for 450 to 600 words in all.
Further study
- Irenaeus of Lyon, Against Heresies Read Book 1, chapters 1 to 10, to see how an opponent describes the Gnostic systems.
- Bruce M. Metzger, The Canon of the New Testament Read selectively on how the New Testament canon formed.
- Jaroslav Pelikan, The Christian Tradition: A History of the Development of Doctrine (5 volumes) Read the opening chapters for a historian’s view of early development.
- J. N. D. Kelly, Early Christian Doctrines Use it to place each early teaching in its setting.
- Galatians 1:8 Paul warns against another gospel.
- Jude 1:3 Contend for the faith once delivered.
- 1 Corinthians 15:3 Paul passes on what he received.
- Matthew 13:24 The wheat and the tares.