Questions tagged [early-church]
Relating to first several centuries of the Christian church; usually considered to end in the 4th century
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Did any Apostolic or Ante-Nicene Fathers believe that Jesus was a created being?
Nothing to add to the title: did any Apostolic or Ante-Nicene Fathers believe that Jesus was a created being?
Related questions:
Which Ante-Nicene Church Fathers believed that Jesus is the "...
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Technical term for a Christology of divine and flesh nature
In the first few centuries, there appears to have been many Christian currents in the Mediterranean and Near East. While Christology was often not a sound basis to delineate between these groups (as ...
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Did early Christians believe the world was about to end?
Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who
will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in His
kingdom. (Matthew 16:28, NIV)
Edit: adding another verse in ...
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Did the early church believe that Jesus was uncreated?
Among the early church there was a dispute on the nature of Christ, with some Christians claiming that Jesus was not only God but was uncreated and some like Arius believing that Jesus Christ was ...
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Anyone aware of any ancient source material regarding casting lots? [migrated]
Is anyone aware of any ancient source material regarding the biblically described practice of casting lots, including when it was used by the first Christians to replace Judas? Most Google search ...
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Did the Early Church believe that Mary was sinless? [duplicate]
Both Roman Catholic and Orthodox Christians uphold the doctrine of the sinfulness of the blessed Mary, a belief that Mary remained sinless and perfect throughout her entire life, but did any of the ...
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Protestant view on the canon [closed]
I am currently researching the Protestant view of the biblical canon and have encountered a variety of perspectives on the infallibility of the canon. For instance, the renowned Reformed theologian R....
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What date was the second Easter?
When did the early Christians celebrate the second Easter? Did it fall on the same day as the Jewish Pasch (Sabbath day / Saturday) or on the next day (Sunday)?
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Did any of the Church Fathers believe in natural theology?
As Christians we are called to study the works of the Lord (Psalms 111:2), but did any of the Early Church Fathers between 50-800 AD, believe in natural laws theology/law? (i.e. that knowledge or ...
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Early Church on image veneration?
Is there any archeological or written evidence for image veneration in the first few centuries especially in the ante Nicene period outside the Rome?
Related - What was the ante-Nicene Fathers' ...
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What was the early churches view on head-covering for women?
A somewhat controversial topic, but there are certain verses in the Bible such as 1 Corinthians 11, which command women to wear head-coverings in church, but was the early church view of women wearing ...
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What Scriptures did Arius use to support teaching that Jesus was created?
Arius probably quoted the following:
Revelation 3:14: These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God.
Psalm 8:5–6: thou madest Him
Proverbs 8:22–25: ...
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What was the Early Church's view on slavery? [duplicate]
Slavery exist in both the Old and the New Testament with God even regulating slavery in the Old Testament (Exodus 21:20-21, Deuteronomy 23:15) and St. Paul advocating for the freeing of slaves saying ...
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Was there any early church fathers who affirmed the Death Penalty? [duplicate]
The death penalty is clearly supported in the scriptures (Genesis 9:6, Exodus 21:12, Numbers 35:30-31, Deuteronomy 17:6, Job 19:29, Romans 13:1-4) but was there any Early Church Fathers between 80 AD ...
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What was the early Church Fathers' view on divorce?
Matthew 5:30-32, Luke 16:18, and 1 Corinthians 7:10-11 give clear criteria for divorce, but what was the early Church fathers' view on divorce? Did they adhere to the same Bible principles on this ...
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What did the early church fathers have to say about “eternal security” or “assurance of salvation”
I am trying to find out what the early church fathers had to say about “eternal security” or “assurance of salvation”. By that, I refer to the following Bible verses:
To Him who is able to keep you ...
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Why did Origen oppose birthdays? Was this a Jewish belief?
I found this quote of Origen condemning birthdays as the practice of the gentile sinners.
...of all the holy people in the Scriptures, no one is recorded to have kept a feast or held a great banquet ...
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Are any of Arius' writings extant?
In 325 CE, following the defeat of Arius at the Council of Nicea, Emperor Constantine the Great went on a campaign of book burning to eradicate all memory of Arius and his beliefs:
After the First ...
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Did any other church father other than St. Augustine believe in the just war theory?
St. Augustine is the most commonly known inventor of the just war theory, which is that war is sometimes justified if the outcome is peace, but did any other early church father other than St. ...
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Did any early church fathers view the Creation account in Genesis as being allegorical?
In the first chapter of Genesis, it gives us a description of God creating the heavens and earth and it says that on the seventh day he had finished his word and had rested (Genesis 2:2-3), but did ...
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How did Christian come to be the name for believers?
Who changed the name believer to Christians. Are there bible verses calling the followers of Jesus Christ Christian? If yes, were are the verses? If no, who coined the word and under what condition ...
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Did the Early Church practice the salutation of “Peace to this House”, as had been taught by Jesus in Luke 10:5?
We Jesus instructing his disciples in Lk 10:1-5:
After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. He told them,...
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Famous Pre Reformation Christian Pastors (Non Catholic)
After the Splintering of the Protestant Revolt, there have been many men who are famous as Pastors and Preachers even up to the present day, the Billy Grahams the Joel Olstiens, John McArthurs, an ...
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Was "peace be with you" a common greeting in the Early Church?
In the Old and the New Testament "peace be with you" was a common greeting among Jesus Christ and the prophets (Genesis 43:23, Judges 19:20, Luke 24:36, John 20:19) but was "peace be ...
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Did any Jews have the same canon as Jesus during the time of Christ and did the early church ever quote from it?
Orthodox Christians have a much larger canon than both Roman Catholic and Protestant Christians, this includes books such as 3 Maccabees. During the time of Jesus there were different sects of Jews. ...
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What did the Gnostics in first and second century believed about Jesus
I recently read some very well-known gnostic writings that are under the name of "Gospel of Judah Iscariot" and "Gospel of Thomas", but they aren't written by Judah or Thomas. I ...
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Did the apostolic or early church fathers acknowledge Papal infallibility?
The Roman Catholic dogma of Papal Infallibility (P.I.) wasn't officially defined until 1870. This doctrine, defined dogmatically at the First Vatican Council of 1869–1870 in the document Pastor ...
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Did only bishops preach in the early Church?
Cardinal Manning, The Eternal Priesthood p. 175 claims:
In the beginning it was the Bishops alone who preached. The needs of the faith compelled them to delegate this, their chief office, to the ...
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Did any of the Early Church Fathers believe in the supremacy of St. Peter? [duplicate]
Catholics believe that the Early Church Fathers held to the primacy of St. Peter (ie that Christ gave authority to St. Peter and to his successors to lead the church), but did any of the Early Church ...
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Looking for works pointing to Christianity as an alternative to human sacrifice
I'm curious if there is any significant scholarly research or works regarding a theory that a key driver of the spread of Christianity was to replace human and animal sacrifice from religious ...
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How do Biblical Unitarians deal with the fact that the early church accepted the divinity of Christ?
This question is slightly related to How do Unitarians respond to quotations from Ignatius of Antioch that seem to show Ignatius believes Jesus is God? but I think I am presenting a unique challenge.
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What is the biblical and early church basis against religious tolerance?
Christianity is very often labelled as being tolerant, especially towards other religions. But is there a biblical and historical (i.e. the church fathers) basis against so called "religious ...
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Did any Early Church Fathers believe in postration when praying?
In the old and the new testament, prophets like Moses and Aaron (Numbers 20:6), Abram (Genesis 17:3) David (1 Chronicles 20:6), and Jesus Christ (Matthew 26:39), uses prostrations in prayer, but did ...
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Did the Early Church Fathers believe in praying for the dead?
Roman Catholic and Orthodox Christians believe that praying for the dead is not only deeply rooted in the scriptures but also the apostolic church (ie the church fathers), but did any of the Early ...
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Did the early church believe that Jesus was celibate?
Jesus Christ in the gospels was never married nor did he ever have children and it is believed historically that Jesus himself was celibate but did any of the Early Church Fathers believe that Jesus ...
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History of the formation of the Biblical canon. Searching for accessible bibliographical references
I am interested in finding bibliographical references narrating the formation of the Biblical canon in the first 5 centuries of the Christian era that are:
Academic books or articles written by ...
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Did the Gnostics have apostolic succession?
It is often claimed that the Gnostics had apostolic succession. In particular, Clement of Alexandria is often used to show that the Gnostics claimed apostolic succession.
Basilides, though he claims (...
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Did the 1st Century Church Accept the Deuterocanonical books?
I understand that both the Eastern Orthodoxy and the Catholic Church accept the Deuterocanonical books as scripture. However, since their founding (I understand that they would both claim to begin ...
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What, if anything, is known about the practice of baptism for the dead in the early church?
1 Cor 15 mentions church members performing baptisms for the dead. Apart from that, no further reference to this practice exists in the Bible as far as I am aware. What, if anything, is known about ...
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Did the early church condemn getting tattoos?
Getting a tattoo is very clearly condemned in the bible (Leviticus 19:28) but did the Early Church Fathers condemn getting tattoos?
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Did early Christian converts follow Kosher?
Did any in the Early Church require a kosher diet? and Did any of the early church fathers believe they had to follow dietary laws? ask about what early Christians believed with respect to Jewish ...
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Did the early church believe in self defence?
Does any of the early church fathers teach that we as Christians are allowed to defend ourselves if our life is in severe danger and if so what church fathers taught this?
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Did any in the Early Church require a kosher diet?
In the Early Church, we see statements suggesting that the dietary laws of clean/unclean meats from Old Testament passages such as Leviticus 11 are no longer binding. For example:
As for their [the ...
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Why is there no archaeological evidence that Christians existed for 200 years after 70 AD?
This is from the 2/1/2018 issue of Biblical Archaeology Society:
...For almost two hundred years after the crucifixion, Roman cities are entirely devoid of any trace of early Christians; to date, no ...
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Did the early church teach that God performed the first animal sacrifice in Gen 3:21?
An earlier question asks about the first animal sacrifice. The two top answers both suggest that God instituted animal sacrifice by example when He killed an animal to provide Adam and Eve with ...
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Why did early Christians believe in the Real Presence?
I'd imagine that if Christ directly taught the doctrine of the Real Presence, then one of the Gospels would have recorded it. So given that fact that it isn't directly taught, let us assume for the ...
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Which church father first taught the perpetual virginity of Mary?
Reformed theologian Herman Bavinck, in his Reformed Dogmatics, III, §366, briefly deals with Mary's perpetual virginity, and touches on the doctrine's history:
We do not yet find this idea of Mary'...
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How did the Apostolic Church manage to integrate different Tribes and Clans under its ambit?
We read in Matt 15:24 , of the initial response of Jesus to the pleadings of the Canaanite woman
He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”
(NB: Some editions omit the ...
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Early church fathers on Mary as mediatrix
I was doing some research and even though could find different resources on devotion to Mary, Mary as the mother of God, I couldn't find anything useful about Mary as mediatrix / "to Jesus ...
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What is a general survey of the Catholic traditions of the Apostle Paul visiting Spain?
Romans 15:24 describes Paul's desire (prediction?) of going to Spain. Many scholars believe that there is strong evidence in favor of Paul having visited Spain. They point out that it is reasonable to ...
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