New answers tagged early-church
3
votes
Accepted
Was a Unitarian understanding of God present in the Early Church prior to 400 AD?
Yes, there were multiple strains within the early Church that were Unitarian. The article 'Diversity in early Christian theology' goes into some detail on the sorts of ideological movements within the ...
- 4,194
1
vote
What was the ante-Nicene Fathers' view on image veneration?
Artwork
There is artwork in one form or another in Christianity as far back as the archeological record can take us (As already noted by Ken Graham, precious little has survived from the very earliest ...
- 6,511
3
votes
Is it true that no post-apostolic theologians before St. Augustine believed in Eternal Security / Assurance of Salvation?
Literally none of those quotes from the Fathers come close to proving eternal security. People are trying to read into the Fathers what they themselves already believe. Just for example:
Augustine: “...
1
vote
Accepted
What was the ante-Nicene Fathers' view on image veneration?
What was the ante-Nicene Fathers' view on the veneration of images and its use inside churches?
The real problem with this particular question is that the Early Church was under persecution during the ...
- 53k
2
votes
Accepted
Who are called Catholics in the Early Church?
Who are called Catholics in the Early Church?
In a nutshell: The Early Church or simply put, Christianity.
Apart from some early known heresies, the Early Christian Community was united, in union with ...
- 53k
1
vote
Who are called Catholics in the Early Church?
The English word Catholic ultimately derives from the Greek adjective καθολικός, meaning "universal". (source)
The earliest known application of the term Catholic to the church is by ...
- 6,511
3
votes
Accepted
What was the Early Church's (ante-Nicene period) view of the interplay between free will (or lack thereof) and salvation?
Some of the modern vocabulary of the determinism/free will debate is not found in the writings of the Ante-Nicene Fathers, but within their writings there is clear & consistent support of the view ...
- 6,511
1
vote
Did any Early Church Fathers approve of polygamy?
Did any Early Church Fathers approve of polygamy?
No Early Church Father wrote in favour of polygamy.
Polygamy simply was not an issue that deeply concerned the Early Church Fathers in the early ...
- 53k
1
vote
Did the Early Church Fathers condemn polygamy?
Did the Early Church Fathers condemn polygamy?
The short answer is yes.
Tertullian (155-220), wrote that marriage is lawful, but polygamy is not:
We do not indeed forbid the union of man and woman, ...
- 53k
0
votes
Did the Early Church Fathers condemn polygamy?
"Appendix A: Authorities Referenced at [the Council of] Trent" of Brugger's The Indissolubility of Marriage and the Council of Trent, pp. 149-99, cites many who directly or indirectly ...
- 32.7k
0
votes
Did the Early Church Fathers condemn polygamy?
Paul only prohibits it for church leaders.
In his letter to Timothy, Paul writes:
Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, ...
- 922
1
vote
How did the Early Church Fathers view homosexuality?
The early church fathers opposed homosexual intercourse.
From The Encyclopedia of Early Christianity:
The church fathers universally condemned male homosexual
behavior...They clearly regarded it as ...
- 6,511
1
vote
How did Christians respond to abortion in the early Church?
The Early Church condemned abortion and saw it for what it was, a grave sin! It is important to remember that the fathers within the early church were all Jewish and so maintained the Jewish view of ...
- 673
1
vote
Did the early church believe that St. Peter was the first pope?
As usual, it is important to define terms like the papacy. Here is New Advent.
This term is employed in an ecclesiastical and in an historical signification. In the former of these uses it denotes ...
- 10.3k
4
votes
How did so many writings of St. John Chrysostom survive?
He lived after Christianity became legal; whereas many of the writings of his predecessors were burned in state-sponsored persecution (source) his were much less targeted for destruction.
He lived in ...
- 6,511
Top 50 recent answers are included