Good article from Darrell Bock. Interesting idea. I would like to do/see more research on this topic.
Roots Matter – Christian History
Roots Matter
Defending the faith in today’s cultural climate means not only knowing our Bible but also knowing our history.
by Darrell L. Bock
from Issue 96: The Gnostics Hunger for Secret Knowledge
It used to be that when I taught class and came to Gnosticism, eyes glazed over and clock-watching began. Mentioning Gnostics in church just never happened. The digital age of niche TV and “History Channel” documentaries has changed all that. The Gnostics are making prime time appearances and have agents. I get questions about them constantly.
We are now in a period when it is not enough to know only about the Bible. The apologetics of the past is no longer adequate. Today’s questions involve not only how the Bible came to be, but even if there was originally such a thing as orthodoxy. It is a crucial question. Christians need to know a lot more about the second century. Roots matter, especially in the founding of a movement.
One question often raised is how there could be “orthodoxy” when there was no functioning New Testament until sometime between the late second and the fourth century. Doesn’t this mean that Christianity could and did go in all directions until the canon nailed down doctrine? The claim is that our history is distorted because winners write the history. My reply is that in this case the winners deserved to win, because their faith had a theological rootedness that the Gnostics’ did not.
One reply on “Roots Matter – Christian History”
Thanks for the posting.
You conclude, “My reply is that in this case the winners deserved to win, because their faith had a theological rootedness that the Gnostics’ did not.” It appears that the opposite is actually the case. The Gnostics have a firmer theological foundation. The “orthodox” position is based on shifting sand, misrepresentation of Jewish literature, book burning, and conversion by coercion.
The struggle is not over. The Gnostic legacy may overcome that of the orthodox.