Bart Ehrman Blog Readers Forum

A A A
Forum Scope


Match



Forum Options



Min search length: 3 characters / Max search length: 84 characters
Lost password?
sp_TopicIcon
question about the heresies
Avatar
beautifulzebra992

-1 Posts
(Offline)
1
August 3, 2015 - 7:36 am

greetings

 

when christian apologists say that all the heresies started 200 years after the canonical writings how can one address thier claims ? 

Avatar
gmatthews

498 Posts
(Offline)
2
August 3, 2015 - 1:10 pm

For one thing the time frame is all wrong.  “Heresy”, as Prof Ehrman has pointed out in the past month or so, means literally “choice”, choices in belief.  These choices probably started occurring right after the death of Jesus.  By at least the time of Paul (writing in the 50s and earlier which would have been only 20 years after Jesus) we start to read about different beliefs.  Paul complains, in writing, on several occasions that outsiders (he calls them various things including, perhaps sarcastically, “super-apostles”) are preaching ideas to his churches that are at odds with what he believes and preaches.  I’m not one of those people who can quote chapter and verse so if you want specific examples ask here and I’ll give you some, otherwise you can find them yourself.  Look in 2 Corinthians and Galatians although they can be found in other places.  The word “heresy” didn’t come into common use until the 2nd century (100-199AD, so less than 200 years technically speaking) when Irenaeus started tossing it around (he was the author of a work called “Against Heresies”) although other Church Fathers described heresies, perhaps not with that name, earlier than that.  The earliest heresies were seen as those beliefs and ideas which were tainted by Jewish beliefs.  As Christianity spread and became more and more of a universal non Jewish-centric religion the Jewish interpretations would have been seen more and more as non-Orthodox.

Avatar
beautifulzebra992

-1 Posts
(Offline)
3
August 3, 2015 - 8:26 pm

thanks for the clarification 

Avatar
gmatthews

498 Posts
(Offline)
4
August 6, 2015 - 1:13 pm

I came across this blog post by Larry Hurtado today that you might be interested in:  ** you do not have permission to see this link **, in which he discusses a recent book on the topic.

Forum Timezone: America/Indiana/Indianapolis
All RSSShow Stats
Administrators:
BDEhrman
FreedomBen
evgendob
Robert
Top Posters:
Steefen: 7786
Stephen: 4602
Porphyry: 1852
godspell: 1827
DavidFord: 1424
BJH1960: 1205
brenmcg: 1184
Colin Milton: 1142
JAS: 948
Jarek: 936
Newest Members:
Auntiejack56
giventerry
brokinrhythm
Thurly
dsorrent7
iam.vernon.b.rose
israelam
Abw2026
StephenJ
AnnaH
Forum Stats:
Groups: 2
Forums: 13
Topics: 2616
Posts: 46472

 

Member Stats:
Guest Posters: 65
Members: 65923
Moderators: 0
Admins: 4
Most Users Ever Online: 3559
Currently Online:
Guest(s) 80
Currently Browsing this Page:
1 Guest(s)