CHAPTER I. CHAPTER II. CHAPTER III. CHAPTER IV. CHAPTER V. CHAPTER VI. CHAPTER I. Part I. 2.] CHAPTER II CHAPTER III. CHAPTER IV. CHAPTER V. CHAPTER VI. Dogma, Volume 2 (of 7), by Adolph Harnack Project Gutenberg's History of Dogma, Volume 2 (of 7), by Adolph Harnack This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org Title: History of Dogma, Volume 2 (of 7) Author: Adolph Harnack Translator: Neil Buchanan Release Date: October 24, 2006 [EBook #19613] Dogma, Volume 2 (of 7), by Adolph Harnack 1 Language: English Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORY OF DOGMA, VOLUME 2 (OF 7) *** Produced by Dave Maddock, David King, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net HISTORY OF DOGMA BY DR. ADOLPH HARNACK ORDINARY PROF. OF CHURCH HISTORY IN THE UNIVERSITY, AND FELLOW OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCE, BERLIN TRANSLATED FROM THE THIRD GERMAN EDITION BY NEIL BUCHANAN VOL. II. BOSTON LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY 1901 CONTENTS Dogma, Volume 2 (of 7), by Adolph Harnack 2 CHAPTER I. Historical Survey The Old and New Elements in the formation of the Catholic Church; The fixing of that which is Apostolic (Rule of Faith, Collection of Writings, Organization, Cultus); The Stages in the Genesis of the Catholic Rule of Faith, the Apologists; Irenæus, Tertullian, Hippolytus; Clement and Origen; Obscurities in reference to the origin of the most important Institutions; Difficulties in determining the importance of individual Personalities; Differences of development in the Churches of different countries. I. FIXING AND GRADUAL SECULARISING OF CHRISTIANITY AS A CHURCH CHAPTER I. 3 CHAPTER II. The setting up of the Apostolic Standards for Ecclesiastical Christianity. The Catholic Church A. The transformation of the Baptismal Confession into the Apostolic Rule of Faith Necessities for setting up the Apostolic Rule of Faith; The Rule of Faith is the Baptismal Confession definitely interpreted; Estimate of this transformation; Irenæus; Tertullian; Results of the transformation; Slower development in Alexandria: Clement and Origen. B. The designation of selected writings read in the Churches as New Testament Scriptures or, in other words, as a collection of Apostolic Writings Plausible arguments against the statement that up to the year 150 there was no New Testament in the Church; Sudden emergence of the New Testament in the Muratorian Fragment, in (Melito) Irenæus and Tertullian; Conditions under which the New Testament originated; Relation of the New Testament to the earlier writings that were read in the Churches; Causes and motives for the formation of the Canon, manner of using and results of the New Testament; The Apostolic collection of writings can be proved at first only in those Churches in which we find the Apostolic Rule of Faith; probably there was no New Testament in Antioch about the year 200, nor in Alexandria (Clement); Probable history of the genesis of the New Testament in Alexandria up to the time of Origen; ADDENDUM. The results which the creation of the New Testament produced in the following period. C. The transformation of the Episcopal Office in the Church into an Apostolic Office. The History of the remodelling of the conception of the Church The legitimising of the Rule of Faith by the Communities which were founded by the Apostles; By the "Elders"; By the Bishops of Apostolic Churches (disciples of Apostles); By the Bishops as such, who have received the Apostolic Charisma veritatis; Excursus on the conceptions of the Alexandrians; The Bishops as successors of the Apostles; Original idea of the Church as the Holy Community that comes from Heaven and is destined for it; The Church as the empiric Catholic Communion resting on the Law of Faith; Obscurities in the idea of the Church as held by Irenæus and Tertullian; By Clement and Origen; Transition to the Hierarchical idea of the Church; The Hierarchical idea of the Church: Calixtus and Cyprian; Appendix I. Cyprian's idea of the Church and the actual circumstances; Appendix II. Church and Heresy; Appendix III. Uncertainties regarding the consequences of the new idea of the Church. CHAPTER II. 4 CHAPTER III. Continuation The Old Christianity and the New Church Introduction; The Original Montanism; The later Montanism as the dregs of the movement and as the product of a compromise; The opposition to the demands of the Montanists by the Catholic Bishops: importance of the victory for the Church; History of penance: the old practice; The laxer practice in the days of Tertullian and Hippolytus; The abolition of the old practice in the days of Cyprian; Significance of the new kind of penance for the idea of the Church; the Church no longer a Communion of Salvation and of Saints, but a condition of Salvation and a Holy Institution and thereby a corpus permixtum; After effect of the old idea of the Church in Cyprian; Origen's idea of the Church; Novatian's idea of the Church and of penance, the Church of the Catharists; Conclusion: the Catholic Church as capable of being a support to society and the state; Addenda I. The Priesthood; Addenda II. Sacrifice; Addenda III. Means of Grace. Baptism and the Eucharist; Excursus to Chapters II. and III Catholic and Roman. II. FIXING AND GRADUAL HELLENISING OF CHRISTIANITY AS A SYSTEM OF DOCTRINE CHAPTER III. 5 CHAPTER IV. Ecclesiastical Christianity and Philosophy; The Apologists 1. Introduction The historical position of the Apologists; Apologists and Gnostics; Nature and importance of the Apologists' theology. 2. Christianity as Philosophy and as Revelation Aristides; Justin; Athenagoras; Miltiades, Melito; Tatian; Pseudo-Justin, Orat. ad Gr.; Theophilus; Pseudo-Justin, de Resurr.; Tertullian and Minucius; Pseudo-Justin, de Monarch.; Results. 3. The doctrines of Christianity as the revealed and rational religion Arrangement; The Monotheistic Cosmology; Theology; Doctrine of the Logos; Doctrine of the World and of Man; Doctrine of Freedom and Morality; Doctrine of Revelation (Proofs from Prophecy); Significance of the History of Jesus; Christology of Justin; Interpretation and Criticism, especially of Justin's doctrines. CHAPTER IV. 6 CHAPTER V. The Beginnings of an Ecclesiastico-theological interpretation and revision of the Rule of Faith in opposition to Gnosticism, on the basis of the New Testament and the Christian Philosophy of the Apologists, Melito, Irenæus, Tertullian, Hippolytus, Novatian 1. The theological position of Irenæus and of the later contemporary Church teachers Characteristics of the theology of the Old Catholic Fathers, their wavering between Reason and Tradition; Loose structure of their Dogmas; Irenæus' attempt to construct a systematic theology and his fundamental theological convictions; Gnostic and anti-Gnostic features of his theology; Christianity conceived as a real redemption by Christ (recapitulatio); His conception of a history of salvation; His historical significance: conserving of tradition and gradual hellenising of the Rule of Faith. 2. The Old Catholic Fathers' doctrine of the Church The Antithesis to Gnosticism; The "Scripture theology" as a sign of the dependence on "Gnosticism" and as a means of conserving tradition; The Doctrine of God; The Logos Doctrine of Tertullian and Hippolytus; (Conceptions regarding the Holy Spirit); Irenæus' doctrine of the Logos; (Conceptions regarding the Holy Spirit); The views of Irenæus regarding the destination of man, the original state, the fall and the doom of death (the disparate series of ideas in Irenæus; rudiments of the doctrine of original sin in Tertullian); The doctrine of Jesus Christ as the incarnate son of God; Assertion of the complete mixture and unity of the divine and human elements; Significance of Mary; Tertullian's doctrine of the two natures and its origin; Rudiments of this doctrine in Irenæus; The Gnostic character of this doctrine; Christology of Hippolytus; Views as to Christ's work; Redemption, Perfection; Reconciliation; Categories for the fruit of Christ's work; Things peculiar to Tertullian; Satisfacere Deo; The Soul as the Bride of Christ; The Eschatology; Its archaic nature, its incompatibility with speculation and the advantage of connection with that; Conflict with Chiliasm in the East; The doctrine of the two Testaments; The influence of Gnosticism on the estimate of the two Testaments, the complexus oppositorum; the Old Testament a uniform Christian Book as in the Apologists; The Old Testament a preliminary stage of the New Testament and a compound Book; The stages in the history of salvation; The law of freedom the climax of the revelation in Christ. 3. Results to Ecclesiastical Christianity, chiefly in the West, (Cyprian, Novation) CHAPTER V. 7 CHAPTER VI. The Transformation of the Ecclesiastical Tradition into a Philosophy of Religion, or the Origin of the Scientific Theology and Dogmatic of the Church: Clement and Origen (1) The Alexandrian Catechetical School and Clement of Alexandria Schools and Teachers in the Church at the end of the second and the beginning of the third century; scientific efforts (Alogi in Asia Minor, Cappadocian Scholars, Bardesanes of Edessa, Julius Africanus, Scholars in Palestine, Rome and Carthage); The Alexandrian Catechetical School. Clement; The temper of Clement and his importance in the History of Dogma; his relation to Irenæus, to the Gnostics and to primitive Christianity; his philosophy of Religion; Clement and Origen (2) The system of Origen Introductory: The personality and importance of Origen; The Elements of Origen's theology; its Gnostic features; The relative view of Origen; His temper and final aim: relation to Greek Philosophy; Theology as a Philosophy of Revelation, and a cosmological speculation; Porphyry on Origen; The neutralising of History, esoteric and exoteric Christianity; Fundamental ideas and arrangement of his system; Sources of truth, doctrine of Scripture. I. The Doctrine of God and its unfolding Doctrine of God; Doctrine of the Logos; Clement's doctrine of the Logos; Doctrine of the Holy Spirit; Doctrine of Spirits. II. Doctrine of the Fall and its consequences Doctrine of Man III. Doctrine of Redemption and Restoration The notions necessary to the Psychical; The Christology; The Appropriation of Salvation; The Eschatology; Concluding Remarks: The importance of this system to the following period. DIVISION I BOOK II. THE LAYING OF THE FOUNDATIONS. CHAPTER VI. 8 CHAPTER I. HISTORICAL SURVEY. The second century of the existence of Gentile-Christian communities was characterised by the victorious conflict with Gnosticism and the Marcionite Church, by the gradual development of an ecclesiastical doctrine, and by the decay of the early Christian enthusiasm. The general result was the establishment of a great ecclesiastical association, which, forming at one and the same time a political commonwealth, school and union for worship, was based on the firm foundation of an "apostolic" law of faith, a collection of "apostolic" writings, and finally, an "apostolic" organisation. This institution was the Catholic Church.[1] In opposition to Gnosticism and Marcionitism, the main articles forming the estate and possession of orthodox Christianity were raised to the rank of apostolic regulations and laws, and thereby placed beyond all discussion and assault. At first the innovations introduced by this were not of a material, but of a formal, character. Hence they were not noticed by any of those who had never, or only in a vague fashion, been elevated to the feeling and idea of freedom and independence in religion. How great the innovations actually were, however, may be measured by the fact that they signified a scholastic tutelage of the faith of the individual Christian, and restricted the immediateness of religious feelings and ideas to the narrowest limits. But the conflict with the so-called Montanism showed that there were still a considerable number of Christians who valued that immediateness and freedom; these were, however, defeated. The fixing of the tradition under the title of apostolic necessarily led to the assumption that whoever held the apostolic doctrine was also essentially a Christian in the apostolic sense. This assumption, quite apart from the innovations which were legitimised by tracing them to the Apostles, meant the separation of doctrine and conduct, the preference of the former to the latter, and the transformation of a fellowship of faith, hope, and discipline into a communion "eiusdem sacramenti," that is, into a union which, like the philosophical schools, rested on a doctrinal law, and which was subject to a legal code of divine institution.[2] The movement which resulted in the Catholic Church owes its right to a place in the history of Christianity to the victory over Gnosticism and to the preservation of an important part of early Christian tradition. If Gnosticism in all its phases was the violent attempt to drag Christianity down to the level of the Greek world, and to rob it of its dearest possession, belief in the Almighty God of creation and redemption, then Catholicism, inasmuch as it secured this belief for the Greeks, preserved the Old Testament, and supplemented it with early Christian writings, thereby saving as far as documents, at least, were concerned and proclaiming the authority of an important part of primitive Christianity, must in one respect be acknowledged as a conservative force born from the vigour of Christianity. If we put aside abstract considerations and merely look at the facts of the given situation, we cannot but admire a creation which first broke up the various outside forces assailing Christianity, and in which the highest blessings of this faith have always continued to be accessible. If the founder of the Christian religion had deemed belief in the Gospel and a life in accordance with it to be compatible with membership of the Synagogue and observance of the Jewish law, there could at least be no impossibility of adhering to the Gospel within the Catholic Church. Still, that is only one side of the case. The older Catholicism never clearly put the question, "What is Christian?" Instead of answering that question it rather laid down rules, the recognition of which was to be the guarantee of Christianism. This solution of the problem seems to be on the one hand too narrow and on the other too broad. Too narrow, because it bound Christianity to rules under which it necessarily languished; too broad, because it did not in any way exclude the introduction of new and foreign conceptions. In throwing a protective covering round the Gospel, Catholicism also obscured it. It preserved Christianity from being hellenised to the most extreme extent, but, as time went on, it was forced to admit into this religion an ever greater measure of secularisation. In the interests of its world-wide mission it did not indeed directly disguise the terrible seriousness of religion, but, by tolerating a less strict ideal of life, it made it possible for those less in earnest to be considered Christians, and to regard themselves as such. It permitted the genesis of a Church, which was no longer a communion of faith, hope, and discipline, but a political commonwealth in which the Gospel merely had a place beside other things.[3] In ever increasing measure it invested all the forms which CHAPTER I. 9 this secular commonwealth required with apostolic, that is, indirectly, with divine authority. This course disfigured Christianity and made a knowledge of what is Christian an obscure and difficult matter. But, in Catholicism, religion for the first time obtained a formal dogmatic system. Catholic Christianity discovered the formula which reconciled faith and knowledge. This formula satisfied humanity for centuries, and the blessed effects which it accomplished continued to operate even after it had itself already become a fetter. Catholic Christianity grew out of two converging series of developments. In the one were set up fixed outer standards for determining what is Christian, and these standards were proclaimed to be apostolic institutions. The baptismal confession was exalted to an apostolic rule of faith, that is, to an apostolic law of faith. A collection of apostolic writings was formed from those read in the Churches, and this compilation was placed on an equal footing with the Old Testament. The episcopal and monarchical constitution was declared to be apostolic, and the attribute of successor of the Apostles was conferred on the bishop. Finally, the religious ceremonial developed into a celebration of mysteries, which was in like manner traced back to the Apostles. The result of these institutions was a strictly exclusive Church in the form of a communion of doctrine, ceremonial, and law, a confederation which more and more gathered the various communities within its pale, and brought about the decline of all nonconforming sects. The confederation was primarily based on a common confession, which, however, was not only conceived as "law," but was also very soon supplemented by new standards. One of the most important problems to be investigated in the history of dogma, and one which unfortunately cannot be completely solved, is to show what necessities led to the setting up of a new canon of Scripture, what circumstances required the appearance of living authorities in the communities, and what relation was established between the apostolic rule of faith, the apostolic canon of Scripture, and the apostolic office. The development ended with the formation of a clerical class, at whose head stood the bishop, who united in himself all conceivable powers, as teacher, priest, and judge. He disposed of the powers of Christianity, guaranteed its purity, and therefore in every respect held the Christian laity in tutelage. But even apart from the content which Christianity here received, this process in itself represents a progressive secularising of the Church, This would be self-evident enough, even if it were not confirmed by noting the fact that the process had already been to some extent anticipated in the so-called Gnosticism (See vol. I. p. 253 and Tertullian, de præscr. 35). But the element which the latter lacked, namely, a firmly welded, suitably regulated constitution, must by no means be regarded as one originally belonging and essential to Christianity. The depotentiation to which Christianity was here subjected appears still more plainly in the facts, that the Christian hopes were deadened, that the secularising of the Christian life was tolerated and even legitimised, and that the manifestations of an unconditional devotion to the heavenly excited suspicion or were compelled to confine themselves to very narrow limits. But these considerations are scarcely needed as soon as we turn our attention to the second series of developments that make up the history of this period. The Church did not merely set up dykes and walls against Gnosticism in order to ward it off externally, nor was she satisfied with defending against it the facts which were the objects of her belief and hope; but, taking the creed for granted, she began to follow this heresy into its own special territory and to combat it with a scientific theology. That was a necessity which did not first spring from Christianity's own internal struggles. It was already involved in the fact that the Christian Church had been joined by cultured Greeks, who felt the need of justifying their Christianity to themselves and the world, and of presenting it as the desired and certain answer to all the pressing questions which then occupied men's minds. The beginning of a development which a century later reached its provisional completion in the theology of Origen, that is, in the transformation of the Gospel into a scientific system of ecclesiastical doctrine, appears in the Christian Apologetic, as we already find it before the middle of the second century. As regards its content, this system of doctrine meant the legitimising of Greek philosophy within the sphere of the rule of faith. The theology of Origen bears the same relation to the New Testament as that of Philo does to the Old. What is here presented as Christianity is in fact the idealistic religious philosophy of the age, attested by divine revelation, made accessible to all by the incarnation of the Logos, and purified from any connection CHAPTER I. 10 [...]... rule of truth Irenæus himself already gave prominence to the following doctrines:[39] the unity of God, the identity of the supreme God with the Creator; the identity of the supreme God with the God of the Old Testament; the unity of Jesus Christ as the Son of the God who created the world; the essential divinity of Christ; the incarnation of the Son of God; the prediction of the entire history of Jesus... that the words of the Lord, as in the earlier period, continued to be the chief standard of life and conduct C The transformation of the episcopal office in the Church into an apostolic office The history of the remodelling of the conception of the Church.[130] 1 It was not sufficient to prove that the rule of faith was of apostolic origin, i.e., that the Apostles had set up a rule of faith It had... Testament.[110] Theophilus makes diligent use of the Epistles of Paul and mentions the evangelist John (C I 1.) as one of the bearers of the Spirit But with him the one canonical court of appeal is the Scriptures of the Old Testament, that is, the writings of the Prophets (bearers of the Spirit) These Old Testament Prophets, however, are continued in a further group of "bearers of the Spirit," which we cannot definitely... progress of Christian Hellenism and from a deeper study of the Pauline theology, that is, emanates from the controversy with Gnosticism In them a religious and realistic idea takes the place of the moralism of the Apologists, namely, the deifying of the human race through the incarnation of the Son of God The apotheosis of mortal man through his acquisition of immortality (divine life) is the idea of salvation... the only essential part of the idea of the Church is the fact of her being the depository of the truth, he was no longer able to confine himself to this (see above) The episcopal succession and the transmission to the bishops of the magisterium of the Apostles were not indeed of any direct importance to his idea of the Church, but they were of consequence for the preservation of truth and therefore... manufacture of "facts." But at the same time its claim to be a collection of inspired writings[ 123 ] naturally resulted in principles of interpretation (such as the principle of unanimity, of unlimited combination, of absolute clearness and sufficiency, and of allegorism) which were necessarily followed by the manufacture of new facts on the part of theological experts (5) The New Testament fixed a time within... of the inspiration of the Old Testament confined it to the narrowest limits, and in fact always continued to forbid it; for, as before, appeal was constantly made to the Old Testament as a Christian book which contained all the truths of religion in a perfect form Nevertheless the conception of the Old Testament was here and there full of contradictions.[ 125 ] (7) The fatal identification of words of. .. by the rule of faith.[ 127 ] In practice it continued to be the rule for the New Testament to take a secondary place in apologetic writings and disputes with heretics.[ 128 ] On the other hand it was regarded (1) as the directly authoritative document for the direction of the Christian life,[ 129 ] and (2) as the final court of appeal in all the conflicts that arose within the sphere of the rule of faith It... century on the basis of the Logos doctrine, is Christianity conceived and formulated from the standpoint of the Greek philosophy of religion.[13] This Christianity conquered the old world, and became the foundation of a new phase of history in the Middle Ages The union of the Christian religion with a definite historical phase of human knowledge and culture may be lamented in the interest of the Christian... interpretation of the Old Testament In the narrower sense that canon consisted of the history and words of Jesus In so far as they formed the content of faith they were the faith itself, that is, the Christian truth; in so far as this faith was to determine the essence of everything Christian, it might be termed [Greek: kanôn tês pisteôs, kanôn tês alêtheias] (canon of the faith, canon of the truth). [23 ] But . I. 2. ] CHAPTER II CHAPTER III. CHAPTER IV. CHAPTER V. CHAPTER VI. Dogma, Volume 2 (of 7), by Adolph Harnack Project Gutenberg's History of Dogma, Volume. EBOOK HISTORY OF DOGMA, VOLUME 2 (OF 7) *** Produced by Dave Maddock, David King, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net HISTORY