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c. 2nd century CEReputable source · 2 sourcesWell documented

Second-Century Christians Argue Fiercely Over Who Jesus Was

Gnostics, Marcionites, and a dozen other groups make the plural 'Christianities' the only accurate word

On the timeline · around c. 2nd century CE · The Early ChurchThe Early ChurchSecond-Century Christians Argue Fiercely Over Who Jesus Was75 CE100 CE125 CE150 CE175 CE200 CE225 CE

Quick facts

Period
2nd century CE
Key disputed teacher
Marcion (excommunicated c. 144 CE)
Rival movement
Gnosticism (Valentinus and others)
Core dispute
Nature and divinity of Jesus, number of gods

What happened

Long before any council settled Christian doctrine, second-century Christians held sharply conflicting beliefs about basic questions: whether Jesus was fully divine, fully human, or some combination, and what kind of body he had. Marcion, an influential teacher eventually declared a heretic, argued for two separate gods, a harsh creator god of Jewish scripture and a higher god revealed uniquely through Jesus, and edited his own version of Luke's Gospel to remove material he thought contaminated by Jewish influence. Valentinus and other Gnostic teachers taught that salvation came through secret knowledge of the divine rather than through the death and resurrection central to what became mainstream Christian teaching. Brigham Young University's Religious Studies Center describes the category of Christian in this period as capacious, encompassing a genuine variety of beliefs and practices that varied by region.

Why it matters

This period shows that Christian doctrine was not handed down complete and then merely defended; it was worked out through direct competition between rival teachers and communities, a process that later councils like Nicaea and Chalcedon would try, with only partial success, to bring to a close.

How we know

Some second-century texts by Marcion and Gnostic teachers survive only in fragments quoted by their theological opponents, while others, including a cache of Gnostic writings found at Nag Hammadi, Egypt, in 1945, preserve original material in the movements' own words.

Sources

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Part of a timelineHistory of Christianity28 events · A crucified Jewish teacher, a persecuted sect that became an empire's official religion, and two thousand years of councils, schisms, and missions that carried it to every continentView all →
Second-Century Christians Argue Fiercely Over Who Jesus Was · History of Christianity · SourcedStory