Vague pushback against schism and "strange doctrine" (jan 1, 50 – dec 31, 179)

Description:

The New Testament manuscript trail contains numerous instances the authors pushing back against sectarian schism and strange doctrine within the communal body of their readership. This manifests as general exhortations (for unity and to be of one mind; to "keep an eye" on those who cause dissentions); attestations of adherents embracing strange doctrine, pledging to individual apostles or rebelling against club leaders; the importance of teaching correct doctrine; quixotic ecstatic practices; forged "prophecies" from Peter and Paul of those who will cause trouble in the future; splintering of doctrine. The unifying feature here is the generality of the warnings (in comparison to the detailed doctrinal battles waged by a later generation of heresiologists and theologians).

From all of this we can infer that not only was there a good deal of variety of belief among the very earliest Christians, but that the Christian laity may have been more comfortable with this diversity than was their elite literary class.

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