Jesus Before Constantine: The Church, Her Beliefs, and Her Apologetics
Ebook
That's now, but what about then? There is much diversity in Christianity today in terms of what constitutes necessary core beliefs, but what can we know about the earliest Christianity? Until the major councils began in the fourth century, were all who claimed to be Christian considered part of the church, or was there more to it than just claiming a name? Is there evidence for how the church understood core and necessary beliefs prior to Constantine's arrival in history and the Council of Nicea in AD 325? This book examines such questions. Using only those materials that are accepted by most scholars on the subject, whether they are Christian or not, and focusing on the period from AD 30-250, a picture emerges showing what Christians held as a core belief as well as how flexible they were on this belief. Only after identifying where the church stood in this period can we begin to understand whether others such as Ebionites, Docetists, and Marcionites would have been accepted as Christian. A case is made based on writings from the church, the Nag Hammadi, and a completely secular tool from the twentieth century to find the conclusion to this question.
“Dr. Doug Taylor has done thorough and thoughtful research using
only the most scholarly resources to help us understand what
constituted necessary core beliefs for the early church. This is a
needed resource for my pastor friends as we navigate difficult
times and opinions in society and even in our churches.”
—Ron Edmondson, Pastor and Leadership Consultant at
RonEdmondson.com
“Dr. Taylor is uniquely equipped to approach the issue of what it
meant to be a Christian in the centuries before Constantine. His
application of Root Cause Analysis, a tool often used in other
fields, provides a fresh perspective on what distinguished
Christianity from its competitors. Readers will also benefit from
the helpful appendices, especially the collection of references by
the early church to Jesus’ death and resurrection.”
—Benjamin C. F. Shaw, Affiliate Faculty Member and Subject Matter
Expert, Lee Strobel Center for Evangelism and Applied Apologetics,
Colorado Christian University
Doug E. Taylor is assistant professor of Theology and
Apologetics and the program coordinator for the Master of Arts in
Apologetics at Luther Rice College and Seminary in Lithonia,
Georgia. He is the author of WHY? A Believer’s Introduction to
Defending the Faith (2011).