Essay Sample on The Patristic Period

The Patristic Period transpired from 100 to 451 CE and revolved around the church fathers and other developments. The phrase is derived from the Latin word “pater”, father, hence the vast presence of the church fathers, or early Christian writers, during this time (McGrath 17). Throughout this paper, I will discuss the trend of Gnosticism, the development of the New Testament Canon, and the Arian Controversy which leads to the development of the Nicene Creed. These issues were prominent to the Christian Heritage and the Patristic Period. This paper will delve into these topics.

A theological trend that took place during the time of the Patristic Period was Gnosticism. Gnostics were individuals who were constantly in search of gnosis or secret knowledge. There were numerous sects of Gnostics with differing beliefs (Vishnevskaya Lecture). Gnostic Christians were also known as Heterodox Christians because of their differences from Orthodox Christians.

The unequaled difference was that while Orthodox Christians’ salvation was Jesus, the salvation for the Heterodox Christians was gnosis. Gnostic Christians would also read between the lines of scripture in search of their secret knowledge. This was seen as a large problem by Orthodox Christians. This was because individuals were supposed to be following the authorized interpretation of scripture which was given by the bishops. Another difference was that Orthodox Christians believed matter and spirit were both noble. On the contrary, Gnostic Christians believed that matter was evil and spirit was noble (Vishnevskaya 2021).

In the past, many people felt like they had been separated from the world that was surrounding them. They felt like they had nowhere to belong and therefore a myriad of them turned to Gnosticism. The “Hymn of the Pearl”, which was written in Egypt, is an example of how the Gnostic system worked. A little boy is sent to Egypt to search for a pearl and he went in disguise. The Egyptians ended up recognizing that he was a foreigner. The parents then sent their son a magic letter which woke him from his sleep and he returned home. This is a proper example of Gnosticism because the boy had forgotten who he truly was at one point. He was searching for the pearl, which perhaps represents the secret knowledge. He continued to search for the pearl until he was reminded of his identity (Placher 45-46).

Gnosticism was a defining aspect of the Patristic Period as the Gnostics posed a grand challenge to the church. This was because Gnosticism appeared very similar to Christianity in many ways, but they were not the same. Gnostics would invent new ideas and claim them as “Christian” though Gnostics were not completely continuous with the ideas and beliefs of the early church (McGrath 28). Since this idea pushed such a large challenge on the church, it is an important aspect of the Patristic Period. 

A huge development that took place during the Patristic Period was the development of the New Testament Canon. A canon is a collection of books that are divinely inspired. This idea meant that the authors were intimates of God and that God spoke to them. The authors then continued to write down the message of the divine. This was a difficult process as there was criteria of canonicity that had to be met (Vishnevskaya 2021).

Firstly, the books had to be written by an apostle or someone closely related to an apostle. The books also had to be consistent with the rest of the canons as conflicting ideas could not be present. The books also had to consist of Orthodox, strict and straight, beliefs.  An example of these Orthodox beliefs is that Jesus rose from the dead. Since Gnosticism was such a challenge to the church, they wanted to make sure the Orthodox beliefs were the only beliefs being presented in their book collections. Another important aspect was that the books were accepted and used in churches everywhere. This idea also referred to universal applicability. This idea meant that the books applied to many different locations and cultures. The canon was not formalized or closed until the end of the 4th century because of these different tests (Vishnevskaya 2021). 

The fixing of the canon itself took place during the Patristic Period. Christian theology is also grounded in scripture meaning this development was important to the Patristic Period (McGrath 27). From viewing and discussing a portion of the film “Luther”, the Old Testament was outdated and gave people misinformation. Luther, himself, was afraid of God because he had yet to read the improved New Testament Canon (Vishnevskaya 2021).

A third idea that took place during the Patristic Period was the Arian controversy. This idea took place in Egypt during the first half of the fourth century. This was led by Arius who was a Christian Priest. Arius had very specific beliefs and he worked on spreading them to individuals around him. His first belief was that the Father existed before the son. He believed that the father and son were not equal. If they were equal, this would create a dyad when God was a monad. The son is also a creature, like other humans (McGrath 43)

Arius’ second belief was God must not be known to creatures, including Christ. This means that the son cannot know the father. Arius believed the son was also dependent upon the grace of God meaning he was in the same position as other creatures. Arius’ third and final belief was that the bible was speaking of Christ in an honorific manner. He thought that referring to Christ as the Son was honorific and not theological. His overarching belief was that God was the one begotten and the one and only (McGrath 44).

The Council of Nicea met in 325 AD and was oversaw by Constantine the Great. This was the first ecumenical council of the Christian Church which meant it was made up of several different Christian churches. The Nicene creed was developed in response to Arius’ teachings. Similarly, to Arius, they proclaimed faith in one God but said that Christ was of the same substance of God. The line from the Nicene Creed that reads “begotten not made” stood out. This is because the previous line, “to be made”, implies that there was a beginning though Christ transcended time and space and existed at the same time as the father (Vishnevskaya 2021). 

 This idea was consequential to the Patristic Period as the development of the Nicene Creed showed the true identities of the Father and the Son. Arius had strong beliefs that Christ was not equal to God but the council of Nicea developed the idea of him being the same substance and this idea worked for many.

Overall, the Patristic Period was a time of many trends and developments. This paper touched on the trend of Gnosticism, the development of the New Testament Canon, and the Arian Controversy which led to the development of the Nicene Creed. These were three ideas that affected Christianity and what it is today. These developments led to clearer beliefs, universally applicable books, and much more. Christianity would be much different today if it weren’t for these trends and developments.