This is a subject that I've found fascinating right from those long ago days when as a Pagan Earthmother Feminist I used to have a winged Isis statuette alongside the Virgin Mary in my private prayer corner. It seems that when folk say they want to get back to the essential Christian message, what emerges is a species of Protestantism and not Christianity in its early form at all.
After looking over the other faith forums for any sign of the Pre-Nicene faith all I found at the very least was was strange and unusual Protestantism and not the spirit of the Early Church at all. It seems to me that what many of the 'back to basics' and 'fundimentalists' are doing is waving about some variety of modern Protestant version of the Bible and claiming that they are following the most 'pure' form of the Christian faith.
Taking only pre-Nicene texts as source the Christian faith is a much more lean and hungry religion than the one we know today. But what it possesses in bucket loads is a bright and blazing spirit that simply won't be quenched. And it must be remembered that many of these small and scattered churches didn't have a nice handy Bible. I would imagine that many would've had perhaps a handcopied Gospel, maybe one of Paul's letters - again not so expertly handcopied and the Psalms.
The Christian faith of those times was based on close history. I would imagine that it would be like the memory of WW1. My grandad was at the Somme, he died when I was in my twenties, but my Mum has told me some of her father's stories from the war; - and I have my grandad's pocket watch and the Bible he had when he was in the trenches as well as some faded old photos taken in France.
I could tell you the tale of how my grandad lost his corporal's stripes in France for letting his mules graze in the General's flower garden when there was no other grazing to be had. Perhaps 500 years from now, a future member of my family could tell the same story and have folk doubt the truthfulness of the tale. By this time the watch, the Bible and the faded old photos have been lost or rotted away and it's harder to prove that these events did happen. BUT if some pages of my own diary had survived on which I had written down my grandad's story, then proof is much more positive.
That's the quality I love in these pre-Nicene writings; - the message is still new and hot. Nobody has become complacent about being a Christian yet. The word 'martyr' describes something that could very readily happen anytime.
http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Wikisource
re-Nicene_Christianity
Don't worry I'm not wanting to shed the Catholic Faith or leave the Church. It's the great depth of history at the Catholic Church's foundations that has my interest. It's being a part of a Church that has deep roots; - it's wonderfully comforting
After looking over the other faith forums for any sign of the Pre-Nicene faith all I found at the very least was was strange and unusual Protestantism and not the spirit of the Early Church at all. It seems to me that what many of the 'back to basics' and 'fundimentalists' are doing is waving about some variety of modern Protestant version of the Bible and claiming that they are following the most 'pure' form of the Christian faith.
Taking only pre-Nicene texts as source the Christian faith is a much more lean and hungry religion than the one we know today. But what it possesses in bucket loads is a bright and blazing spirit that simply won't be quenched. And it must be remembered that many of these small and scattered churches didn't have a nice handy Bible. I would imagine that many would've had perhaps a handcopied Gospel, maybe one of Paul's letters - again not so expertly handcopied and the Psalms.
The Christian faith of those times was based on close history. I would imagine that it would be like the memory of WW1. My grandad was at the Somme, he died when I was in my twenties, but my Mum has told me some of her father's stories from the war; - and I have my grandad's pocket watch and the Bible he had when he was in the trenches as well as some faded old photos taken in France.
I could tell you the tale of how my grandad lost his corporal's stripes in France for letting his mules graze in the General's flower garden when there was no other grazing to be had. Perhaps 500 years from now, a future member of my family could tell the same story and have folk doubt the truthfulness of the tale. By this time the watch, the Bible and the faded old photos have been lost or rotted away and it's harder to prove that these events did happen. BUT if some pages of my own diary had survived on which I had written down my grandad's story, then proof is much more positive.
That's the quality I love in these pre-Nicene writings; - the message is still new and hot. Nobody has become complacent about being a Christian yet. The word 'martyr' describes something that could very readily happen anytime.
http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Wikisource
re-Nicene_ChristianityDon't worry I'm not wanting to shed the Catholic Faith or leave the Church. It's the great depth of history at the Catholic Church's foundations that has my interest. It's being a part of a Church that has deep roots; - it's wonderfully comforting
