Geoffrey Wainwright
Contributor at Encyclopaedia Britannica
Cushman Professor of Christian Theology, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina. Author of Leslie Newbigin: a Theological Life; Is the Reformation Over?: Catholics and Protestants at the Turn of the Millennia and others. Source
Articles
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3 weeks ago |
britannica.com | Bernard McGinn |Geoffrey Wainwright
Christianity - Apologetics, Theology, Doctrine: Establishment of norms for the church was necessary because diverse interpretations of the Christian message were conceived under the influence of the religions of late antiquity, especially gnosticism—a syncretistic religious dualistic belief system that incorporated Christian motifs. In gnostic interpretations, mixed Christian and pagan ideas appealed to divine inspiration or claimed to be revelations of Christ. The church erected three defenses against the prophetic and visionary efficacy of pneumatic (spiritual) figures as well as against pagan syncretism: (1) the New Testament canon, (2) the apostolic “rules of faith,” or “creeds,” and (3) the apostolic succession of bishops. The common basis
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