Second century incarnational christology and early Catholic Christianity

The thesis of this dissertation is that the identity of catholic Christianity in the early second century was marked by a unified confession of the unique incarnational christological narrative, that is, the account of the Son/Logos who came from heaven, became incarnate, suffered, died, and rose again. This incarnational narrative was already geographically widespread in the early second century and played a foundational role in the theology, ethic, and paraenesis of catholic Christians. Thus, rather than a clear catholic identity coalescing as the result of diversity and conflict throughout the second century, catholic identity was already established in the opening years of the second century, both preceding and precipitating identity-challenging christological conflict with teachers and traditions that rejected particular tenets of the catholic incarnational narrative.;A brief introductory chapter orients the reader to scholarly discussions regarding the rise of catholic Christianity and the issues of unity and diversity in early Christianity. Chapter two then examines the writings of Ignatius of Antioch, whose letters indicate that a confessional christological unity centering on the incarnational narrative extended from Antioch to Asia Minor and Rome by about 110 C.E.;In chapter three the subjective testimony of Ignatius of Antioch is tested by a survey of early second century Christian writings from Syria, Asia Minor, Achaia and Macedonia, Rome, and possibly Palestine and Egypt. This survey demonstrates that the evidence from Ignatius is complemented and strengthened by catholic writings throughout the Christian world from the same generation as Ignatius. That is, in spite of a great diversity of texts, teachers, and traditions, catholic Christians in the early second century exhibited christological agreement on important aspects of the incarnational narrative observed in Ignatius's letters.;In chapter four, the thesis of an incarnational catholic identity is tested by surveying a wide spectrum of non-catholic writings, demonstrating that their non-incarnational and anti-incarnational christologies confirm the incarnational christological identity of their catholic counterparts. By identifying particular non-catholic points of difference for establishing their own non-catholic identity, one can further discern the contours of the catholic Christian identity against which the non-catholics were responding.;In light of the evidence and arguments in this dissertation, the author proposes a model of understanding unity and diversity in early Christianity that clearly defines a confessional center of early catholic identity that both allows for extreme expressions of diversity of texts and traditions while explaining the exclusion of teachers, texts, and traditions that deviated from the confessional norm. This model also proposes a simple explanation for the promotion and protection of a clear catholic identity in the early second century apart from the structures of an established canon, creed, and cathedra. Furthermore, this early, widespread, and foundational christological narrative suggests that its historical roots reach back perhaps to the middle of the first century among the first generation of Christians.