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Multiple 'Christianities'

The once entrenched idea that early Christian heresies emerged in opposition to some ancient, permanent orthodoxy, is utterly misleading. There were in fact many different competing 'Christianities' in the first few centuries AD.

Different groups of Christians battled with the same basic problems of self-definition: what should one believe, and how should one live, to be a proper Christian?

There were many different solutions to these big questions of doctrine and practice, and the early church forged a biblical canon, a creed, and doctrine, through conflict and compromise between different groups.

Much early Christian doctrine was formulated precisely to combat ideas that were already well-developed, but were perceived to be theologically troubling. Thus groups which had no intention of deviating from the church, but had seen themselves as the true church, found themselves marginalised as heretics.

Looking at obscure Christian and non-Christian sects gives us a good idea of the diversity and character of religious beliefs within and adjacent to Christianity, and also helps us to understand why the Christian church developed in the way it did.

Essenes

View of the Qumran Caves, where the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered in 1947  ©

Christianity has its origins in Judaism, and initially existed alongside a number of other Jewish groups such as the Pharisees, Sadducees and Essenes. The Essenes were a Jewish community who lived in the desert near the western shores of the Dead Sea and in the towns of Judaea.

We know something about their lifestyle and beliefs from contemporary writers, but our understanding of them was hugely improved by the accidental discovery of the so-called 'Dead Sea Scrolls' in caves at Qumran in 1947.

The scrolls include incredibly ancient copies of the Hebrew scriptures, and texts describing the ascetic regime and apocalyptic beliefs of the Essenes.

Tracking similarities between the Essenes and Christians is not difficult. The Essenes were apparently so devoted to their beliefs that they were prepared to be martyred for them. This was an impressive precursor of the tendency of some early Christians to embrace martyrdom for their faith, under persecution.

The Essenes and early Christians also shared apocalyptic beliefs, that is a belief in the imminent end of the world, which influenced the way in which they chose to live.

The Essenes and some early Christians espoused a pious, ascetic life, deserting the city and the secular world for a life of solitary or communal prayer and self-denial.

But the Essenes were not a Christian group. Their writings make no mention of John the Baptist, Jesus, or Jesus’s followers. The Dead Sea Scrolls reveal, if anything, that Christianity was not a unique spiritual and religious phenomenon, but had much in common with the Essenes.

Perhaps their shared experience of time and space contributed to the formation of a sense of impending doom and a similar belief in captivity by a sinful world.

Gnosticism

'Gnosticism' is a vague term which encompasses sects closely associated with Christianity and much larger movements contemporary with, but unrelated to, Christianity.

These different Gnostic groups all had widely divergent views. Much as there were many 'Christianities' in the first few centuries AD, there were many Gnosticisms, including such famous sects as Manicheism.

Different Gnostic groups were influenced by Jewish and Christian doctrine, as well as by Platonic philosophy, but they shared some essential beliefs. Crudely put, the Gnostics conceived of the universe as divided into two realms: the present visible world, of matter, dark and evil, and a spiritual world of light and good.

Gnosticism is derived from the Greek word gnosis, which means ‘knowledge’, and expresses the fact that adherents of Gnosticism believed that they had privileged access to hidden knowledge about the divine.

The Gnostics believed themselves to be chosen ones, with particles of the divinity trapped in the matter of their bodies. These divine sparks could, with special knowledge and practices, be freed to rejoin their celestial home.

Gnostic elitism was one of the things which antagonised those Christians who believed their Gospel to have been preached to all, not to a select group. The Gnostic belief that matter and creation was evil was also vigorously combated by Christians who saw this as an affront to the intentions of their good creator God.

Gnostic Gospels

'Gnostic' manuscript from the Coptic Museum, Egypt.  ©

Until the 20th century, most information about the Gnostics was to be found in Christian texts attacking Gnosticism and its variants. But in 1945, a collection of over 40 Coptic texts, ranging in likely date, was found at Nag Hammadi in Upper Egypt.

These texts included books purporting to preserve Jesus’s secret teachings, as well as gospels supposedly written by his disciples, by his twin brother Thomas and by his brother James. These texts, in addition to other related texts found elsewhere, are collectively called the 'Gnostic Gospels'.

It is no surprise that these ancient Christian texts did not make it into the Bible. The process of establishing which books should be part of the Christian canon had begun early. Marcion was the first to propose a particular canon in the mid-second century, and from then on different Christian groups disputed hotly which combinations of writings should be included or excluded.

But the Gnostic Gospels were determined to be theologically problematic, with their mentions of multiple gods and the creation of an evil world.

Manicheism

A further insight into Gnostic beliefs is provided by sources dealing with Manicheism, one of the most famous Gnostic sects in late antiquity.

The Manichees were followers of the third century AD Babylonian sage Mani. He consciously blended aspects of Gnostic Christianity, Persian Zoroastrianism and Buddhism to create a new religion which might be acceptable in both the east and west.

Pagans and Christians alike were suspicious of the Manichees’ secretive ascetic lifestyle; the pagan emperor Diocletian issued an edict against them at the end of the third century, and even after Constantine had declared that pagans and Christians should be allowed to worship whatever gods they liked, the Manichees continued to be singled out, banned and persecuted.

The fact that Manichee beliefs included Christian elements was particularly vexing for the church, and also explains why some notable Christians began their religious journey in the Manichee sect.

Augustine, ex-Manichee

Early Christian sculpture, fourth century, Adam and Eve  ©

Augustine, a North African pagan who experienced a number of conversions until he finally and dramatically embraced Christianity, was briefly entranced by Manicheism during his youth.

He provides a riveting account of the diet of the Manichee elect: they believed that certain fruits contained trapped particles of the divine, which could be released by consumption and digestion, with the result that, as Augustine puts it, the Manichee fruit-eater would 'breathe out angels' or 'bring up bits of God'.

Augustine’s Manichee past had a huge influence on the formation of his Christian theology. His interest in the big question: ‘Where does evil come from?’ was one of the preoccupations of the Manichees, and a favourite opening line when they engaged in debate.

But the very fact that Augustine had dabbled in Manicheism made some Christians suspect the purity of his theology.

For instance, he had to be very careful to show that his idea of 'original sin' did not derive from the pessimistic Manichee conviction that flesh and matter were evil. 'Original sin' entailed the biological transmission to all mankind of the guilt from Adam’s disobedient consumption of the apple in Eden.

But Augustine insisted that man had been created entirely good, and that even after sinning so heinously, could be redeemed.

Winners and Losers

As Christianity became more distant from its Jewish roots, different groups of Christians competed vigorously to establish their set of scriptures, their creed, and their practices, as those of the single, true, Christian church.

It is a cliché that history is written by the winners, but in the case of early Christian history it is particularly true. The 'losers' were commemorated by their contemporaries only as heretics and sinners.

But the memory and even existence of some of these groups has endured. Gnosticism never disappeared, despite being anathematised by the church and banned by emperors. A version of it can be found among the Mandaeans of Iraq today.

In recent years the Gnostic Gospels have acquired new notoriety with the publication of Dan Brown’s 'The Da Vinci Code', which hinges on a particular and hotly disputed interpretation of the Gnostic Gospel of St Thomas.

Interest in the Essenes and Gnostics alike has been stimulated by the post-war discoveries of caches of manuscripts relating to them.

Christian historians would (and did) say that the losers were those whose opinions were not in conformity with divine truth, and deserved to lose. Secular historians would say that the losers were merely unlucky, victims of political and social circumstances.

This serves only to demonstrate how far opinion on the importance of these sects in Christian history depends on the historian’s own perspective and beliefs.

Find out more

Books

Orthodoxy and Heresy in Earliest Christianity by Walter Bauer, translated by Robert Kraft and Gerhard Krodel, (Philadelphia, 1971)

Priscillian of Avila. The Occult and the Charismatic in the Early Church by Henry Chadwick,(Oxford, 1976)

Lost Christianities. The Battles for Scripture and the Faiths We Never Knew by Bart Ehrman, (Oxford, 2003)

Lost Christianities. Books that Did Not Make It into the New Testament by Bart Ehrman, (Oxford, 2003)

The Archaeology of Qumran and the Dead Sea Scrolls by Jodi Magness, (Grand Rapids, 2003)

The Gnostic Gospels by Elaine Pagels, (New York, 1979/London, 1980)

The Nag Hammadi Library in English by James Robinson, (Leiden, 1996)

Arius. Heresy and Tradition by Rowan Williams, (London, 1987)

About the author

Sophie Lunn-Rockliffe is a Lecturer in Roman History at King's College, London. Her research interests include the history of early Christianity, political thought, and the history of ideas.