Journal: Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society
Volume: JETS 49:1 (Mar 2006)
Article: Development and Diversity In Early Christianity
Author: D. Jeffrey Bingham

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JETS 49:1 (March 2006) p. 45

Development and Diversity In Early Christianity

D. Jeffrey Bingham

Jeffrey Bingham is professor of historical theology at Dallas Theological Seminary, 3909 Swiss Ave., Dallas, TX 75204. This paper was originally presented as a plenary address at the Annual Meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society in Philadelphia, PA on November 17, 2005.

I. Roman Hellenism and Christianity

According to Tiberius, divine justice had little to do with human religious administration. Pagan leadership had only a minor role to play in managing any disrespect shown to the gods. In the emperor’s mind the maxim was clear: deorum iniurias dis curae, “wrongs done to the gods were the concern of the gods” (Tacitus, Annals 1.73.5).1 Humans were to concern themselves with other things. Or so it has been argued.2 Pagan religious syncretism was such that concepts of heresy and orthodoxy were not central to the pagan religious culture. Doctrinal formulations, such as metaphysical constructs, were not essential to true religion. Instead, religious concerns centered on much more social interests.3

Doctrinal preoccupation, then, may have been typical of early Christianity, but not of the pagan syncretism contemporary with it.4 The argument that Phillips makes regarding the uniqueness of the concepts of heresy and orthodoxy within early Christianity finds agreement in the position of Richard Lim.5 He notes the philosophers’ disapproval of “authoritative ‘givens,’”“dogmatic beliefs,” or “blind trust in the dictates of an authority,” emphasizing instead that neither Greco-Roman religion nor philosophy functioned with categories of heresy or orthodoxy. Instead, the Romans engaged in polemic, rivalry, disputation, debate, “philosophical demonstration,” and “a dialectic of inquiry.” Prior to a change beginning in the third century, Roman culture had been satisfied with eclecticism, disagreement, rather than consensus, concord, and uniformity.6

JETS 49:1 (March 2006) p. 46

This thesis regarding the toleration of Roman paganism in sharp contrast to the unique, social intolerance of Christianity finds its roots, at least in modern discussion, in David Hume’s The Natural History of Religion (1757).7 “So sociable is polytheism,” he says, “that the utmost fierceness and antipathy, which...

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