Following on the heels of our discussion about Marcion, today I’d like to delve into some essential historical background surrounding the man whom many argue could win the award for being the most anti-semitic church leader in the history of mankind.
So here’s the deal.
During the time of Marcion, the strength and stability of the Roman Empire began to crack and started showing weaknesses.
The Roman Empire had not yet become a divided empire, but two centers of power had emerged within the region.
Rome was of course one of the power centers and the other one was Byzantium.
Byzantium later came to be called Constantinople and today we know it as Istanbul, Turkey.
As is the way of power politics, the church was naturally drawn to these power centers for the purpose of establishing connections that would later bolster their own strength and visibility.
Thus the birth of what we call the Western Church and the Eastern Church occurred!
If you’re from the United States, you’re most likely only familiar with the Western church.
The Western Church’s leadership was headquartered in Rome and grew into the Roman Catholic Church we know today.
On the other hand, the Eastern Church headquartered in Byzantium (now Istanbul, Turkey) was the church from which sprung the Greek Orthodox, Russian Orthodox, Slavic, and Coptic churches.
Understand that both Catholicism and Protestantism sprang from the Western Church.
However, the Eastern Church is a whole other animal altogether.
What I mean when I say that is that…
…the Eastern Church’s birth and even its current power structure is NOT connected to either the Catholic or Protestant churches.
It is independent.
Okay, you’re probably thinking…
…thanks for the nice little history lesson Rich but what does this have to do with our discussions concerning the New Testament?
Well, there’s an important reason why I’m sharing this information with you.
I want you to understand that when it comes to the so-called New Testament Canon, there ain’t no such thing as some universally agreed upon New Testament.
There are substantial differences that persist to this very day.
Heck, come to think about it, there isn’t even a global Church-wide universally agreed upon Bible within Christendom today.
Depending on the denomination and whether we’re dealing with the Western Church or the Eastern Church, the order of the books are different and some Bibles include the 15 Apocryphal books and some don’t.
We’ll continue this discussion the next time we meet.
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