The Battle for the Divinity of Christ in the Early Centuries

Today's Christianity is highly diverse in spite of the fact that most modern Christians read virtually the same Bible. Imagine the diversity we would have if every potential group had dozens of different "canonical books" from which to choose. That was the situation in the late first century through the next half-millennium. The New Testament was not yet codified, and there were multitudes of gospels, writings, letters, and apocalypses alleged to have come from the original apostles. After the death of Jesus' disciples and those who knew them, the church faced an existential threat because of rampant, unchecked heresies, mostly from three diverse groups. The fundamentally Jewish Ebionites believed that Jesus was simply a normal Jewish man. The Marcionites believed Jesus was the only true God and merely appeared to be a man while on earth. The Gnostics believed that Jesus was neither God nor man. This book explores those ancient battles for Christ's divinity and the unassailable biblical foundation laid down by faithful, prayerful servants of God. Ultimately, heretics, hardships, and even the unrelenting might of the Roman Empire could not derail those who fought the early battles for the divinity of Christ with their faith, their pens, and their blood.