tag="{http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml}a">1. The theological position of Irenæus and of the later contemporary Church teachers

Characteristics of the theology of the Old Catholic Fathers, their wavering between Reason and Tradition; Loose structure of their Dogmas; Irenæus' attempt to construct a systematic theology and his fundamental theological convictions; Gnostic and anti-Gnostic features of his theology; Christianity conceived as a real redemption by Christ (recapitulatio); His conception of a history of salvation; His historical significance: conserving of tradition and gradual hellenising of the Rule of Faith.

2. The Old Catholic Fathers' doctrine of the Church

The Antithesis to Gnosticism; The "Scripture theology" as a sign of the dependence on "Gnosticism" and as a means of conserving tradition; The Doctrine of God; The Logos Doctrine of Tertullian and Hippolytus; (Conceptions regarding the Holy Spirit); Irenæus' doctrine of the Logos; (Conceptions regarding the Holy Spirit); The views of Irenæus regarding the destination of man, the original state, the fall and the doom of death (the disparate series of ideas in Irenæus; rudiments of the doctrine of original sin in Tertullian); The doctrine of Jesus Christ as the incarnate son of God; Assertion of the complete mixture and unity of the divine and human elements; Significance of Mary; Tertullian's doctrine of the two natures and its origin; Rudiments of this doctrine in Irenæus; The Gnostic character of this doctrine; Christology of Hippolytus; Views as to Christ's work; Redemption, Perfection; Reconciliation; Categories for the fruit of Christ's work; Things peculiar to Tertullian; Satisfacere Deo; The Soul as the Bride of Christ; The Eschatology; Its archaic nature, its incompatibility with speculation and the advantage of connection with that; Conflict with Chiliasm in the East; The doctrine of the two Testaments; The influence of Gnosticism on the estimate of the two Testaments, the complexus oppositorum; the Old Testament a uniform Christian Book as in the Apologists; The Old Testament a preliminary stage of the New Testament and a compound Book; The stages in the history of salvation; The law of freedom the climax of the revelation in Christ.

3. Results to Ecclesiastical Christianity, chiefly in the West, (Cyprian, Novation)

CHAPTER VI.—The Transformation of the Ecclesiastical Tradition into a Philosophy of Religion, or the Origin of the Scientific Theology and Dogmatic of the Church: Clement and Origen

(1) The Alexandrian Catechetical School and Clement of Alexandria

Schools and Teachers in the Church at the end of the second and the beginning of the third century; scientific efforts (Alogi in Asia Minor, Cappadocian Scholars, Bardesanes of Edessa, Julius Africanus, Scholars in Palestine, Rome and Carthage)

The Alexandrian Catechetical School. Clement

The temper of Clement and his importance in the History of Dogma; his relation to Irenæus, to the Gnostics and to primitive Christianity; his philosophy of Religion; Clement and Origen.

(2) The system of Origen

Introductory: The personality and importance of Origen; The Elements of Origen's theology; its Gnostic features; The relative view of Origen; His temper and final aim: relation to Greek Philosophy; Theology as a Philosophy of Revelation, and a cosmological speculation; Porphyry on Origen; The neutralising of History, esoteric and exoteric Christianity; Fundamental ideas and arrangement of his system; Sources of truth, doctrine of Scripture.

I. The Doctrine of God and its unfolding; Doctrine of God; Doctrine of the Logos; Clement's doctrine of the Logos; Doctrine of the Holy Spirit; Doctrine of Spirits.

II. Doctrine of the Fall and its consequences; Doctrine of Man.

III. Doctrine of Redemption and Restoration; The notions necessary to the Psychical; The Christology; The Appropriation of Salvation; The Eschatology; Concluding Remarks: The importance of this system to the following period.

DIVISION I

BOOK II.

THE LAYING OF THE FOUNDATIONS.

CHAPTER I.

HISTORICAL SURVEY.

The second century of the existence of Gentile-Christian communities was characterised by the victorious conflict with Gnosticism and the Marcionite Church, by the gradual development of an ecclesiastical doctrine, and by the decay of the early Christian enthusiasm. The general result was the establishment of a great ecclesiastical association, which, forming at one and the same time a political commonwealth, school and union for worship, was based on the firm foundation of an "apostolic" law of faith, a collection of "apostolic" writings, and finally, an "apostolic" organisation. This institution was the Catholic Church.¹ In opposition to Gnosticism and Marcionitism, the main articles forming the estate and possession of orthodox Christianity were raised to the rank of apostolic regulations and laws, and thereby placed beyond all discussion and assault. At first the innovations introduced by this were not of a material, but of a formal, character. Hence they were not noticed by any of those who had never, or only in a vague fashion, been elevated to the feeling and idea of freedom and independence in religion. How great the innovations actually were, however, may be measured by the fact that they signified a scholastic tutelage of the faith of the individual Christian, and restricted the immediateness of religious feelings and ideas to the narrowest limits. But the conflict with the so-called Montanism showed that there were still a considerable number of Christians who valued that immediateness and freedom; these were, however, defeated. The fixing of the tradition under the title of apostolic necessarily led to the assumption that whoever held the apostolic doctrine was also essentially a Christian in the apostolic sense. This assumption, quite apart from the innovations which were legitimised by tracing them to the Apostles, meant the separation of doctrine and conduct, the preference of the former to the latter, and the transformation of a fellowship of faith, hope, and discipline into a communion "eiusdem sacramenti," that is, into a union which, like the philosophical schools, rested on a doctrinal law, and which was subject to a legal code of divine institution.²

The movement which resulted in the Catholic Church owes its right to a place in the history of Christianity to the victory over Gnosticism and to the preservation of an important part of early Christian tradition. If Gnosticism in all its phases was the violent attempt to drag Christianity down to the level of the Greek