Die Betekenis Van Ketters En Ketterse Bewegings Vir Ons Godsbegrip

Abstract

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image sizeAbstractThe article explores the relevance of heretics and heretical movements in the formation of an idea about God—especially for the Christians in the so-called “mainstream” traditions. The focus of the article is on the first two hundred years of early Christianity, since this period forms a natural convergence of influences that shaped the Church for years thereafter. It is also the period in which the canonical texts (i.e. the Old- and New Testament) had not yet enjoyed official recognition as such. Diversity has always been part of the church, as witnessed by the events in Acts. The development of Orthodoxy, the strengthening position of Rome, and the general institutionalization of the Church had as one of its first victims those of dissenting thought. It is argued in this article that the heretical movements of the first two centuries should rather then be considered as evidence of this diversity, than proof of the degeneration of the Christian faith. The basic tenets of the movements (not considered as a single system of faith) are then explored to glean from them a vision of God and the Church that is relevant for the believer of today.