Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book traces the incipient lines of catholic dogma in these innovators and their anonymous mentors. It describes the possibility that the dispute between Trinitarians and Monarchians was inflamed, if not occasioned, by the misunderstanding of an ambiguous watchword. The book argues that the Alexandrian catholics Clement and Origen both took booty from their Valentinian neighbours, building systems which were partially homologous with those that their faith required them to eschew. Like many a notable piece of Christian music, his theology is the orchestration of an existing score. The book shows that Origen’s apologists were so afraid of following him into the Valentinian camp that they conspired with his detractors to intercept the approach to Nicene orthodoxy.