ABSTRACT
In the previous chapter we met some of the individuals who responded to ideas that were deemed to be outside the parameters of orthodoxy. As the Church institutionalized, there was also a collective response to heresy. Councils of bishops were assembled to hear, debate, and render judgments on controversial topics. These came to play an important role in defining Christian thinking in the fourth and fifth centuries. And given the increased prominence of the Church within the political arena, there were more factors at work than just the ideas of a few churchmen.
