Ebionites: Difference between revisions

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The '''Ebionites''' (from [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]]; '''ˈEbyonim''', "the poor ones") were a [[sect]] of [[Judean]] followers of [[John the Baptist]] and [[Jesus|Jesus of Nazareth]] who existed in the [[Iudaea Province]] of the [[Roman Empire]] during the early centuries of the [[Common Era]]. They are regarded as an early heresy whose hallmark is its fusion of Judaism with Christianity.

The Ebionites were in theological conflict with other strands of [[early Christianity]]. While the Ebionites undoubtedly drew their doctrines from ideas circulating in the [[1st century]] AD, Dr. [[Robert H. Eisenman]], professor of Middle East religions and archaeology and director of the Institute for the Study of [[Judeo-Christian]] Origins, argues that they existed as a distinct group from [[Pauline Christian]]s and [[Gnostic|Gnostic Christians]] before the destruction of [[Jerusalem]].

Some modern scholars, including [[Hyam Maccoby]], [[Robert Graves]], [[Hugh J. Schonfield]], [[Keith Akers]], [[Benjamin Urrutia]] and Joshua Podro contend that the Ebionites were more faithful than the Apostle [[Paul of Tarsus]] to the original and authentic teachings of Jesus and/or [[James the Just]].

The doctrines of this sect are said by [[Irenaeus]] to be like those of [[Cerinthus]] and [[Carpocrates]]. [[St. John the Divine]] so feared Cerinthus, that he once fled a bathhouse when he found out he was inside, declaring "Let us flee, lest the building fall down; for Cerinthus, the enemy of the truth, is inside!" Ebionites denied the Divinity and the virginal birth of Christ; they clung to the observance of the Jewish Law; they regarded [[St. Paul]] as an apostate, and used only a [[Gospel]] according to [[St. Matthew]] (Adv. Haer., I, xxvi, 2; III, xxi, 2; IV, xxxiii, 4; V, i, 3). Their doctrines are similarly described by Hippolytus (Philos., VIII, xxii, X, xviii) and [[Tertullian]] (De carne Chr., xiv, 18), but their observance of the Law seems no longer so prominent a feature of their system as in the account given by Irenaeus.

==History==

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==Modern Ebionites==

Some modern scholars, including [[Hyam Maccoby]], [[Robert Graves]], [[Hugh J. Schonfield]], [[Keith Akers]], [[Benjamin Urrutia]] and Joshua Podro contend that the Ebionites were more faithful than the Apostle [[Paul of Tarsus]] to the original and authentic teachings of Jesus and/or [[James the Just]].

There are several modern Ebionite movements which, like the ancient Ebionites, deny the [[divinity]] of Jesus, the doctrine of the [[Trinity]], the [[Virgin Birth]] and the death of Jesus as an [[atonement]] for the [[Original Sin]], whilst accepting Jesus either as a [[Prophet#Prophets_in_Jewish_thought|prophet]], [[Jewish Messiah|Messiah]] or both.

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==See also==

* [[Judaizers]]

* [[Christian anarchism]]

* [[Christian socialism]]

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==External links==

*[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05242c.htm ''Catholic Encyclopedia:'' Ebionites]

*[http://www.ccel.org/w/wace/biodict/htm/TOC.htm ''A Dictionary of Christian Biography and Literature to the End of the Sixth Century A.D., with an Account of the Principal Sects and Heresies'' by Henry Wace].

*[http://answering-islam.org.uk/Index/E/ebionites.html Detailed comparison of Ebionite views with Islam]

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*Schoeps, Hans-Joachim. ''Jewish Christianity: Factional Disputes in the Early Church.'' Trans. Douglas R. A. Hare. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1969.

*Skriver, Carl Anders. ''The Forgotten Beginnings of Creation and Christianity.'' Denver: Vegetarian Press, 1990.

*Vaclavik, Charles. ''The Origin of Christianity: The Pacifism, Communalism, and VegeterianismVegetrianism of Primitive Christianity.'' Platteville, Wisconsin: Kaweah Publishing Company, 2004.

[[Category:Ancient Christian Denominations]]

[[Category:Ancient Roman Christianity]]

[[Category:Jewish Christian topics]]

[[Category:Judaism]]

[[Category:Heresy]]

[[de:Ebioniten]]