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Er...no: the Donatists were largely in North Africa, the Paulicians and Montanists in Asia Minor, the Bogomils in the Balkans, the Cathars in south-west France and the Waldensians in south-east France, Switzerland and north-west Italy; so, unless by 'same geographical spread', you mean 'the...

Agreed. :thumbs:

Thanks. I've now downloaded that and read it and am still persuaded that they are heretical, not least for their Adoptionist Christology. Whilst they may have rejected pedo-baptism they nevertheless believed that both Baptism and Communion were sacraments essential to salvation and believed in...

Which primary source documents would these be?

No I don't wear wigs, FTR, although I perhaps should as I am now follicly challenged. I think the critical Person in salvation is Jesus. Not you, not me, not even particularly what we believe or do - up to a point of course*. The soteriological starting point has to be Jesus, the...

The answer to the OP: Jesus

I see. So, let me get this straight - Gnostic dualists (the 'wolves' that Paul warned Timothy about) were Baptists. Riiiight. And in what way is that not ahistorical?

As I have said, I find the idea that Ignatius and Polycarp, who were martyred for their faith in Jesus Christ - in Polycarp's case quite horribly - as some kind of heretics, to be quite abhorrent and disgusting. I'm sure the martyrs of the Early Church would rejoice to be called the...

You think the Paulicians and Cathars were Christians?:laugh:

The belief that ECFs like Ignatius and Polycarp, who were martyred for their Christian faith, were somehow heretical, I find totally obnoxious.

I would refer you again to J N D Kelly's Early Christian Doctrine as a pretty solid reference ( and definitely not Hislop as he is about as scholarly as a Chick Tract). The basic point is that there was no one single moment but rather an evolution and development of*/ deviation from* the beliefs...

I think that certainly the Eucharistic Prayers were similar (cp the Alexandrian Liturgy of St Mark with the Jerusalem Liturgy of St James, for example) and bear a striking similarity with the EPs used in Catholic and Anglican and Divine Liturgy used in Orthodox Churches today. I think the...

OK then Max: you, reading your Bible with the help of the Holy Spirit, have come up with a different take on baptism than Grace&Truth, who also reads his/her Bible with the help of the Holy Spirit. Doubtless you will say that G&T is wrong and doubtless s/he will say the same of you. Now, the...

Good post! You raise a number of interesting point and time regrettably does not permit me to even begin to attempt to do them justice. What I will say is that I think the Gospel and the Church have to adapt the medium of their message without compromising the integrity of the meaning of the...

Ooh, an easy one! Take Calvinists -v- Arminians, cessationists -v- charismatics, covenanters -v- dispensationalists, congregationalists -v- presbyterians, etc, etc

Explain why you presume to think I'm not a Christian.

Exactly. None of what you've written solves the interpretative epistemological problem created by your version of sola Scriptura.

Oh, I understand perfectly; I just don't see how what you say about the ECFs can't equally be applied to you - or me for that matter.

Yes of course we are to study the Bible, both alone and with others. And how do you know that you're not relying on your own interpretation instead of what God's Truth is? We need to approach the whole issue of Bible study with humility, recognising that we are fallible and our individual...

And your words - to yourself as you read Scripture and to us - are man's words about God's words, are they not?