Analysis: I Clement And An Excerpt Of Irenaeus Series Against Heresies

The two texts under examination are I Clement and an excerpt of Irenaeus’ series Against Heresies. The subjects, which are going to be examined, are: the culture of unity within the church during both time periods in reference and the changes to Christology, which correspond with the changing stance on church unity. Though both bodies of believers claim to be unified and have like faith, the slight changes within the structure had an impact on the Christology of that age. The date of the writing of I Clement resides in the second generation of Christians, with a date between AD 96-97. I Clement was written early while the date of writing of Irenaeus’ Against Heresies is circa 177. Each author claims a unity amongst church bodies, which are scattered across the world. Clement refers to the “whole brotherhood,” (I Clement 2:4) which indicates that those he is writing to are of the same kind as his local congregation. This implies that there was no disconnect between the two entities. They were willing to accept instruction from someone other than their local overseer. Clement also refers to the members of the church as laborers for the entire community. They were not exclusive; they cared for all the members and their concern was not

Though there is no speculation that the church of Corinth believes a different message than Clement’s own church in Rome; he does not emphasize the teachings, but rather the unifying acts that he has seen bring together a community. Whereas, Irenaeus, having to deal with false teachings, sees the best way to unify a church culture as the message of what he considers “truth” so that the church may be knowingly separate from those teaching false doctrines. This shows the pattern of the aspect of change that has happened in church culture between the 100 years of writing. What seems important to a congregation changes because of a changing social