Zain's Guide to Overthinking Everything

Notes of the Overview of the Early Church Fathers: On the Trinity and Incarnation      In our exploration of early Christian thought, our focus is directed towards understanding the evolving perspectives on the Trinity and the Incarnation as articulated by influential figures within the Church such as Clement of Rome, Ignatius of Antioch, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus of Lyon, Tertullian, Origen of Alexandria, Athanasius, and others, thus providing a comprehensive understanding of the theological landscape that shaped Christianity during its nascent stages. While I cannot go over all the early church fathers since that would take up the length of the book, investigating these influential individuals who are mostly saints will have to suffice. This will also ignore early modalist theologians (who believed that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit were one person and modes of God), gnostic theologians (who believed in many gods and that Jesus was not a human), and Jewish-christian th...

Refuting Apostolic Succession: Unraveling the Threads of Early Christianity     Christians often defend theological doctrines such as the Trinity and the Incarnation through the idea of apostolic succession. This notion, claiming an unbroken line of authority of true teachings passed down from Jesus to the apostles to the early church and thus reaching us today even, has long been held as a cornerstone of many Christian denominations. However, delving into the annals of early Christian thought with a microscope, will this notion stand? Contrary to the commonly held notion of a universally accepted apostolic succession, we will highlight the diversity of thought within early Christianity that clearly paints those considered saints as unorthodox. This blog post will examine the writings of eminent church fathers such as Justin Martyr (c. 100–165 CE), Irenaeus (c. 130–202 CE), Tertullian (c. 155–220 CE), and Origen (c. 185–253 CE). In doing so, we will challenge the modern percep...