Exercise of Coercive Authority in the Early Church

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garbhd1988
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Exercise of Coercive Authority in the Early Church

Post by garbhd1988 »

Hi everyone,

I am researching the exercise of punitive or coercive authority in the early church - from biblical times onwards - as part of my research in contemporary Roman Catholic penal law.

I wonder if anybody could point me in the right direction of references to the exercise of such punishment. The scriptural origins are fairly complete, but the body of literature from the early church is quite scattered. I'm essentially looking for references to excommunication, censure or even other punishments sanctioned by legitimate church authority.

This is not for any kind of polemical work, but is rather historically looking at how the Church came to see its authority in enforcing the laws which has enacted for its own members.

Many thanks.
robert j
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Re: Exercise of Coercive Authority in the Early Church

Post by robert j »

Some of your terminology may not fit this example (i.e. legitimate church authority, the Church), and you say "The scriptural origins are fairly complete" ---- anyway, in case you haven't already considered this one, I think the very earliest extant example among believers in a Jesus Christ is found in 1 Corinthians ---

Sexual immorality is actually reported among you, and sexual immorality such as not even among the pagans, so as for one to have (the) wife of the father. And you are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, so that the (one) having done this deed might be taken out of your midst. For I, though being absent in body, now being present in spirit, have already judged the (one) having thus produced this, as being present, in the name of our Lord Jesus, of you having been gathered together and of me in spirit, with the power of the Lord Jesus, to deliver such a one to Satan for destruction of the flesh, so that (his) spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord. (1 Corinthians 5:1-5)

... Do you not judge those within? … "Expel the evil out from among yourselves." (1 Cor 5:13).

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MrMacSon
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Re: Exercise of Coercive Authority in the Early Church

Post by MrMacSon »

Hi. The first tangible example of how the Church came to see or use its authority in enforcing 'laws' for its own members might be the Council of Nicea.

There are examples of disputes among Church Fathers, but how well recorded they were or are, or how much they were based on 'church laws', is hard to know (eg. see http://www.earlywritings.com/forum/view ... 111#p93111 )
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DCHindley
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Re: Exercise of Coercive Authority in the Early Church

Post by DCHindley »

garbhd1988 wrote: Wed Oct 24, 2018 5:43 am Hi everyone,

I am researching the exercise of punitive or coercive authority in the early church - from biblical times onwards - as part of my research in contemporary Roman Catholic penal law.

I wonder if anybody could point me in the right direction of references to the exercise of such punishment. The scriptural origins are fairly complete, but the body of literature from the early church is quite scattered. I'm essentially looking for references to excommunication, censure or even other punishments sanctioned by legitimate church authority.

This is not for any kind of polemical work, but is rather historically looking at how the Church came to see its authority in enforcing the laws which has enacted for its own members.

Many thanks.
I think you will find plenty of examples of excommunications and expulsions into exile (forced or "voluntary") in the 3rd century CE. I'm thinking of the Arian controversy, the war of power between rogue bishop Hippolytus and the "legitimate" bishop (name escapes me at the moment) and such. The issue was, of course, enmity between hard line types who allowed no mercy to the lapsed, etc., and their opponents who were more welcoming towards the penitent lapsed Christian. Plenty of anathemas and conference sponsored excommunications to go around.

Later, when Constantine sought to legitimize Christianity (for his own political reasons, really) he inherited some bad blood between Arians and Trinitarians. Constantine held the famous meeting of bishops in order to come to a compromise solution to the Arian controversy in particular. When this was hammered out in the Nicene Creed, he expected everyone to get in line with it, but several just could not do it, and there were now political repercussions to dissent. These were often sent into government sponsored banishment/exile someplace fairly far away from where the controversy originated. Still, many councils continued to issue contradictory edicts and sometimes changed sides. These edicts did influence Constantine, being interested as he was in promoting a Christianity that was consensus driven.

Have fun with that!

DCH
perseusomega9
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Re: Exercise of Coercive Authority in the Early Church

Post by perseusomega9 »

Lot of bad blood between sectarians during the Novation schism
The metric to judge if one is a good exegete: the way he/she deals with Barabbas.

Who disagrees with me on this precise point is by definition an idiot.
-Giuseppe
andrewcriddle
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Re: Exercise of Coercive Authority in the Early Church

Post by andrewcriddle »

You might find Turner's Pattern of Christian Truth relevant

Andrew Criddle
garbhd1988
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Re: Exercise of Coercive Authority in the Early Church

Post by garbhd1988 »

Many thanks for all of this!
garbhd1988
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Re: Exercise of Coercive Authority in the Early Church

Post by garbhd1988 »

robert j wrote: Wed Oct 24, 2018 11:14 am Some of your terminology may not fit this example (i.e. legitimate church authority, the Church), and you say "The scriptural origins are fairly complete" ---- anyway, in case you haven't already considered this one, I think the very earliest extant example among believers in a Jesus Christ is found in 1 Corinthians ---

Sexual immorality is actually reported among you, and sexual immorality such as not even among the pagans, so as for one to have (the) wife of the father. And you are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, so that the (one) having done this deed might be taken out of your midst. For I, though being absent in body, now being present in spirit, have already judged the (one) having thus produced this, as being present, in the name of our Lord Jesus, of you having been gathered together and of me in spirit, with the power of the Lord Jesus, to deliver such a one to Satan for destruction of the flesh, so that (his) spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord. (1 Corinthians 5:1-5)

... Do you not judge those within? … "Expel the evil out from among yourselves." (1 Cor 5:13).

Yes, it is interesting. There are various examples of judgment, jurisdiction of the Church over believes, and the notion of being 'handed over' to Satan and the surrounding discussions.
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DCHindley
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Re: Exercise of Coercive Authority in the Early Church

Post by DCHindley »

garbhd1988 wrote: Fri Oct 26, 2018 1:18 am
robert j wrote: Wed Oct 24, 2018 11:14 am Some of your terminology may not fit this example (i.e. legitimate church authority, the Church), and you say "The scriptural origins are fairly complete" ---- anyway, in case you haven't already considered this one, I think the very earliest extant example among believers in a Jesus Christ is found in 1 Corinthians ---

Sexual immorality is actually reported among you, and sexual immorality such as not even among the pagans, so as for one to have (the) wife of the father. And you are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, so that the (one) having done this deed might be taken out of your midst. For I, though being absent in body, now being present in spirit, have already judged the (one) having thus produced this, as being present, in the name of our Lord Jesus, of you having been gathered together and of me in spirit, with the power of the Lord Jesus, to deliver such a one to Satan for destruction of the flesh, so that (his) spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord. (1 Corinthians 5:1-5)

... Do you not judge those within? … "Expel the evil out from among yourselves." (1 Cor 5:13).

Yes, it is interesting. There are various examples of judgment, jurisdiction of the Church over believes, and the notion of being 'handed over' to Satan and the surrounding discussions.
Oh yeah, I forgot all about the magical aspect! There is a lot written on the subject if I recall correctly.

Being handed over to a demon is a commonplace in ancient magical texts. The ones we have from Egypt date to around the 2nd century or later, but share a common "demonology." They portray a military-like hierarchy of all spiritual beings (daimones) who carried out elemental tasks, including control ailments, wind, sun, rain, etc., and some that promote good. They are treated much like soldiers and some are officers and some are grunts, even gold-bricks. Orders from the higher order demons are communicated down the chain of command, the receiver passing down those orders only if the proper passwords, salutes and "seals" (images) are presented.

The common magician can interfere with this chain of command by knowledge of the passwords, salutes and seals, essentially impersonating a soldier, and have the target elemental being stop or start their elemental work on a specific individual or class of people.

Now Paul does not seem to be interfering, but as a person with authority, maybe in consequence of his vision experience, essentially acting as an officer in the angelic/elemental army. This would correspond to the Persian Magus, who assumes an almost god-like authority about him, a high officer specially authorized by the most powerful gods. These could commandeer units of elementals for his immediate use for a special project.

(Smith, Morton) Jesus the Magician (1978)
(Betz, Hans Dieter, ed) The Greek Magical Papyri in Translation-Including the Demotic Spells (1986)
(Mirecki, Paul & Marvin Meyer) Magic and Ritual in the Ancient World (2002)

For an example of a thoroughly Jewish magical recipe book, where demons tend to be impartial soldiers carrying out elemental tasks, see:

(Morgan, Michael A, tr) Sepher Ha-Razim The Book of Mysteries (1983)

This book is very much in the model of the Greek/Demotic Magical papyri when it comes to angelology/demonology

The Judean Pseudepigrapha tended to group these elementals as good Angels and the others as bad Demons. I'm thinking that the elemental beings are simply assumed to be doing their jobs, impartial to who gives them orders. See R H Charles' various comments about Demonology and its parallels in the NT in his introductions to his translations of 1 Enoch and Jubilees, in:

(Charles, R H) Apocrypha & Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament, volume 2 (1913).

Sometimes the whole command system is simply called Angelology, and when the concentration is on bad actors like the fallen angels and their offspring, it may be called Demonology. The sins of the Watcher Angels (1 Enoch, Book of Watchers) was not confined to disobedience to god, but also teaching their human wives how to manipulate the activities of the elemental beings that still go about their duties unaffected by the revolts among the angelic commanders.

You might also find of interest D C Duling's translation of the "Testament of Solomon" in:

(Charlesworth, James H, ed) The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, vol 2 (1985)

Solomon commandeers demons and puts them to work building his famous temple.

For an example of a thoroughly Jewish magical recipe book, where demons tend to be impartial soldiers carrying out elemental tasks, see:

(Morgan, Michael A, tr) Sepher Ha-Razim The Book of Mysteries (1983)

This book is very much in the model of the Greek/Demotic Magical papyri when it comes to angelology/demonology

DCH
Last edited by DCHindley on Fri Oct 26, 2018 8:18 am, edited 2 times in total.
robert j
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Re: Exercise of Coercive Authority in the Early Church

Post by robert j »

DCHindley wrote: Fri Oct 26, 2018 7:40 am
garbhd1988 wrote: Fri Oct 26, 2018 1:18 am
robert j wrote: Wed Oct 24, 2018 11:14 am Some of your terminology may not fit this example (i.e. legitimate church authority, the Church), and you say "The scriptural origins are fairly complete" ---- anyway, in case you haven't already considered this one, I think the very earliest extant example among believers in a Jesus Christ is found in 1 Corinthians ---

Sexual immorality is actually reported among you, and sexual immorality such as not even among the pagans, so as for one to have (the) wife of the father. And you are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, so that the (one) having done this deed might be taken out of your midst. For I, though being absent in body, now being present in spirit, have already judged the (one) having thus produced this, as being present, in the name of our Lord Jesus, of you having been gathered together and of me in spirit, with the power of the Lord Jesus, to deliver such a one to Satan for destruction of the flesh, so that (his) spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord. (1 Corinthians 5:1-5)

... Do you not judge those within? … "Expel the evil out from among yourselves." (1 Cor 5:13).

Yes, it is interesting. There are various examples of judgment, jurisdiction of the Church over believes, and the notion of being 'handed over' to Satan and the surrounding discussions.
Oh yeah, I forgot all about the magical aspect! There is a lot written on the subject if I recall correctly ...
Right David, there is more to the story, as you describe in your post above.

My citation here was a cut-and-paste from a much wider discussion of the personal situation and the magical aspects --- here's some more from that OP and thread --- viewtopic.php?f=3&t=3253 ---

Were the Corinthians grieved just because Paul demanded that they expel the man, or might they have perceived Paul’s demand as something much more severe? I think the cultural background can shed some light. In his 1927 work, Light From the Ancient East --- The New Testament Illustrated by Recently Discovered Texts of the Gaeco-Roman World, Deissmann places Paul’s demand in the context of an execration. The technical language associated with these execrations --- common in antiquity --- were used to “injure an enemy or punish an evil-doer consecrating him by incantation and tablet to the powers of darkness below” (p. 302 --- page numbers from 2004 edition).

Paul ---
… in the name of our Lord Jesus, of you having been gathered together and of me in spirit, with the power of the Lord Jesus, to deliver such a one to Satan for destruction of the flesh … (1 Cor 5:4-5)

A 4th C. CE London Magical Papyrus, of which Deissmann says, “its formulae are ancient” ---
“Daemon of the dead … I deliver unto thee (such a man) in order that …” (Deissmann p. 302)

And a much older 3rd C. BCE lead curse tablet ---
“I will bind her … in fellowship with Hecate, who is below the earth, and the Erinyes.” (Deissmann p. 303) ***

In the eyes of the Corinthians, Paul demanded a very serious and potentially powerful curse --- a gathering together to call on the power of the Lord Jesus to deliver the man to Satan for destruction of his flesh. Such things were likely taken very seriously.

A roguish rascal or not, apparently the Corinthinas were not prepared to go that far with their friend.

robert j


*** In Greek mythology Hecate (Hekate) was characterized in various ways, as are most ancient deities, but was seen by many as a deity of the lower world who sent demons from the lower world at night and dwelled at times with the souls of the dead. The Erinyes were the “Furies”, deities of vengeance and retribution for crimes against the natural order.

A follow-up post ---
robert j wrote: Mon Jun 12, 2017 6:04 am Paul used Satan (σατανᾷ, dative in 1 Cor 5:5) in the Jewish sense at the time of an adversary of God, or an agent of God working on the earth to lead men astray, a slanderer. (1 Thess 2:18; 1 Cor 5:5, 7:5; 2 Cor 2:11, 11:14, 12:7; Rom 16:20)

That Paul’s Satan was not a demon or deity of the underworld was likely a distinction without a difference for how the Corinthians understood Paul’s incantation.
And a response from Ben ---
Ben C. Smith wrote: Mon Jun 12, 2017 7:11 am
Another very interesting thread, Robert. I was just perusing Betz's edition of the Greek Magical Papyri and found the spell of which Deissmann writes above (PGM V.304-369). In the same block are a few related curses, including:

"Let so-and-so's thoughts be bound so that he may not do ___ thing."

"I bind ___ with regard to ___. Let him not speak, not be contrary, not oppose; let him not be able to look me in the face nor speak against me; let him be subjected to me...."

There is also much talk in some spells of "binding and loosing" — which of course puts me in mind of Matthew 16.19. I am given to understand that the language of binding and loosing is also rabbinical, but to my mind magic and the like would lie on a spectrum of belief which would include more mainstream religious expressions, as well.
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