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Ebionites
Ebionites
Ebionites A fringe group of
christians of Jewish descent. Pausl's controversy with Jewish Christians expressed vehemently in Gal. did not spell the end of their way of life and thinking. After the Fall of Jerusalem (70 CE) Christians of similar outlook, Ebionites, were found in small numbers in
Syria continuing to observe the
Sabbath and other Jewish customs. The apocryphal gospel of the Hebrews, with a favourable account of James the Lord's brother (cf. Acts 15: 13–21), may have emanated from this circle. They were unpopular with Jews for being Christians and treated by
gentile Christians as heretics. However, the Christian Apologist Justin Martyr (about 150 CE) defended their way of life as being in line with that of the primitive Church at Jerusalem.
Irenaeus the Church Father (about 190 CE) deplored their rejection of the tradition of the
virgin birth of Jesus. The name, meaning ‘the poor’ in Hebrew, conveys reminiscences of Paul's references to the Jerusalem Christians (e.g. Rom. 15: 26) but the notion of Tertullian, around 200 CE, that they derived their name from a certain Ebion is improbable. Epiphanius, bishop of
Salamis, about 380 CE attacks the Ebionites for their heretical
Christology. He quotes their
gospel of the Hebrews which omits Jesus'
birth and regards his
baptism as the moment of divine initiative. ‘The Ebionites say that the
Spirit, which is Christ, came into him and clothed him who was called Jesus.’ They are said to have used only the gospel of Matthew—presumably without its first two chapters.
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Les fragments évangéliques Judéo-chrétiens "apocryphisés": Recherches et perspectives
Magazine article from: The Catholic Biblical Quarterly; 1/1/2008; ; 700+ words
; ...the Hebrews, the Gospel according the Ebionites, and the Gospel according to Peter...distinguished from the Gospel according to the Ebionites. The claims of Jerome and Epiphanius...attention to the Gospel according to the Ebionites. Primarily known through excerpts in...
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Lost Christianities: The Battles for Scripture and the Faiths We Never Knew
Magazine article from: The Catholic Biblical Quarterly; 10/1/2004; ; 700+ words
; ...He examines the Jewish-Christian Ebionites, the anti-Jewish Marcionites, various...to posterity such as the Gospel of the Ebionites quoted by Epiphanius in the fourth century...Pseudo-Clementine literature of the Ebionites' opposition to the proto-orthodox...
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Theological Alterations in the Syriac Translation of Ben Sira
Magazine article from: The Catholic Biblical Quarterly; 4/1/2008; ; 700+ words
; ...useful to say a brief word about the Ebionites.4 Initially they were Christian converts...speaking of God. On the negative side, the Ebionites were hostile to the memory of the Jerusalem...God, which was characteristic of the Ebionites. Taken on its own, this passage does...
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L'antipaulinisme sectaire au temps des Peres de l'Eglise
Magazine article from: The Catholic Biblical Quarterly; 10/1/2001; ; 700+ words
; ...Paulinists to be discussed are the Ebionites. In the next two chapters L. deals...anything about the origin of the "poor" Ebionites. In contrast to Gerd Ludemann (Paulus...adopting there the anti-Paulinism of the Ebionites, but to a village in Galilee. Although...
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Jewish Christianity Reconsidered: Rethinking Ancient Groups and Texts
Magazine article from: The Catholic Biblical Quarterly; 7/1/2008; ; 700+ words
; ...Jews Whom He Opposes" (pp. 57-80); Petri Luomanen, "Ebionites and Nazarenes" (pp. 81-118); William Arnal, "The...discussion distinguishes carefully between Epiphanius's Ebionites and those Irenaeus mentioned earlier, but he dismisses Epiphanius...
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Lux Humana, Lux Aeterna: Essays on Biblical and Related Themes in Honor of Lars Aejmelaeus
Magazine article from: The Catholic Biblical Quarterly; 4/1/2007; ; 700+ words
; ...Last Supper in Luke (Codex Bezae) and in the Gospel of the Ebionites" (pp. 186-208). Part 3 comprises the following articles...shorter reading of the Last Supper and its relation to the Ebionites' view of sacrifice. The six essays in part 3 explore aspects...
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Jewish Christianity Reconsidered: Rethinking Ancient Groups and Texts.(Book review)
Magazine article from: Church History; 9/1/2008; ; 700+ words
; ...Sumney on Paul's opponents, and Petri Luomanen on the Ebionites and Nazarenes. Part 2, "Texts," includes William Arnal...Great Church" Jewish Christians who accepted Paul to the Ebionites with their low Christology and demand for proselytization...
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The cultural evolution of God
Newspaper article from: The Irish Times; 9/5/2009; ; 700+ words
; ...he gives assent to the findings of Bart Ehrman that "The Ebionites' conception of Jesus was probably closer to Jesus's own...prevailed within Christianity. Jesus was no God, said the Ebionites, just a messiah." It would be beyond my competence - and...
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MESSIANIC JUDAISM: CHURCH, DENOMINATION, SECT, OR CULT?
Magazine article from: Journal of Ecumenical Studies; 3/22/2000; ; 700+ words
; ...both the early church and the Jewish community, the Jewish Christians were squeezed out, with various remnants such as the Ebionites becoming heretical. The remaining groups were taken over by Islam. From these early centuries until the end of the nineteenth...
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The New Testament and Other Early Christian writings: A reader
Magazine article from: Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society; 3/1/2000; ; 587 words
; ...Peter, the infancy gospel of Thomas, the secret gospel of Mark, Papyrus Egerton 2: the Unknown Gospel, the gospel of the Ebionites, the gospel of the Nazareans, and the gospel according to the Hebrews. Section two, "Early Christian Acts," is comprised...
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Ebionites
Book article from: A Dictionary of the Bible
Ebionites A fringe group of christians of Jewish...CE) Christians of similar outlook, Ebionites, were found in small numbers in Syria...of Salamis , about 380 CE attacks the Ebionites for their heretical Christology . He...
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Ebionites, Gospel according to the
Book article from: The Concise Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church
Ebionites, Gospel according to the. The name given by modern scholars...Greek apocryphal Gospel supposed to have been used by the Ebionites . Epiphanius says that the Ebionites ‘receive the Gospel according to Matthew’...
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Jewish Christians
Book article from: A Dictionary of the Bible
...Christianity were marginalized into the Ebionites and Nazoreans, whose works are quoted...who were at the opposite pole to the Ebionites; they were Marcion and his followers...goes beyond the adoptionism of the Ebionites. The epistle to the Hebrews is thoroughly...
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Apostasy
Dictionary entry from: Allusions--Cultural, Literary, Biblical, and Historical: A Thematic Dictionary
...639] Donatists Christian group in North Africa who broke with Catholicism (312). [Christian Hist.: EB , III: 618] Ebionites 2nd- and 3rd-century Christian ascetic sect that retained a Jewish emphasis. [Christian Hist.: EB , III: 768] Erastianism...
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Hebrews, Gospel according to the
Book article from: The Concise Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church
...apocryphal Gospel used by Jewish Christians. It has been variously identified with the ‘Gospel according to the Ebionites ’ or an Aramaic Gospel used by the Nazarenes , but the relationship between the various Jewish Christian Gospels...
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