How did the early church hammer out a shared set of practices and teachings out of the welter of confusion and bitter contestation among Montanists, Docetists, Donatists, Paulines, Gnostics, and Ebionites? Why did it take 300 years just for the church to settle on the "creed" that most of us now understand as the core of the faith? please become a patron! -- www.patreon.com/user?u=5530632 image: earliest known manuscript of the Didache suggested reading: E. Glenn Hinson, "The Early Church" for context: --on composition of the New Testament texts: https://soundcloud.com/historiansplaining/who-wrote-the-bible-new-testament --on the historical Jesus: https://soundcloud.com/historiansplaining/the-historical-jesus