Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Evangelical
IDLE TALES AND EMPTY SLANDERS

IDLE TALES AND EMPTY SLANDERS

Last updated on: August 25, 2013 at 3:17 am by Philip Jenkins

IDLE TALES AND EMPTY SLANDERS 2013-08-18T14:45:13-04:00 Philip Jenkins

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

I am rethinking my attitude to paranoia.

For many years, I have written on the demonization of out-groups, the way in which similar charges are deployed against marginal minorities. Seemingly, the same sort of bogus allegations surface in widely different cultures around the world. Some such groups actually existed, even if they never committed the crime charged against them (Jews in early modern Europe), while other demon figures are wholly invented (witches in the 1590s, Satanist murder gangs in the 1990s), but the accusations remain the same. Commonly, these charges involve the abduction or murder of children.

One example I use for this process concerns the charges brought against Christians in the Roman Empire, when they too were a demonized sect. Around 177, Athenagoras wrote his Legatio pro Christianis, which noted that “Three things are brought against us Christians: atheism, Thyestean feasts, and Oedipodean intercourse,” which is to say, cannibalism and incestuous orgies. Naturally, he concluded, “these things are only idle tales and empty slanders.”

I’m still sure those specific charges are utterly false, especially since they so closely echo the nightmare fantasies brought against other groups in other eras. Think of medieval portrayals of the witches’ Sabbat. (See the selection of charges assembled here).

In some cases, we can see a direct literary inheritance from charges made against early Christians to polemic that Christians themselves directed against their enemies, including heretics and Jews. The fourth century writer Epiphanius had a fertile, and indeed sickening, imagination when it came to denouncing the misdeeds of heretical sects. You can have an awful lot of smoke, and no fire behind it.

But here’s a question. While skepticism is always valuable, are we always right to reject allegations of sexual libertinism, including orgies, in the context of Christian sects?

I ask because I have been reading Clement of Alexandria, who around 200 wrote controversial works against rival sects who we would commonly call Gnostic, but who defined themselves as Christian. As I have suggested, such groups would have represented a significant part of the Christian spectrum in second century Alexandria.

What makes Clement stand apart from other heresy-hunters is that he was describing sects in his local area at a time well within living memory, and in some cases still surviving in other parts of the city. We are not dealing here with a medieval monk describing the sinister deeds of heretics or Jews whom he has never met, living on the other side of the continent, or indeed long extinct.

With that in mind, look at his discussion of marriage in Book III of his Stromata. Amusingly perhaps, the ideas he was describing were so shocking that in the classic Ante-Nicene Christian Fathers, this section appears only in Latin translation!

Clement acknowledges the diversity of opinion on the topic of marriage and sexuality. Valentinians, he says, approve of marriage, partly because their view of Creation imagines a sequence of divine male-female pairs, which human beings mirror. He accuses followers of Basilides of hypocrisy, in rejecting marriage while committing sexual sins.

He then turns to the followers of Carpocrates, who was probably from Alexandria, and taught in the first half of the second century. According to Irenaeus, Carpocrates taught that human beings contained a divine spark of life trapped within the material world ruled by the Archons. Jesus was a human being, but he became Christ when a heavenly power descended on him, and he came to liberate humanity. Once redeemed, believers claimed to be perfect, and were not subject to worldly laws or restraints. They claimed equality with the apostles, if not with Christ himself. As such:

they lead a licentious life, and, to conceal their impious doctrines, they abuse the name [of Christ], as a means of hiding their wickedness; … they declare they have in their power all things which are irreligious and impious, and are at liberty to practice them; for they maintain that things are evil or good, simply in virtue of opinion.

In fact, they argued that it was necessary to experience all things, good and evil, as part of the process by which they completed the journey of transmigration. The group sounds very much like the medieval sect of the Free Spirit, which likewise taught antinomian ideas.

Irenaeus also remarked that

Others, again, following upon Basilides and Carpocrates, have introduced promiscuous intercourse and a plurality of wives, and are indifferent about eating meats sacrificed to idols, maintaining that God does not greatly regard such matters.

We might well think that Irenaeus was using vulgar slanders against an enemy. But compare Clement:

These then are the doctrines of the excellent Carpocratians. These, so they say, and certain other enthusiasts for the same wickednesses, gather together for feasts (I would not call their meeting an Agape), men and women together. After they have sated their appetites, then they overturn the lamps and so extinguish the light that the shame of their adulterous “righteousness” is hidden, and they have intercourse where they will and with whom they will. After they have practiced community of use in this love-feast, they demand by daylight of whatever women they wish that they will be obedient to the law of Carpocrates – it would not be right to say the law of God.

In support of his claims, Clement provides a substantial quote from a book written by Epiphanes, son of Carpocrates. Epiphanes really did advocate antinomian doctrines, including community of property:

Consequently one must understand the saying ‘Thou shalt not covet’ as if the lawgiver was making a jest, to which he added the even more comic words ‘thy neighbor’s goods’. For he himself who gave the desire to sustain the race orders that it is to be suppressed, though he removes it from no other animals. And by the words ‘thy neighbor’s wife’ he says something even more ludicrous, since he forces what should be common property to be treated as a private possession.

Incidentally, Epiphanes might be recalling a doctrine found in several early alternative gospels when he wrote that “He did not make a distinction between female and male, rational and irrational, nor between anything and anything else at all.” Compare the Gospel of Thomas, 22: “When you make the two one, and when you make the inside like the outside and the outside like the inside, and the above like the below, and when you make the male and the female one and the same, so that the male not be male nor the female female.” This would tend to confirm that he belonged to the same spectrum of thought as Egypt’s contemporary Gnostics.

But to return to the alleged orgies. I would argue that in this instance, Clement was in an excellent position to know what he was talking about. His statements also gain strength from the fact that he does not make comparable claims against other groups. Suggesting occasional immorality, as he did with the Basilidians, is nowhere close. He was much more restrained than Irenaeus, leave alone a hysterical scandal-monger like Epiphanius.

Also, sexual mysticism is by no means uncommon in religious traditions, from Tantra to modern Western esoteric movements. There’s nothing ipso facto improbable about its occurrence among Gnostic sects.

In the Carpocratian instance, then, I’m prepared to believe that the sexual charges might actually be true.

If they were, that would help explain the allegations against contemporary Christians of all shades. When pagans or Jews denounced the libertinism of one sect acting in the name of Jesus, they obviously drew no distinctions between particular schools of thought. As Clement himself says, “Through them the worst calumny has become current against the Christian name.”

One final note: although scholars debate the origins of Athenagoras, who complained about anti-Christian slanders, Birger Pearson locates him in Egypt, and presumably Alexandria. Athenagoras would thus have been referring to strictly local scandals and rumors.

Clement of Alexandria

Free Spirit

Gnostics

Gospel of Thomas

Previous Post

August 23, 2013

ALEXANDRIAN CHRISTIANS

Next Post

August 26, 2013 THE HOLY FAMILY IN EGYPT

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category abolitionism Abortion Abraham Joshua Heschel Abraham Kuyper Abraham Lincoln Academia Activism Adam Renberg Advent Adventist africa African American Religion Agnes Howard Albert Camus American History American Religious History American Revolution American West Anabaptists Ancient History Andrea Turpin Andrei Tarkovsky Anglicanism Annales Ansley Lillian Quiros anti-Catholicism Antisemitism Anxious Bench apologetics Apparitions Arash Azizi Archaeology archives art Artificial Intelligence Asia Asian Americans Augustine Authors Bad Bunny Baptism Baptists Barack Obama Battle of Hastings Benjamin Franklin Bernard-Henri Levy Beth Allison Barr Beth Moore Bethany Mannon Bible Bill Cunningham Billy Graham Black Music Bob Dylan Body Boenhoffer Books Breastfeeding Bruce Springsteen C.S. Lewis Calvinism Cancel Culture Capitalism Carmelites Catholicism Cedric Robinson Cesar Chavez Charismaticism charity Charles Dickens Charles Lindbergh Che Guevara Chicago Children Chinese Christianity Chris Gehrz Christ Christian death Christian Higher Education Christian life Christian Nation Christian Nationalism Christianity Today Christmas Church life Church Practice cinema Civil Religion Civil Rights Movement Civil War civility Classics Climate Change Cold War Colonial Mexico colonialism Comer Communism community complementarianism Conference on Faith and History Congregationalism Conspiracies Conspiracy Conversion Narratives Coronavirus Costa Rica Council of Nicaea Covid-19 Creation Critical Race Theory Crusades Culture culture wars Daniel K. Williams David Barton David Swartz Death Ways death with dignity DEI democracy Democratic Party Devotion Digital Age Diplomacy discipleship diversity Donald Trump Drama Dua Lipa Early Church early modern Early modern Catholicism Easter Eastern Christianity economic exploitation Education elections Elie Wiesel Elizabeth II Elizabeth Taylor emotions Empire Engineering England enslavement Entertainment Episcopal Church Erica Ramirez eschatology Eurocentrism Evangelicalism Evangelicals Exegesis Family Feminism Film Flannery O'Connor folk music Food Foreign Policy founding fathers Franciscans Franciscus Junius fundamentalism Funerals G.K. Chesterton Gender Genocide genre geography George W. Bush George Washington George Whitefield Global Christianity Global church Grief Guadalupe guest post Guest Post gun control gun violence Gustavo Gutierrez Hamid Dabashi Harold John Ockenga Harvest Hate Hawaiian Christianity Healing health care Heather Cox Richardson Hell Heresy Hermeneutics Higher Education Hinduism Hippocratic oath Historical Fiction Historical Methodology Historical Profession Historical Profession Historical Theology Historical Thinking historiography Holidays Holocaust horror movies Human rights Humanitarian Work humanities Hummingbirds Hungary hymns Imago Dei Immigration Injustice Interviews Iran Islam Islamophobia Israel Ivan's Childhood Jacob Randolph James Bratt Janine Giordano Drake Japanese history Japanese Literature Jean Paul Sartre Jesse Miranda Jesus Jesus Christ Jimmy Carter Joan Baez Joan Didion Joanne Freeman João B. Chaves Joao Chaves Joey Cochran John Calvin John Fea John Tillotson John Turner Johnny Cash Jonathan Edwards Jonathan Tran Joseph Smith Josh Howerton Journalism Jr. Judaism Jürgen Moltmann Just War Justice Justin Brierley Karl Barth Katelyn Beaty koi ponds Kris Kristofferson Kristin Kobes Du Mez Latin American Religious History Latino Americans Lectio Divina Leisure Lent Leonard Cohen liberal arts liberalism Liberation Theology Linda Ronstadt Lisa Clark Diller Literature Lou Reed Lynchings Lynneth Miller Renberg Mainline Protestantism Malcolm Foley Marilyn Monroe Maritime history Mark Noll Marriage Martin Luther Martin Luther King Martyrdom Marxism Mary Masih Alinejad mass shootings material culture medieval Christianity Medieval Ethiopia Melissa Borja memory Mennonites Mental Health Mental Illness Methodism Mexican Americans Mexicans Mike Madrid Miles Mullin Min Jin Lee Miscarriage Missionaries Mister Rogers Mitt Romney modernity Monasticism Mormonism Motherhood Mothers of the Church Moving Music Musicals Nadya Williams Nahua Christianity Native Americans Natsume Sōseki New Contributor New England New Year New York Nico Non-Violent Protest Orthodoxy pacifism Paleo Evangelicals Palestinians Parenting Patti Smith Paul Kingsnorth Pedro Calderón de la Barca Pentecostalism Philip Jenkins Phillis Wheatley physician-assisted suicide pilgrimage Pilgrims pluralism Plutocracy Poetry Politics Pope Francis Pope Leo XIV post-modernism prayer preaching Presbyterians prosperity gospel Protest Public history Publishing Puritans purity culture Quakers race Race Massacres Racial Capitalism racial reconciliation racialization Racism Raha Bahloulipour Re-Enchantment reading Reformation Refugees religion and the university religion and war Religious Freedom Religious Nones Religious Pluralism Religious Symbols religious violence Republican Party Revival Rita Coolidge Ritual Roger Williams Roman Catholic church Royalty Russell Moore same-sex marriage Sarah Irving-Stonebraker Scandinavia Science Science and Technology Scopes trial Scriptural Interpretation secularism Selena Quintanilla seminary Seventh-Day Adventists sexual morality Sexuality Sikhs Silence slaveholders theology Slavery Slavoj Zizek social justice Social Media Southern Baptist Convention Southern Religion Spain Spiritual Autobiography Spiritual but not religious Spiritual Discipline Sports Stanley Hauerwas Suffering Summer Camps Sunday Night Odds and Ends Supernatural Supreme Court Syriac Christianity Tal Howard Taylor Swift Teaching Technology Television Thanksgiving The Beatles The Mission theater TheoBros Theology Thomas Dixon Thomas Jefferson Thomas Kidd Thomas Merton Tim Gloege Tim Walz Tom Holland Tourism tradition Tragedy Translation Transnationalism Travel Trump Ukraine Uncategorized Unitarians United Methodist Church US History Vanessa Chan Velvet Underground Verónica A. Gutiérrez Veronica Gutierrez Vikings Violence Virgin Mary Virtue Virtue ethics Visions Voting War WCTU Wendell Berry Westminster Assembly White Evangelicalism Wildfires Winnie the Pooh Witches women Women in Ministry Women's and Gender Studies Work Worship writing Yasunari Kawabata Zena Hitz

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who said, "For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain"?

Select your answer to see how you score.

John Paul Peter James