This study examines the controversy between Celsus and Origen, between Irenaeus and the Gnostics (with reference to important Naghammadi texts) and between Plotinus and the Gnostics. Substantial points of contact between Platonic philosophy and Christian theology are shown as well as the insurmountable barriers between them. Of particular surprise and tragedy is above all the misunderstanding between Irenaeus and the Gnostics, whose initiatives were thus lost for the Church.

The study is a source-based contribution to the genesis of the early Church and is distinguished by its knowledge of the Ancient World.

Barbara Aland, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster.