““By the early fifth century, the Church that had begun as a tiny group of fishermen and other poor people meeting in modest abodes had joined the Roman trend in classical culture in becoming logocentric, relying heavily on written texts -- the Bible, the sacramental services, and the theology of the Church Fathers. "Beginning as a movement in Egypt around 200 A.D. and reaching France by 500 A.D., a special place of holiness was attributed to monks and nuns in a monastic setting because of their celibacy. Monks often became bishops; nuns were told to stay in their convents and shut up.””
![“I think they [ monastic folks ] were going to the desert to build a new society and in a sense to build a new world, a new culture together where it was easier to be good and holy.” quote by Shane Claiborne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/8a1/shane-claiborne-960_be-good_i-think-they-monastic-folks-were-going-t_1495088.jpg)
![“In response to [the Philistine] threat [in the ninth century B.C.], the Hebrews could no longer rely on the leadership of 'judges,' ad hoc military leaders (some of them, peculiarly, women; perhaps reflecting as feminists claim, and earlier matriarchal society).” quote by Norman F. Cantor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/9be/norman-f-cantor-15048_feminisim_in-response-to-the-philistine-threat-in_626699.jpg)
![“[On the Human Soul] While the Bible offers a clear distinction that the soul is separate from the body and discusses the idea of eternal life in a general context, it may come as a surprise that the Bible does not specifically indicate that the human soul is immortal. The postulation that we have…” quote by Brian Goedken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/05d/brian-goedken-38890_bible_on-the-human-soul-while-the-bible-offers_109608.jpg)
![“The Church received from the apostles the tradition of giving baptism even to infants. The apostles, to whom were committed the secrets of the divine sacraments, knew there are in everyone innate strains of [original] sin, which must be washed away through water and the Spirit” quote by Origen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/cb8/origen-12126_apostles_the-church-received-from-the-apostles-th_199967.jpg)
![“[Naaman] dipped himself," it says, "seven times in Jordan." It was not for nothing that Naaman of old, when suffering from leprosy, was purified upon his being baptized, but as an indication to us. For as we are lepers in sin, we are made clean by means of the sacred water and the invocation of…” quote by Irenaeus of Lyons](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/9eb/irenaeus-of-lyons-18423_babe_naaman-dipped-himself-it-says-seven-time_627335.jpg)
