=The Reaction against Gnosticism.――The Old Catholic Theologians.= We have seen that the original position of the Christians was one of indifference to both politics and philosophy; that then came the employment of Hellenism in the defense of the Gospel. This resulted in the extreme attempt of the Gnostics to transform Christianity into a factor in a cosmic theosophy. Gnosticism had tried to capture the new religion by force and make it subserve the interests of Hellenic and Oriental philosophy. This danger was averted only after years of controversy. Gnosticism was the gravest danger that the early church had to meet, and the Gnostics left their mark upon the church, although they were expelled; for the church never returned to its original simplicity of doctrine. Gnosticism, however, produced an extreme reaction, for a time, against the use of philosophy, and was represented by the “Old Catholic Theologians,”――Irenæus (140–200), Tertullian (160–220), and Hippolytus. These theologians stood against turning faith into a science and tried to limit dogma to the articles of the baptismal confession interpreted as a rule of faith. Tatian (170) saw in Hellenism the work of the devil. Irenæus conceived a unity in the process of creation and redemption,――creation as a divine method of bringing humanity up into the church by way of redemption. Tertullian went so far as to affirm that the Gospel is confirmed by its being in a certain sense contradictory to reason. _Credo quia absurdum._ By this he means, not that faith rests in things absurd, but that faith rests in things so far above reason as to make reason absurd. This reaction was against Gnosticism and not against rationalism, for these men used both philosophy and tradition to support their arguments. The reaction against a systematic theology failed to establish itself, for the need of Greek philosophy was found to be necessary. The result was that a median position was taken by the help of Greek philosophy in the formulation of the dogma of the church. This was scientifically stated by the Alexandrian School of Catechists, of which Clement and Origen were the leaders. =Origen (185–254) and the School of Catechists.= Origen, whose surname was Adamantine, was an early teacher in the School of Catechists, which had been under the direction of Clement. Like Plotinus, Origen had been a pupil of Ammonius Saccas. Origen endured much persecution on account of his teaching, and had to flee from Alexandria to Cæsarea and Tyre, where he spent his old age. He was the most influential theologian of the Eastern church, and he was the father of Christian theological science.