BusyTarpDuster2017 said:What do you do with the fact that Irenaeus' contemporary, Tertullian, doesn't agree with Irenaeus' or Eusebius' list? And what do you do with the fact that Irenaeus said that Jesus was over 50 years old when he was crucified? I'd say that in the least, the history is very unclear and unreliable. These writers and their lists are likely going by retrospective tradition where Peter, Linus, Clement etc were posthumously "promoted" to the office of bishop of Rome so that Roman Catholicism could make a traceable list going all the way back to Jesus. Here is an excerpt from a book by Roman Catholic scholar Roger Collins in his book Keeper of the Keys of Heaven: A History of the Papacy, describing this view about those lists of popes by Irenaeus, Tertullian, and Eusebius:Coke Bear said:What do you do with Irenaeus' list of the first bishops of Rome, "Against Heresies," written between 175-180 AD. He lists them all back to Peter. How do you address that Eusebius had the same list in his work "Ecclesiastical History" between 312 and 324 AD.BusyTarpDuster2017 said:
History shows that there wasn't a singular, ruling bishop in Rome until about the 140-150's AD. Up until then, the church in Rome was presided over by a group of presbyters (elders). The first clear evidence of there being a single bishop shows that it was probably Anicetus.
"The late second century authors were probably reporting a tradition that had grown up in Rome in which leading figures amongst the elders of their day were retrospectively turned into bishops, to produce a continuous list of holders of the office stretching back to Peter."
He continues:
"... it would be helpful to ask which of the people named by Irenaeus and Tertullian should be regarded as the first real bishop of [Rome]. Most scholars now agree that the answer would be Anicetus, who comes in tenth on both lists, and whose episcopate likely covered the years 155 to 166 AD."
I actually viewed the book as a testament to the Holy Spirit keeping the Church alive throughout Man's incompetencies. Even with Man's imperfections, the Holy Spirit kept Christ's promise to Peter intact.
A lot of "probable's, most's, and ambiguity" in there... Understandable trying to piece things together with a limited, being generous, written record. I can see how each could take what they want.