[SoothingDave]

But it is only in retrospect that these orthodox teachings are projected backwards as being those preserved and handed down from the apostles. Had Arianism or Donatism carried the day, they would now be "orthodoxy".

Yes, in theory.

That is the difference in our perspectives. You see it as the Spirit preserving Truth. I see the outcome as an accident of history, something that could have gone either way.

Yep. But like Einstein, I don't believe God plays dice with the universe.

(Besides, look at how quickly many of these heresies degnerate into nonsense. It is not for nothing that our Maryphobes end up messing up the ideas of Jesus' humanity, for example.)

SD

[malakhi]

But like Einstein, I don't believe God plays dice with the universe.

To which I am required to reply, as Neils Bohr is reported to have said, "don't tell God what to do". ;o)