Perceiving Orthodoxy

This article argues that the spiritual senses were central to the discursive formation
of orthodoxy and heresy in the second and third centuries. In other words, early
Christians employed the spiritual senses to define a normative Christian faith. This
discursive strategy is evident in sources that are typically not included in heresiological
scholarship, though they certainly belong in the genre of heresiology: the
Coptic Apocalypse of Peter and the Testimony of Truth. These sources demonstrate
that alongside other issues surrounding the formation of orthodoxy, like canon formation
and apostolic succession, the spiritual senses were central to defining Christian
normativity.