Editing Christian countercult movement (section)

===Precursors and pioneers===
Christians have applied theological criteria to assess the teachings of non-orthodox movements throughout church history.<ref>Saliba, ''Understanding New Religious Movements'', pp. 45–74.</ref><ref>Harold O. J. Brown, ''Heresies: The Image of Christ in the Mirror of Heresy and Orthodoxy from the Apostles to the Present'', Garden City: Doubleday, 1984.</ref><ref>J.W.C. Wand,''The Four Great Heresies: Nestorian, Eutychian, Apollinarian, Arian,'' London: A.R.Mowbray, 1955.</ref> The [[Apostles in the New Testament|Apostles]] themselves were involved in challenging the doctrines and claims of various teachers. The [[Apostle Paul]] wrote an entire [[epistle]], [[Epistle to the Galatians|Galatians]], antagonistic to the teachings of a [[Jews|Jewish]] sect that claimed adherence to the teachings of both [[Jesus]] and [[Moses]] (cf. [[Acts 15]] and [[Galatians 1|Gal. 1]]:6–10). The [[First Epistle of John]] is devoted to countering early [[Proto-Gnosticism|proto-Gnostic]] [[cult]]s that had arisen in the first century CE, all claiming to be Christian ([[1 John 2]]:19).{{citation needed|date=May 2015}}

The [[Early church|early Church]] in the [[Post-Apostolic Age|post-apostolic]] period was much more involved in "defending its frontiers against alternative [[Soteriology|soteriologies]]—either by defining its own position with greater and greater exactness, or by attacking other religions, and particularly the [[Greco-Roman mysteries|Hellenistic mysteries]]."<ref>[[Eric J. Sharpe]], ''Comparative Religion: A History'', London: Duckworth, 1975, p. 9</ref> In fact, a good deal of the early Christian literature is devoted to the exposure and refutation of unorthodox theology, [[Greco-Roman mysteries|mystery religions]] and [[Gnosticism|Gnostic]] groups.<ref>Brown, ''Heresies'', pp. 38–69.</ref><ref>[[Ronald H. Nash]], ''Christianity and the Hellenistic World'', Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1984, pp. 213–24.</ref> [[Irenaeus]], [[Tertullian]] and [[Hippolytus of Rome]] were some of the early [[Christian apologetics|Christian apologists]] who engaged in critical analyses of unorthodox theology, Greco-Roman [[Paganism|pagan]] religions, and Gnostic groups.<ref>[[Avery Dulles]], ''A History of Apologetics'', Eugene: Wipf & Stock, 1999, pp. 22–58.</ref><ref>J.K.S.Reid, ''Christian Apologetics'', Grand Rapids: William Eerdmans, 1970, pp. 36–53.</ref><ref>[[Bengt Hagglund]], ''History of Theology'', trans. Gene J. Lund, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1968, pp. 31–105.</ref>

In the [[Protestantism|Protestant]] tradition, some of the earliest writings opposing unorthodox groups (such as the [[Emanuel Swedenborg|Swedenborgians]]){{citation needed|date=April 2020}} can be traced back to [[John Wesley]], [[Alexander Campbell (clergyman)|Alexander Campbell]] and [[Princeton Theological Seminary]] theologians like [[Charles Hodge]] and [[B. B. Warfield]].<ref>[[Richard G. Kyle]], ''The Religious Fringe: A History of Alternative Religions in America'', Downers Grove: IVP, 1993.</ref><ref>[[Philip Jenkins]], ''Mystics and Messiahs: Cults and New Religions in American History'', New York: Oxford University Press, 2000.</ref> The first known usage of the term ''cult'' by a Protestant apologist to denote a group is heretical or unorthodox is in ''Anti-Christian Cults'' by A. H. Barrington, published in 1898.<ref>A.H.Barrington, ''Anti-Christian Cults'', Milwaukee: Young Churchman/London: Sampson Low, Marston, 1898.</ref>

Quite a few of the pioneering apologists were [[Baptists|Baptist]] pastors, like I. M. Haldeman, or participants in the [[Plymouth Brethren]], like [[William C. Irvine (missionary)|William C. Irvine]] and [[Sydney Watson]].<ref>[[J. Gordon Melton]],"The counter-cult monitoring movement in historical perspective," in ''Challenging Religion: Essays in Honour of [[Eileen Barker]]'', edited by [[James A. Beckford]] & [[James T. Richardson]], Routledge, London, 2003, pp. 102–113.</ref> Watson wrote a series of [[Didacticism|didactic]] novels like ''Escaped from the Snare: [[Christian Science]]'',<ref>{{cite book |author=Sydney Watson |title=Escaped from the Snare: Christian Science |location=London |publisher=William Nicholson & Sons |date=1914}}</ref> ''Bewitched by [[Spiritualism (movement)|Spiritualism]]'',<ref>{{cite book |author=Sydney Watson |title=The Lure of a Soul (Bewitched by Spiritualism) |location=London |publisher=W. Nicholson & Sons |date=1915}}</ref> and ''The Gilded Lie ([[Bible Student movement|Millennial Dawnism]])'',<ref>{{cite book |author=Sydney Watson |title=The Gilded Lie (Millennial Dawnism) |location=London |publisher=W. Nicholson |date=1914}}</ref> as warnings of the dangers posed by cultic groups. Watson's use of fiction to counter the cults has been repeated by later novelists like [[Frank E. Peretti]].<ref>[[Frank E. Peretti]], ''[[This Present Darkness]]'', Westchester: Crossway,1986.</ref><ref>[[James R. Lewis (scholar)|James R. Lewis]], "Works of Darkness: Occult Fascination in the Novels of Frank Peretti" in ''Magical Religion and Modern Witchcraft'', James R. Lewis ed. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1996, pp. 339–50.</ref>

The early twentieth-century apologists generally applied the words [[Heresy in Christianity|''heresy'']] and [[sect|''sects'']] to groups like the [[Christadelphians]], [[Mormons]], [[Jehovah's Witnesses]], [[Spiritualism (movement)|Spiritualists]], and [[Theosophy (Boehmian)|Theosophists]]. This was reflected in several chapters contributed to the multi-volume work released in 1915 ''The Fundamentals'', where apologists criticized the teachings of [[Charles Taze Russell]], [[Mary Baker Eddy]], the Mormons and Spiritualists.<ref>William G. Moorehead, 'Millennial Dawn A Counterfeit of Christianity', in ''The Fundamentals: A Testimony to the Truth'', Volume 7. Chicago: Testimony Publishing.</ref><ref>Maurice E. Wilson, 'Eddyism, Commonly Called "Christian Science", in ''The Fundamentals: A Testimony to the Truth'', Volume 9. Chicago: Testimony Publishing.</ref><ref>R. G. McNiece, 'Mormonism: Its Origin, Characteristics, and Doctrines', in ''The Fundamentals: A Testimony to the Truth'', Volume 8. Chicago: Testimony Publishing.</ref><ref>[[Algernon J. Pollock]], 'Modern Spiritualism Briefly Tested By Scripture', in ''The Fundamentals: A Testimony to the Truth'', Volume 10. Chicago: Testimony Publishing.</ref>