Sadly what we mainly know of them comes from the denunciations of later xtian propagandists.
Still, there is little reason to think that they misrepresented their positions because no matter what they were they were going to denounce them. The whole point of writing a denunciation of heresy is to point out the flaws in their argument and how your bullshit is so much better than their own. We see drippy ineptly trying to do this on a daily basis.
What would be the point today of writing a piece which denounces the "jews" for butt-fucking children in their convents? The jews would simply say, "what is this meshuggah jackass talking about? We don't have convents." And they would be right. But if you substitute catholic for jew then you have something which needs to be defended.
So when the Heresiologists wrote that the docetists did not believe in the actual crucifixion or the Ebionites were being denounced for only using gMatthew and rejecting "paul" - again, late 2d century writers at the earliest - there is no reason to doubt they are speaking the truth otherwise their targets would say "get the fuck out of here...." or words to that effect.
Still, there is little reason to think that they misrepresented their positions because no matter what they were they were going to denounce them. The whole point of writing a denunciation of heresy is to point out the flaws in their argument and how your bullshit is so much better than their own. We see drippy ineptly trying to do this on a daily basis.
What would be the point today of writing a piece which denounces the "jews" for butt-fucking children in their convents? The jews would simply say, "what is this meshuggah jackass talking about? We don't have convents." And they would be right. But if you substitute catholic for jew then you have something which needs to be defended.
So when the Heresiologists wrote that the docetists did not believe in the actual crucifixion or the Ebionites were being denounced for only using gMatthew and rejecting "paul" - again, late 2d century writers at the earliest - there is no reason to doubt they are speaking the truth otherwise their targets would say "get the fuck out of here...." or words to that effect.
