Gregory’s fifth oration again: Human nature “has a unity which is only conceivable in thought; and the individuals are parted from one another very far indeed, both by time and by dispositions and by power. For we are not only compound beings, but also contrasted beings, both with . . . . Continue Reading »
From Gregory’s fifth oration, defending the divinity and consubstantiality of the Spirit: “What was Adam? A creature of God. What then was Eve? A fragment of the creature. And what was Seth? The begotten of both. Does it then seem to you that Creature . . . . Continue Reading »
In the second of his “theological orations,” Gregory Nazianzen catalogs the impenetrable mysteries of creation: “How is it,” he asks, “that the earth stands solid and unswerving? On what is it supported? What is it that props it up, and on what does that . . . . Continue Reading »
Cunningham again, arguing that a creation made by a loving Creator cannot be pure nature: “Traditionally, God’s long-term ‘involvement’ with an care for the world has been emphasized through the theological category of grace . In creating the world, God wills into . . . . Continue Reading »
In his brilliant, flawed These Three are One: The Practice of Trinitarian Theology (Challenges in Contemporary Theology) , David Cunningham notes how the doctrine of the Trinity implies retroactive causality: “At first, we might assume that a father precedes his son, both logically and . . . . Continue Reading »
In the “how other people live” category: Hernando de Soto ( The Mystery of Capital: Why Capitalism Triumphs in the West and Fails Everywhere Else ) argues that the key obstacle to Third World prosperity is the invisibility of their assets, and the assets are invisible because property . . . . Continue Reading »
How do we sense objects? Our instincts tell us that objects are just there, waiting for us to come along to sense them. Augustine’s instincts were otherwise. He admitted that “the sense does not proceed from the body that is seen but from the body of the sentient living . . . . Continue Reading »
Augustine’s trinitarian account of love is often understood as a purely formal correspondence: Love requires three - the lover, the beloved, and the love itself - and, whaddya know?, there are three Persons in the God who is love. Augustine sometimes sounds like that: “Love means loving . . . . Continue Reading »
“Classical theism” is supposed to have given us a static, immobile God. On the contrary: One of Athanasius’ central complaints against the Arians is that they denied the inherent fruitfulness, generative power, and creativity of God. If the Son is not eternal, . . . . Continue Reading »
INTRODUCTION Jesus goes to a garden to reverse Adam’s sin. Instead of seizing fruit, the Last Adam submits to His Father and drinks the cup. In the end, all His helpers – His Eve – flee, and He is left alone to face His accusers. THE TEXT “Then Jesus said to them, . . . . Continue Reading »
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