Athanasius again: As a musician brings out “a single tune as the result, so also the Wisdom of God, handling the Universe as a lyre . . . produces well and fittingly, as the result, the unity of the universe and of its order, himself remaining unmoved with the Father . . . (for) by one and . . . . Continue Reading »
We can’t not talk about Jesus. He is the Word, the Living Word behind, in with and under, all our words. Whatever we try to articulate, and do articulate, with truth, is about the One in whom all things hold together. Whenever we speak falsely, we are speaking against the Word. We cannot not . . . . Continue Reading »
Barth insists, rightly, that the incarnation doesn’t express any “need” or lack on God’s part, but is rather His free gracious response to the “radical neediness of the world.” Taking on that neediness also means taking up our cause. He comes to maintain and . . . . Continue Reading »
City of God 10.6 is a rich and important, though obscure, explanation of what might be called the sociology of sacrifice. At the beginning of the chapter, Augustine defines sacrifice as any act we perform in order to be united to God in holy society. Acts of mercy are sacrifices, if they are done . . . . Continue Reading »
Dodaro again: “Only when it is understood by believers that God mediates goodness to human beings directly, without intermediary spiritual beings such as angels - and certainly not through priests - is it possible to put an end to spiritual rivalries.” . . . . Continue Reading »
Doctrine matters, and no doctrine matters more than the doctrine concerning Jesus Christ. Nestorius was the last of the major Christological heretics in the early church. He objected to the church’s declaration that Mary was the “God-bearer,” the “theotokos.” No human . . . . Continue Reading »
Doctrine matters, and no doctrine matters more than the doctrines concerning Jesus Christ. One of the earliest and most intense controversies in the early church had to do with Arianism. Arius taught that the Son of God was not equal to the Father, not eternal God, but only a very exalted and . . . . Continue Reading »
Docetism can take subtle forms. We can affirm that Jesus was truly human, with human hands and human eyes and human feet and human hair. But we fall into docetism if we fail to see how specific Jesus’ humanity is. The Son became human, but we need to be more specific if we are going to grasp . . . . Continue Reading »
Doctrine matters, and no doctrines matter more than the doctrines concerning Jesus Christ. We can test every other doctrinal concern this way: What does it say about Jesus? One of the earliest heresies was “docetism,” which comes from the Greek verb for “seem.” Docetists . . . . Continue Reading »
Genesis 2:21-22: So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then He took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh at that place. The LORD God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man. Let us Pray. Blessed are You, . . . . Continue Reading »
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