By now you will perhaps have noticed that on the cover of this book are little cameos of the large painting of Raphael of the School of Athens, which is of course totally appropriate considering the content of this book. As Bray says at the outset of his final chapter, theology, unlike philosophy is dependent on divine revelation and is an interpretation of that, even if the subject is natural theology. (p. 329). Philosophy is indeed different from that as... Read more
The Latin phrase ‘ars longa, vita brevis’– art is long but life is short is a maxim that especially came true during the Renaissance when artists such as Raphael, Michelangelo, and Da Vinci, all of whom professed to be Christians, began to offer art that emphasized the full humanity of their subjects (cf. e.g. Michelangelo’s David). The Renaissance had arrived and with it various Greek scholars who had moved from a dying Byzantium to Rome and elsewhere in Italy. And... Read more
As Bray shows, a variety of things went wrong in the Middle Ages in terms of proper theology. For one thing asceticism led to a requirement of celibacy for priests, and at the same time the role of priests was elevated by the development theology of the sacraments. Only priests were holy enough to handle the actual body and blood of Christ. Bray points how this combination is odd, because on the one asceticism tends to suggest that the material... Read more
It was not until about 1200 A.D. that we had universities to house and promote the acquiring of knowledge and wisdom, but there were precursors who made clear that such institutions were needed what with the developments of disciplines such as the study of law, or medicine, as well as theology. One leading theologian who helped to pave the way forward was indeed Anselm of Canterbury (1033-1109), perhaps the first really great English speaking theologian. Anselm believed that the law... Read more
According to Gerald Bray, the first real systematic theologian of the Christian church was John of Damascus (675-750). He lived under Muslim rule in Syria and then Palestine as well. He was a leading critic of iconoclasm, which was the movement to destroy images on the basis that it was a sacrilege to represent God in images, since God is spirit. But as John was to argue, there couldn’t be images of the divine nature since it is invisible, but... Read more
A.D. 529 is when the Christian emperor closed the philosophical schools in Athens. But all sorts of philosophical debates were going on in the church surrounding the two natures of Christ. Part of the discussion led to the discussion that Christ must have had two wills– one human one divine. This is where I agree with Richard Bauckham, that we should be talking about Christ being part of the divine identity, not be talking about two natures in Christ. This... Read more
Throughout much of Christian history, Christian thinkers have flirted with the idea of ‘the immortal soul’. You can see it for instance, as early as Origen’s writings and many others after him. It ultimately does go back to Plato. But there are serious problems with this and here’s a short list: 1) immortal would seem to mean always existing, but the Christian doctrine of creation rules out the idea that some part of humans has always existed. This in turn... Read more
One doesn’t know whether to be flattered or flattened by this sudden endorsement. BW3 Read more
It is a neglected but interesting fact that the portion of the Bible most commented on as the church emerged into the daylight of governmental legitimacy in the 4th and 5th centuries was indeed Gen. 1-3, as Bray points out. It is precisely the doctrine of creation, as something quite separate from the creator, which separated Biblical Theology from various sorts of pagan philosophies. But it is also what separates Biblical theology from various more recent religions for example Hinduism,... Read more
Lest you think this book will only deal with the influence of say Plato and Aristotle and their successors, we will also be regaled with Socrates, Heraclitus, Pythagoras, Xenophanes and others. The book is a short course in almost all the influential Greek philosophers, early and and late, including of course those who led to Stoicism, Cynicism, Epicureanism and more. And we see how very influential these philosophers were, both directly and indirectly on the founders of America– particularly Thomas... Read more
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