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<\/a><\/p>\nThe NT asserts both freedom and authority. This is perhaps clearest, simplest in individual Christian life. But true also in the field which we are considering.\u00a0 Paul argues in Rom. 14.5\u2013 \u2018let each be convinced in their own mind.\u2019\u00a0 But he also claims authority and anathematizes preachers of a false Gospel.\u00a0 Heresy exists and it leads to schism.\u00a0 So also John.<\/p>\n
Increasing size leads inevitably to structure and institution.\u00a0 How can this be continued with Mk. 10.43 \u2018ouk outos\u2019?\u00a0<\/em>and Lk. 22.26? Can the person in authority in the church do it (noting the later Lukan form)?\u00a0 In any case such authority should not be necessary. All Christians should believe alike. All believe truth is given in Jesus. All Christians should be unity\u2013 the one distinguishing mark of discipleship is loving one another. Yet for 1900 years power structures have flourished and developed, heresy and schism have been rife, discipline has been practiced, and all of this can already be seen in the NT.<\/p>\nWe glance through subsequent history not to see the whole story but to pick up hints for the present.\u00a0 Gnosticism which now know not only from its enemies(like Irenaeus) but through its own documents. It involved speculative Christianity attuned to the times.\u00a0 How did the majority church react? Should it have comprehended? In fact it retreated behind familiar boundaries\u2013ministry, creed, canon.\u00a0 Such actions were badly conducted\u2013 pick out the worst aspect of the opponent and lampoon it.\u00a0 But Gnosticism was there, and John could use it creatively [this is debatable, since at most there was only proto-Gnosticism in the first century\u2013 BW3].\u00a0 Perhaps we should not blame others for being less particular theologically. But should we play for safety or live dangerously as John did. This is an important and recurring question.<\/p>\n
Trinity and Christology.\u00a0 And now over a dipthong? Gibbon\u2019s folly. What we have to notice is a mixture of motives. The rivalry of Alexandria and Antioch plays a part.\u00a0 But heresy was defined in terms of theological principle. What does \u2018Lord Jesus\u2019 become when understood in terms of Greek metaphysics. Semantically the \u2018homo\u2019 is right not the \u2018homoi\u2019 [i.e. of one substance, not of similar or like substance]. But the \u2018ousia\u2019<\/em> was assumed, the homo<\/em> distributed.\u00a0 Schism was defined in theological terms but other factors contributed.\u00a0 And now, since Constantine power in a new form was available. Healthy lay influence became caesaropapism.<\/p>\n\u2018Filioque\u2019 a theological pretext for a sociological separation?\u00a0 This raises in a distant way the issue of national churches. Do different traditions and sensibilities justify schism?<\/p>\n
Reformers. Luther was not a heretic and did not seek schism.\u00a0 Yet he was regarded as a heretic and split the church.\u00a0 Would it have been possible to return the church to the Gospel without causing schism?\u00a0 Did Trent, Vatican II do this? Others attempted without success, thus not sufficiently radical\u2013 theological. Note the disruptive and creative power of theology.\u00a0 Is schism better, less evil than heresy?\u00a0 This depends on what error is involved. This was destructive Pelagianism.<\/p>\n
And we come to ourselves, or rather to two things.\u00a0 The Revival which is familiar enough and the Enlightenment both rational and anti-supernatural. In the Revival was nothing heretical and yet it led to schism?\u00a0 Why? Or should we ask who was in schism? What determines schism\u2013 error or convinced disobedience? Wesley unlike Luther was not a good enough theologian to see the theological points\u2013 points of a kind that some authorities in some circumstances might love their authority. Deism did not lead to schism though some like Butler attached it. This can only mean that non-theological criteria was being applied.\u00a0 So orthodoxy led to schism, whereas heresy did not.<\/p>\n
What does this story mean?\u00a0 A record of right things, and a desire for truth applied in the wrong way?<\/p>\n
The NT knows that there must be structure (see Mk and Lk) and also discipline, but they must be controlled by critical ethical theology. Too often this control has been lacking. Is this critical theology itself controlled in any way?\u00a0 Are there limits to freedom?\u00a0 \u00a0What is\u00a0 the nature of authority?\u00a0 Both centered on the principle of \u2018solus Christus\u2019.\u00a0 In the NT only this leads to schism. Divergent organizing never does.\u00a0 Law-Gospel does. Gnosticism does.\u00a0 But we start with rational presuppositions about God, not with Christ alone.<\/p>\n
As we approach the present we may say that Methodism and Enlightenment remain the issues. This does not exclude \u2018ratio\u2019 but the \u2018ratio\u2019 is employed with a view to Scripture.\u00a0 There is a twofold issue for Methodism\u2013 a) getting the job done, and b) semper Reformanda. What form best\u00a0 reflects and spreads\u00a0 the Gospel of solus Christus.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The NT asserts both freedom and authority. This is perhaps clearest, simplest in individual Christian life. But true also in the field which we are considering.\u00a0 Paul argues in Rom. 14.5\u2013 \u2018let each be convinced in their own mind.\u2019\u00a0 But he also claims authority and anathematizes preachers of a false Gospel.\u00a0 Heresy exists and it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":91,"featured_media":62478,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[14298],"class_list":["post-62661","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-whence-heresy-and-schism"],"yoast_head":"\n
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