Tomorrow is Reformation Day, the day on which, 495 years ago Martin Luther posted his Facebook protest. Er, I mean, Wittenberg protest. I remember many years ago hearing a chapel talk that was supposed to be on the glories of the Reformation, but was instead a reflection in the tragedy of the Reformation. That speaker was not-so-gently chided about his point of view. As a church historian of sorts, I’ve circled around these ideas for some time. Glories? Tragedies? Hopefully... Read more
For the better part of a year, I’ve been working on understanding a book and a doctrine that, shall we admit, are not “bestsellers.” In fact, one of my readers very softly commented: “It was a long and complicated series, and I’m afraid that the truly interested layman ‘in all the details’ might be hard to find. I found a lot of it very, very interesting, and I certainly had no conception that the Trinity could possibly generate that much... Read more
We’ve come to Anatolios’ conclusion, a chapter rich with ideas and summaries. I could have drawn this out for several more posts, but I became quite “Julian” in my threeness, wanting the series to have twenty-seven posts, no more, no less. So let’s oh-so-briefly look at the final comments Anatolios makes that might suggest ways of moving into “a creative retrieval of Nicene Trinitarian faith.” Revelation In the glorious Trinity, we recognize a God who has revealed himself –... Read more
Last week we addressed Augustine’s “psychological model” of the Trinitarian image: memory, knowledge, and will. Maybe that worked for you; maybe it didn’t. But Augustine had another model that you might find more compelling. It’s called a “social model” of the Trinity, and it begins and spins in love. When Augustine begins his quest for understanding the Trinity, he looks at the imago dei echo in our own lives. Thus, the operations of memory, knowledge,... Read more
Our friend Augustine, trying to understand the Three-in-One God whom we worship, resorted to Source Code material. May Augustine forgive me for using a modern pap movie to talk about his great theological arguments. You needn’t see the movie—it won’t help you understand the Trinity. But sometimes weird ideas pop up in science fiction that can shed light on mysteries. Let me tell you all you need to know about the movie for our purposes: [spoiler alert] Jake Gyllenhaal plays... Read more
Augustine is going to take us on a deep, inner journey to the center of the soul, there to look for shadows of the Trinitarian image, and from that vision to return to the greater vision of the One who is Three. We are made in God’s image (imago dei), and we are called to be like Christ (imago Christi). Our origin and our destiny are imprinted with the divine. How great is the love the Father has lavished... Read more
“We want to see Jesus,” they said (Jn. 12.21). This request, from a group of anonymous Greeks who had come to Jerusalem, triggered Jesus’ awareness that “the hour has come.” Augustine, too, recognizes the essential need to see Jesus. In his exploration of scripture, Augustine finds a steady engagement of God with creation through signs and theophanies throughout the Old Testament, culminating in the singular Sign and ultimate Theophany: Christ. If, then, Christ is the zenith of divine presence, the... Read more
Our last great voice of this series is St. Augustine, the great Western thinker and writer who died in north Africa as the Vandals attacked the city gates. Here is one of those individuals in history who got in the talent line more than once. His ability to think clearly about complex ideas, to express deeply spiritual truths in compelling ways, to pastor and lead a congregation, to pray and imagine beyond the horizons, to probe his own... Read more
This picture is a famous depiction of Christ as Pantocrator, i.e., Christ in Majesty, Ruler of All. It is one of the earliest images of Jesus in the Church. The mystery that the Church proclaimed was that the carpenter’s son- itinerant rabbi-controversial leader-healer-miracle worker-prophetic voice-crucified Roman victim was actually Lord Almighty, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Pretty audacious claim. A few weeks ago I was in Ephesus, and my “interlude” blogpost referred to the Council of Ephesus... Read more
As we pick up our conversation about Gregory of Nyssa, I want to recall what Anatolios calls the “limitless horizon” of faith—that our understanding and trust can never seize the fullness of God, they can only move in the direction of that truth. The horizon of God always extends itself infinitely before us. “The inexhaustible plenitude of God”—the never-ending, infinite depth and breadth of the reality of God’s being—is the invitation to an “endless journey” of relationship. All our doctrines,... Read more
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