My apologies for missing a few posts while I sailed the deep blue sea . . . and visited Ephesus, one of the most important cities of the Byzantine empire throughout the 3rd, 4th, and 5th centuries. (Consider it blog research … with champagne.) Even today, its ruins are glorious, confetti from ancient glory—pillars lining grand avenues with marble pavements, the echoes of small shops lining the route, the public toilets (okay, not so much glory there). Perhaps... Read more
If Athanasius was too big for words—too grand, too dominating, too heroic—Gregory of Nyssa comes as a refreshing change of pace. A married man (meet Mrs. Nyssa, probably named Theosebeia … an option to consider, all you future young parents), a guy devoted to his big brother (St. Basil), and even a man who got into some trouble and lost his job. (What? a saint lost his job?? what’s to become of the rest of us??) Gregory, like Athanasius,... Read more
Thus far, our conversation about the Three-in-One God we worship has been pretty much a Two-for-One deal. We have spent a great deal of time examining the nature of the relationship between Jesus and God, between the Father and the Son. And the Spirit? This would be a good time to take a little detour from Anatolios in order to return to the “key exception” I mentioned in Trinity 5. We were looking at the Nicene Creed, and its... Read more
We’ve earlier identified Athanasius as the bulldog of orthodoxy, the one who simply would not let go when it seemed that the entire Christian world was going Arian. You know, Athanasius was probably, as we might say, a piece of work. I don’t see him as the wise and wonderful guru sort, all gentle and calm like the Dalai Lama. He was probably pretty fiery and insufferable, just the sort we like to tune out. We don’t mind our political... Read more
Last week we left ourselves with a strange God and a God who is a stranger. Bette Midler’s lyrics could have come straight from a 4th-century Arian! God is watching us God is watching us God is watching us From a distance If Arius, Eusebius, Eunomius, and their comrades had had their way, the Son would be nothing more than a very unique product of God’s will. Begotten out of God’s desire to communicate his incommunicable majesty, the Son serves... Read more
Is the Son “inside” of God or “outside” of God? This seems to be the heart of the question when we think of Arius’ solution, and those that followed his line of thinking. Arius and his ilk read the gospels and saw the Son sent for us, which is true. At what point, though, was he sent? In fact, at what point was he begotten? Just using the word “point” makes the point. It’s as though Arius and his friends... Read more
It all comes back to Jesus. All the goodness, all the blessing, all the wonder – it all comes back to Jesus. But so does all the arguing, all the conflict, all the struggle, all the wrestling – it all comes back to Jesus too. He warned us about the sword he was bringing. The good news is sometimes more like a thunderstorm than a gentle rain. He revolutionized our understanding of God, and revolutions are never quiet affairs. Jesus... Read more
If I were writing a Harry Potter novel, at this point I think I’d post a picture of Athanasius, waving and winking at you, just to encourage you. I realize that you may not have signed up for such an intense course of study when you decided to follow this series. I do hope and pray, as I write, that you find some of the ideas and experiences we discuss fruitful in your own life of prayer, your conversations with... Read more
If you’ve stuck with this exploration thus far, you’re doing well. I know we’re wrestling with some complicated issues. I wish I were writing a Harry Potter novel instead. (Steven wishes it oh so much more fervently. I can’t even tell you.) But this is what I’m given, and so this is what I can give. No movie version forthcoming. Anatolios begins the next section of his book by recognizing the apparent problem of continuity and development. That is, if... Read more
In our last post, we met some actual characters in the dialogue. Let’s all step back just a moment and widen our lens so we can get a panoramic view. While the Nicene Creed is the heart of our story, the provoking cause of its writing, the actual Council members who wrote it and the decades that followed are all a package. That is, it’s not a tidy tale of a theological conflagration that erupted and its orderly resolution. In... Read more
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