Leithart
Those interested in Biblical Theology and related subjects will find a wealth of thoughtful and thought-provoking material here: http://beginningwithmoses.org/ Read more
Those interested in Biblical Theology and related subjects will find a wealth of thoughtful and thought-provoking material here: http://beginningwithmoses.org/ Read more
Gregory charges Eunomius (11.5) with undermining the efficacy of sacraments. Eunomius claims, “we, in agreement with holy and blessed men; affirm that the mystery of godliness does not consist in venerable names, nor in the distinctive character of customs and sacramental tokens, but in exactness of doctrine.” Gregory charges that this treats “the sacrament of regeneration as an idle thing, the mystic oblation as profitless, and the participation in them as of no advantage to those who are partakers therein.” He follows Manicheans, Montanists, Marcionites and others who say... Read more
A line from Dickinson: “the nerves sit ceremonious like tombs.” This is an extremely complex literary device, or set of devices. First, personification: The nerves “sit” like people, and sit in a particular way, ceremoniously. Second, the personification spreads out to evoke a scene. Ceremonious sitting takes place in church, at weddings, or, as in this poem, at funerals. Third, the personification itself is encompassed and somewhat canceled by another device, the concluding simile. The whole scene of nerves-sitting-ceremoniously is... Read more
A student, Heather Denigan, is working on Emily Dickinson, and pointed me to this remarkable poem about baptism: I’m ceded, I’ve stopped being theirs; The name they dropped upon my face With water, in the country church, Is finished using now, And they can put it with my dolls, My childhood, and the string of spools I’ve finished threading too. (more…) Read more
A student, Heather Denigan, is working on Emily Dickinson, and pointed me to this remarkable poem about baptism: I’m ceded, I’ve stopped being theirs; The name they dropped upon my face With water, in the country church, Is finished using now, And they can put it with my dolls, My childhood, and the string of spools I’ve finished threading too. (more…) Read more
Creation, Gregory of Nyssa insists, is not eternal: “For we have learned that the heaven and the earth were not from eternity, and will not last to eternity, and thus it is hence clear that those things are both started from some beginning, and will surely cease at some end.” On the other hand: “the Divine Nature, being limited in no respect, but passing all limitations on every side in its infinity, is far removed from those marks which we find in creation.” But... Read more
When I made some sharp comments about Thomas Oord’s book on love a few weeks back, Oord wrote to inform me that he’s written another book that deals more overtly with the themes I found lacking in his other book. Oord conceded that I might remain unsatisfied even then, but I thought it only fair to take a look at the fuller account ( The Nature of Love: A Theology ). As he expected, I do remain unsatisfied, and how.... Read more
It seems common-sensical that the existence of something logically precedes its self-expression. Trinitarian theology assaults that common sense. There is no Father except as He has a Son; no Father who has not always already generated His perfect image and likeness; no God who has not always already expressed Himself in His eternal Word. It is so for everything. The table across the room doesn’t intend to express itself visually to me, but if it didn’t then I wouldn’t know... Read more
I’m not convinced Gregory’s argument from opposites ( Against Eunimius 9.4) is sound, but it’s intriguing and engaging. Here’s the argument: Certain realities have direct opposites that cannot coexist. Light cannot coexist with darkness, but expels and destroys it. On the other hand, darkness can expel light. So also with the oppositions of good/bad, falsehood/truth. No middle terms exist here, but simple polarities. So, in the creation account, before God calls light into being, there is only darkness. Now, the... Read more
Gregory charges Eunomius (10.2) with believing he can climb past the word to a direct encounter with the Ungenerate Father. As Gregory sees it, Eunomius is saying that “the human mind, scrutinizing the knowledge of real existence, and lifting itself above the sensible and intelligible creation, will leave God the Word, Who was in the beginning, below itself, just as it has left below it all other things, and itself comes to be in Him in Whom God the Word... Read more
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