The Calvinist International
In today’s post, Melanchthon cites one more patristic source (Origen) as an example of how the church’s authority is rightly deployed. He then proceeds to sketch his understanding of the relation of the church to the Word and to give his definitions of what the church (1) is not, and (2) is. The church at […]
In today’s post, Melanchthon begins to marshal patristic support for his understanding of the relative weight of various authorities in theology. Melanchthon’s high view of both Scripture and patristic antiquity are clear in what follows from his use of Tertullian, Irenaeus, and Basil. On the Church and the Authority of the Word of God (Continued) […]
Dr. Bauckham kindly sent me a reply to my previous brief post about his Hellenization thesis (as I termed it, not him): I read your piece after comments were closed. Just for information, my concept of personal identity is not Hegelian. It follows Paul Ricoeur in his book Oneself as Another. The difference I am […]
Today we get into our DeLorean and step further back in time for the fourth part in our series for a patristic witness. John Chrysostom’s comments from his 83rd Homily on the Gospel of John follow. Text My Kingdom is not of this world. He leads upwards Pilate who was not a very wicked man, […]
This is the first in a projected series of disconnected posts on Tertullian’s Apologeticus (c. 197). In ch. 30, Tertullian notes how zealously he prays for the Roman Emperors, seeking their safety from the true God in whose hands are all the empires of the world. This is much more beneficial for them, he believes, than […]
The Didache, or “Teaching of the Twelve Apostles,” written around the turn of the second century, is one of our earliest non-canonical witnesses to post-Apostolic Christian faith and practice. It is refreshing in its simplicity, directness, and practicality. In this post, we look briefly at the incipient theology of revelation that sits behind the author’s […]
In 1 Corinthians 1:5, Paul tells the Corinthians why he is thankful: Εὐχαριστῶ τῷ θεῷ μου πάντοτε περὶ ὑμῶν ἐπὶ τῇ χάριτι τοῦ θεοῦ τῇ δοθείσῃ ὑμῖν ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ. I give thanks to my God at all times concerning you for the grace of God that has been given to you in Christ Jesus. The […]
(This post can be read together as part of a sort of series with others such as this, this, this, this, this, and this.) The 39th Festal Letter of Athanasius, written for 367, is, together with items such as the Muratorian fragment, one of the most famous documents in the discussion of the history of […]
A little over a year ago, I pointed out a summary of Thomas Buchan’s lecture on Nicaea at the Ancient Evangelical Future Conference. A reader has just written in to direct me to the audio of that conference which is available here. I’ve only listened to Dr. Buchan’s presentation, a response actually, and it is […]
So Gregory of Nazianzus, with his customary eloquence, in the fourth Theological Oration: on the cross, “Christ was in His own Person representing us.” Take, in the next place, the subjection by which you subject the Son to the Father. What, you say, is He not now subject, or must He, if He is God, […]