DOCSLIB.ORG

Trinity Sunday Tends to Be One That Many Clergy Joke About, Saying That It Is Better to Show Pictures of Kittens and Puppies Then to Risk Preaching a Heresy

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Trinity Sunday Tends to Be One That Many Clergy Joke About, Saying That It Is Better to Show Pictures of Kittens and Puppies Then to Risk Preaching a Heresy So again, Happy Trinity Sunday everyone! Trinity Sunday tends to be one that many clergy joke about, saying that it is better to show pictures of kittens and puppies then to risk preaching a heresy. Or, and better yet, many have their assistants, deacons, or even seminary students preach that day. Unfortunately, we don’t have any of these options, So, I guess you're stuck with me. Before we get started though and since I don’t have any good kitten or puppy pictures to pass around, I’d like to start with my favorite joke that stars the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit: The Trinity were planning a holiday. The Spirit, manifesting the creative part of the divine nature, was coming up with the ideas. "Let's go to New York," he suggested. "No, no, no," said the Father, "They're all so liberated, they'll spend the whole time calling me 'Mother' and it will just do my head in." So the Spirit sat back and thought. "I know, what about Jerusalem?" he said. "It's beautiful and then there's the history and everything." "No way!" the Son declared. "After what happened the last time, I'm never going there again! "At this point, the Spirit got annoyed and went off in a huff. Sometime later he returned and found that the Father and Son had had an idea they both thought was excellent: "Why don't we go to Rome?" said the Son. "Perfect!" cried the Holy Spirit. "I've never been there before!" Right, so today, we have a choice.... We can ignore the fact that it is Trinity Sunday… I mean, that’s the safe ticket??? Right??? Well, as you’ve been getting to know me, you’ve likely realized that when it comes to preaching, I’m not really a fan of playing it safe… I like to explore… I like to try to look at things from another angle… I like to take the road less traveled… Not that there is anything wrong with a well- traveled road… I just thing there can be more riches to mine in scripture than the interpretations that we tend to use over and over… So, today… I’d like to tackle the task of the Trinity head on... And if for any reason, I happen to lapse into heresy, y'all promise not to tell the bishop, right? So, all of this talk about heresy, has me thinking about all of the trinitarian heresies the church has condemned over the years… So there was, Modalisim, Apollinarism, Audianism, Adoptionism, Arianism, Collyridianism, Docsitisim, Gnosticism, Monarchism, Patripassianism, Sebellianism, and Tritheism... To name a few… There are more, but I'll stop here… All of this I think is an excellent reminder that The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, are a mystery. Each year, a good priest friend of mine likes to dust off the Athanasian creed and have the entire congregation read it during his sermon. When read even at a blazing pace, it takes about 4 minutes to get through. I won't put you all through that, but I do want to point out the part that says; "we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity"... "One God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity…" I like that… Especially the unity part… you know, there is a bit of theology that I’ve been attracted to for the last few years called “Moral Exemplar Atonement theory…” Which is just a really fancy way of saying that the salvation that God has provided us through the sacrifice of Jesus, is found when we follow the example of Jesus and live our lives using his as our model… In other words, Jesus fed the hungry, so we should feed the hungry… Jesus treated all people with the dignity and kindness that they deserve… So, we should treat all people with the dignity and kindness they deserve… Jesus loved all people… So, we should love all people… You get the point… It wasn’t until this morning though, that I realized, “Oh my gosh… Moral Exemplar Atonement theory is about more than just the active examples in which we should try to be like Jesus… Moral Exemplar Atonement theory also means that Just as Jesus was in divine unity with the community of the Trinity… that is to say, The Father, The Son, and the Holy Spirit… We too, should seek to be in divine unity within Christian community… Which is… The church!!! I don’t know about you all, but this is blowing my mind… In other words… We are called as a church to be in consistent unity without division… Now, here’s the problem with that… As we learned earlier in my rather long list of heresies… The church has done a pretty poor job over the years when it comes to unity… So, how can we be unified when there are all of these different theological ways of looking at things… Can we really be in unified community with people who don’t believe the same things we do??? Well, I would say yes… And I would say that the Episcopal church has the potential to do this really, really well. And that is because, we explicitly say that hey! We don’t all have to be the same… Just so long as we are willing to pray these prayers together… Just so long as we are willing to come together in worship in the framework of our liturgy which is also known as the work of the people… “The work of the people…” Notice I didn’t say the work of the priest… or the work of the altar guild… or the work of the ushers… This is the work of the people… There is a lovely bit of protestant liturgical theology concerning the bread and the wine used to make communion… They are kept on a table in the back of the church, and during the offertory, they are brought up to the front, and given to the priest by usually by two ushers… What this is communicating, is that the priest cannot celebrate the eucharist by themselves… That there have to be people from the congregation present to participate in the work of the liturgy to make it happen… The congregation has to be present to give the responses, to lead the prayers, and to present our offerings so that we can receive the sacrament of the eucharist and be in communion with one another, and with God… That… That right there… The liturgy… The Work of the people… The apex of which is communion, is where we can experience divinely unified community… That’s what communion is… It’s all of us, somehow, some way, coming together, and experiencing just a taste, of the perfect loving relationship, that the Trinity experiences both inside and outside of time… Now, please don’t get me wrong… I'm not saying we can fully grasp the Trinity… People have been trying for hundreds and hundreds of years only to fall into heresy… However, I do believe that the nature of the Trinity has been revealed to us in Jesus Christ. And that nature is, in a word, love. We worship a God that bursts forth in a love that is informed by grace, mercy, and forgiveness… We worship a God who loves us totally, completely, and unconditionally… We worship a God who was willing to send the second person of the Trinity Jesus Christ to be our great example and show us the way to be in community by loving God and loving others in the same ways that he loves us… But it gets better yet... Just last week, we celebrated Pentecost and the sending of the third person of the Trinity, The Holy Spirit… Yes, we worship a God who did not leave us… We are not alone…. The third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit has been given to each of us, continually working on our hearts, guiding us into loving community with the Father and the Son and further, The Spirit guides us, through walking in grace mercy and forgiveness into community with each other... That’s everybody… That’s the person sitting next to you… That’s the crazy priest who may or may not be preaching heresy… That’s the people you like… That’s the people you don’t like… That’s the great thing about the community that we call the church… It’s not up to us who is allowed to join… If Christ is truly our example… We don’t get to police who comes through these doors, or who comes to God’s table… What we do get to do though, is answer our great calling to be more and more like Jesus, and love each and every person that God brings along side of us, in this wonderful community… We don't have to agree on everything, in fact, if the protestant reformation has taught us anything, its that people in the church will continue to have differing ideas and splits will continue to happen unless we can switch from trying to make people believe all the same things we do, to simply loving God, and loving others. All need to be welcome in the church. The left, the right, the conservative, the liberal, the orthodox, the heterodox, the heretic, and the staunch defender of the faith... All we have to agree to do, is love God, and love one another… The Trinity is our example of how to do that… Amen.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • "The Light Shines in the Darkness, and the Darkness
    "The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it": The spirit beyond the Christological debate: Toward a pneumatological interpretation of John 1:5 Author: Jean Luc Enyegue Persistent link: http://hdl.handle.net/2345/bc-ir:105005 This work is posted on eScholarship@BC, Boston College University Libraries. Boston College Electronic Thesis or Dissertation, 2013 Copyright is held by the author, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise noted. “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it” THE SPIRIT BEYOD THE CHRISTOLOGICAL DEBATE: TOWARD A PEUMATOLOGICAL ITERPRETATIO OF JOH 1:5 Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the S.T.L. Degree from Boston College School of Theology and Ministry (Weston Jesuit) Submitted by: Jean Luc Enyegue, SJ CoMentors: Thomas D. Stegman, SJ Margaret Guider, OSF Boston College School of Theology and Ministry Brighton, Massachusetts April, 2013 Table of Contents Introduction…………………………………………………………………………….1 Chapter One: The Christological Debate: Strengths and Limits of Hypothesis One..6 1) The Issue of the Structure of the Prologue……………………….……………….7 2) My Evaluation of the Exegetical Argument……………………………….……..9 3) Theological Advantages of H1……………………………………………….…...12 a. The Incarnation as a Process for a Religious Pluralism…………...……..12 b. The Catholic Response to These ew Challenges ……………………..….16 c. The Incarnation as a Process for a Process Theology………..…………..17 d. Evaluation of the Process Theology’s Argument………………...……..….20 4) Conclusion of Chapter 1.……………………….…………………………...……..22 Chapter Two: Arguments in Favor of the Second Hypothesis (H2)…………...……24 1) The Verb Tense and the Structural Issue………………………………….……24 2) The Argument Against Käsemann: Understanding φαίνει……………...….27 3) The Symbol of Light and Darkness in John 1:5.…………………………..…..28 4) Reasons Why John 1:5 Is ot and Should ot Refer to the Incarnation..….32 a.
    [Show full text]
  • The Wars of the Roses
    Unit 2: Roman Church and the Rise of the Papal State © Jason Asbell, 2019 Unit 2: Roman Church and the Rise of the Papal State © Jason Asbell, 2019 © Jason Asbell, 2019 © Jason Asbell, 2019 © Jason Asbell, 2019 SW India evangelized 1st Cent. AD Manicheanism was a Gnostic belief that was semi-Christian, but believed in a dualistic cosmology in which Good and Evil were equally powerful – this belief system lasted a long time…eventually almost all Manichean believers assimilated into either more mainstream versions of Christianity, Buddhism, or Islam © Jason Asbell, 2019 Unit 2: Roman Church and the Rise of the Papal State © Jason Asbell, 2019 St. Miltiades: First African Pope. First pope after the end of the persecution of Christians through the Edict of Milan (313 AD). Presided over the Lateran council of 313. St. Sylvester I: 1st Council of Nicaea (325). Built St. John Lateran, Santa Croce in Gerusalemme and Old St. Peter's Basilica. Stated recipient of Donation of Constantine (later shown to be a forgery) Papal Reigns: St. Miltiades to St. Gregory I "the Great" MILTIADES INNOCENT I FELIX III (II?) JOHN II (2 JULY 311 – 10 JAN 314) (21 DEC 401 – 12 MARCH 417) (13 MARCH 483 – 1 MARCH 492) (2 JAN 533 – 8 MAY 535) MARK BONIFACE I ANASTASIUS II VIGILIUS (336) (28 DEC 418 – 4 SEP 422) (24 NOV 496 – 19 NOV 498) (29 MARCH 537 – 7 JUNE 555) LIBERIUS SIXTUS III HORMISDAS JOHN III (17 MAY 352 – 24 SEP 366) (31 JULY 432 – 18 AUG 440) (20 JULY 514 – 6 AUG 523) (17 JULY 561 – 13 JULY 574) SIRICIUS HILARIUS FELIX IV PELAGIUS II (17 DEC 384 – 26 NOV
    [Show full text]
  • Baptist History and Distinctives
    Baptist History and Distinctives What’s The Big Deal About Being a Baptist? "Ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints." (Jude 1:3) STUDENT EDITION NAME ___________________________________ By Pastor Craig Ledbetter, Th.G., B.A. Part of the Teaching Curriculum of Cork Bible Institute Unit B, Enterprise park Innishmore, Ballincollig, Cork, Ireland +353-21-4871234 [email protected] www.biblebc.com/cbi © 2018 Craig Ledbetter, CBI Baptist History and Distinctives Table of Contents Introduction .................................................................................................................... 3 Baptist Ignorance ............................................................................................................ 6 First Century Patterns to Follow ....................................................................................... 9 The Right Kind of Baptist ................................................................................................27 A Brief History of the Baptists .........................................................................................37 Baptists in America .........................................................................................................55 Baptist History Chart ......................................................................................................62 Baptists in Modern Europe ..............................................................................................64 Bibliography ...................................................................................................................66
    [Show full text]
  • Trinitarian/Christological Heresies Heresy Description Origin Official
    Trinitarian/Christological Heresies Official Heresy Description Origin Other Condemnation Adoptionism Belief that Jesus Propounded Theodotus was Alternative was born as a by Theodotus of excommunicated names: Psilanthro mere (non-divine) Byzantium , a by Pope Victor and pism and Dynamic man, was leather merchant, Paul was Monarchianism. [9] supremely in Rome c.190, condemned by the Later criticized as virtuous and that later revived Synod of Antioch presupposing he was adopted by Paul of in 268 Nestorianism (see later as "Son of Samosata below) God" by the descent of the Spirit on him. Apollinarism Belief proposed Declared to be . that Jesus had by Apollinaris of a heresy in 381 by a human body Laodicea (died the First Council of and lower soul 390) Constantinople (the seat of the emotions) but a divine mind. Apollinaris further taught that the souls of men were propagated by other souls, as well as their bodies. Arianism Denial of the true The doctrine is Arius was first All forms denied divinity of Jesus associated pronounced that Jesus Christ Christ taking with Arius (ca. AD a heretic at is "consubstantial various specific 250––336) who the First Council of with the Father" forms, but all lived and taught Nicea , he was but proposed agreed that Jesus in Alexandria, later exonerated either "similar in Christ was Egypt . as a result of substance", or created by the imperial pressure "similar", or Father, that he and finally "dissimilar" as the had a beginning declared a heretic correct alternative. in time, and that after his death. the title "Son of The heresy was God" was a finally resolved in courtesy one.
    [Show full text]
  • The Theological and Doxological Reference to the Resurrection And
    The theological and doxological reference to the Resurrection and the Pentecost according to the orations of Gregory of Nazianzus XLI and XLV La referencia teológica y doxológica a la Resurrección y al Pentecostés según las oraciones de Gregorio Nacianceno XLI y XLV La referència teològica i doxològica a la Resurrecció i la Pentecosta segons les oracions de Gregori de Nazianz XLI i XLV A referência teológica e doxológica à Ressurreição e ao Pentecostes segundo as orações de Gregório de Nazianzo XLI e XLV Eirini ARTEMI1 Abstract: In the forty-one oration, Gregory of Nazianzus analyzes the divinity of the Holy Spirit, a subject that is developed again with more severe way in his Fifth Theological Oration. Gregory tries to establish the point by quite a different set of arguments from those adopted in the former discourse, none of whose points are here repeated. In the other oration, forty-five, Gregory refers to the importance of the resurrection for the human race. He presents Christ as the new Adam who saved the human from the death and reunites again the man with God. This is a subject that is referred to the oration forty-one, too. In this paper, we will examine the teaching of Gregory of Nazianzus about the divine status of the Holy Spirit and his equality to the other two persons of the Triune God through theological and biblical images. Also, we will present how he connects his teaching for anthropology based on the Christology. In the end we will show how Gregory produced these orations for public festivals within the literarily ripe tradition of pagan festival rhetoric, but he gives to his orations theological content.
    [Show full text]
  • And Eastern Monophysitism
    Athens Journal of History - Volume 1, Issue 4 – Pages 267-288 The Political and Social Conflict between Orthodox Christianity (Constantinople and Rome) and Eastern Monophysitism By Jayoung Che The 4th Ecumenical Council of Chalcedon (431) denounced Eutychianism/Monophysitism as a heresy. Rushdoony suggested that the Chalcedonian formula made Western liberty possible because the unity and particularity (or individuality) firmly grounded in the triune God freed man from the oppression of the state. In my opinion, however, even the triune God does not always refer to everybody’s liberty, but could degenerate into an instrument protecting the privileged. The so called universalism exploited by some Byzantine emperors or most senatorial aristocrats refers to the enforcement of the religious dogma; the former preferred Monophysitism for consolidating autocratic imperial power, and the latter the Chalcedonian formula for securing their liberty against the emperors’ despotism. Enforcing whichever kind of religious dogma denotes the degeneration of the Byzantine Society towards an exclusive, privileged society. Contrary to religious exclusivism, there was a type of Christianity which was more universal and open- minded, not only towards heretics but even to the pagans. Introduction As Constantine the Great promulgated the Edict of Milan (313 AD), the Hellenic-Roman traditions and the various sects of Christianity began to co- exist legally. Actually, however, the universalism of Christianity allowed it to open its mind towards the so called pagans
    [Show full text]
  • Saint John Chrysostom's Preaching “Logotherapy” in the Face of Heresy of Anomoeanism
    VOX PATRUM 34 (2014) t. 61 Rev. Andriy OLIYNYK* SAINT JOHN CHRYSOSTOM’S PREACHING “LOGOTHERAPY” IN THE FACE OF HERESY OF ANOMOEANISM St. John Chrysostom (349-407) made a huge impact on the development of theological doctrine and pastoral practice, acting during the period, which the researchers characterized as the blooming of patristic era preaching in the Christian East. Simultaneously, at the time a major crisis erupted in the Byzantine Church due to the rapid dissemination of various heresies in the East. St. John’s priest vocation takes place during the final stage of the Arianism heresy, which has quickly spread to Antioch in the form Anomoeanism, chal- lenging the divine nature of Christ. As a theologian, he battles with this heresy from the church’s pulpit. St. John’s preaching “logotherapy” was precisely the defence of the orthodoxy of teaching solely through the use of pastoral care: he uses dialogue with the listener to prove the unsoundness of heretical teachings and thus protect the spiritual life or restore it, and hence guard the integrity of faith of the entrusted to his pastoral care people. I. THE SOCIO-RELIGIOUS ENVIRONMENT OF ST. JOHN CHRYSOSTOM St. John came from the Syrian capital of Antioch, which was believed to be an important military and administrative centre of the Roman East. Here, Chrysostom was born in the year 349, grew up in a pious family and received a sound education first and foremost from the eminent master of philosophy, rhetoric and literature Libanius (314-395)1. The culture, customs and climate of Antioch in Syria had enormous impact on shaping the personality of St.
    [Show full text]
  • How the New Atheists Are Reminding the Humanities of Their Place and Purpose in Society
    University of Louisville ThinkIR: The University of Louisville's Institutional Repository Electronic Theses and Dissertations 12-2018 The emperor's new clothes: how the new atheists are reminding the humanities of their place and purpose in society. David Ira Buckner University of Louisville Follow this and additional works at: https://ir.library.louisville.edu/etd Part of the Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion Commons Recommended Citation Buckner, David Ira, "The emperor's new clothes: how the new atheists are reminding the humanities of their place and purpose in society." (2018). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 3112. https://doi.org/10.18297/etd/3112 This Doctoral Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by ThinkIR: The University of Louisville's Institutional Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ThinkIR: The University of Louisville's Institutional Repository. This title appears here courtesy of the author, who has retained all other copyrights. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE EMPEROR’S NEW CLOTHES: HOW THE NEW ATHEISTS ARE REMINDING THE HUMANITIES OF THEIR PLACE AND PURPOSE IN SOCIETY By David Ira Buckner B.S., East Tennessee State University, 2006 M.A., East Tennessee State University, 2008 A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the College of Arts and Sciences of the University of Louisville In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy
    [Show full text]
  • Acts 2,36 in Contra Eunomium III 3
    Incarnational Ontology and Paschal Transformation: Acts 2,36 in Contra Eunomium III 3 Joseph S. O’Leary The tension between an Antiochene homo assumptus model and an Alexandrian logos-sarx model, running through fourth century Christology, reflects the tension between the two sources of Christian theology, with the Antiochenes seen as attempting to cleave to the narrative, historical nature of the biblical record while the Alexandrians are tempted to a metaphysical dehistoricization of Christology. But it also reflects a tension within the New Testament itself between the quasi-adoptionist, two-stage Christology found in the formula in Romans 1,3–4 that contrasts the prepaschal Son of David and the paschal Son of God. Paul enhances this contrast by adding the phrases ‘according to the flesh’ and ‘according to the Spirit of holiness.’1 This progres- sive Christological model is in tension with Paul’s emphasis elsewhere on Christ’s status as pre-existent Son (Gal 4,4, 1 Cor 8,6, Phil 2,6). According to another archaic formula, in Acts 2,36, Jesus is made both Lord and Christ at his resurrection, in seeming contradiction with Luke’s earlier account of an angelic acclamation of the child Jesus as ‘Christ the Lord’ (Lk 2,11).2 Some have suggested that such tensions can be resolved if we treat the pre- existence language as indicating the ontological status of Christ in a synchronic way, rather than as narrating his pre-history, despite its narrative guise.3 Rather than a clash of narratives, we would then have an ontological overview, on the basis of which the progressive narrative of the exaltation of Jesus can be set forth freely.
    [Show full text]
  • Shawn Bawulski Phd Thesis
    THE FIRE THAT RECONCILES: THEOLOGICAL REFLECTIONS ON THE DOCTRINE OF ETERNAL PUNISHMENT, WITH SPECIAL CONSIDERATION OF ANNIHILATIONISM AND TRADITIONALISM Shawn Bawulski A Thesis Submitted for the Degree of PhD at the University of St Andrews 2012 Full metadata for this item is available in Research@StAndrews:FullText at: http://research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk/ Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/10023/3115 This item is protected by original copyright UNIVERSITY OF ST ANDREWS ST MARY’S COLLEGE ༒ THE FIRE THAT RECONCILES: THEOLOGICAL REFLECTIONS ON THE DOCTRINE OF ETERNAL PUNISHMENT, WITH SPECIAL CONSIDERATION OF ANNIHILATIONISM AND TRADITIONALISM A THESIS SUBMITTED BY SHAWN BAWULSKI TO THE FACULTY OF DIVINITY IN CANDIDACY FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY ST ANDREWS, SCOTLAND May 2012 ii Declarations I, Shawn Bawulski, hereby certify that this thesis, which is approximately 80,000 words in length, has been written by me, that it is the record of work carried out by me and that it has not been submitted in any previous application for a higher degree. date ____________ signature of candidate _________________________________ I was admitted as a research student in September, 2008 and as a candidate for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in April, 2009; the higher study for which this is a record was carried out in the University of St Andrews between 2008 and 2012. date ____________ signature of candidate _________________________________ I hereby certify that the candidate has fulfilled the conditions of the Resolution and Regulations appropriate for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the University of St Andrews and that the candidate is qualified to submit this thesis in application for that degree.
    [Show full text]
  • Jesus the Christ
    JESUS THE CHRIST JESUS THE CHRIST NEW EDITION BY WALTER KASPER T&T Clark International A Continuum imprint The Tower Building, 11 York Road, London SE1 7NX 80 Maiden Lane, Suite 704, New York, NY 10038 www.continuumbooks.com All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. First edition published in Great Britain in 1976 by Burns & Oates This edition fi rst published in 2011 by T&T Clark International © Continuum Books, 2011 Walter Kasper has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identifi ed as the Author of this work. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library EISBN: 978–0-567–40397-1 Typeset by Newgen Imaging Systems Pvt Ltd, Chennai, India Printed and bound in India CONTENTS Introduction to the New Edition viii Abbreviations xxii Foreword xxiii Prefatory note xxv I. JESUS CHRIST TODAY I. THE PROBLEMATICS OF CONTEMPORARY CHRISTOLOGY 1. The position of Christology today 3 2. The basic trends in contemporary Christology 5 3. The tasks of Christology today 8 II. THE HISTORICAL QUEST FOR JESUS CHRIST 1. The starting-point in contemporary belief in Jesus Christ 14 2. The justice and limits of modern research into the life of Jesus 16 3. The theological relevance of the historical aspect 21 III. THE RELIGIOUS QUEST FOR JESUS CHRIST 1.
    [Show full text]
  • Christology-3.Pdf
    Christology Dr. Richard H. Bulzacchelli catholicstudiesacademy.com | [email protected] Christology Syllabus & Objectives This course is designed to advance the students’ understanding of the theological problems surrounding the Person and place of Jesus Christ in theology. Students will be expected to engage in theological exploration of these problems surrounding the human and historical reality of Jesus of Nazareth in relation to the claims the Church makes surrounding his divinity, his place in salvation, and his significance for the final outcome of God’s act of creation. As we explore these questions through an examination of many of the significant figures and events of the history of the Church, students will gain a deeper appreciation of the difficulties of the Christological problem, and the reasons that the Church says what she does, about Christ, and rejects as heresy what she does. Students who complete this course will be equipped to: Identify the major lines of expectation in the Old Testament and how those expectations are tied together and fulfilled in the New Testament portrait of Jesus of Nazareth; Identify and define major Christological heresies, explaining why they are heresies; Relate the Jesus of history with the Jesus of faith in a coherent and orthodox way, according to the mind of the Catholic Church; Name the major Christological Councils of the Church in the Patristic Period, and explain what Christological issues were at stake in them; Identify the major creedal statements associated with the Councils of Nicaea I, Constantinople I, Ephesus, and Chalcedon, and what particular elements each added to our understanding and articulation of the dogma of Christ.
    [Show full text]