By the same ~zrthor LEADERS OF EARLY THE PRICE OF PROGRESS : AND OTHER ESSAYS ETERNAL LIFE : ANCIENT BELIEFS IN A MODERN LIGHT MIRACLES AND MODERN KNOWLEDGE CHRISTIAN THOUGHT UNITARIAN CHRISTIANITY IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY London : Lindsey Press by BEARINGS OF PSYCHOLOGY ON RELIGION SYDNEY HERBERT MELLONE Oxford : Basil Blackwell M.A., D.Sc. External Examiner in Philosophy University of London WESTERN CHRISTIAN THOUGHT IN THE MIDDLE AGES Edinburgh : William Blackwood & Sons THE LINDSEY PRESS I4 GORDON SQUARE, LONDON, W.C.1 First published 1954 TO MY FORMER STUDENTS Printed in Great Britain by Richard Clay and Company, Ltd., Bungay, Suiolk CONTENTS PAGE Preface ix ~ntroduction-THE BACKGROUND : HISTORICAL OUTLINE i3 Chapter I TRADITION AND INTERPRETATION 24 I1 THE BEING OF GOD AND THE CREATIVE WORD 43 I11 THE NATURE OF MAN 90 IV DOCTRINES OF THE PERSON AND WORK OF JESUS CHRIST : (I) BEFORE THE COUNCIL OF NICEA V DOCTRINES OF THE PERSON AND WORK OF JESUS CHRIST : (11) THE COUNCIL OF NICXA AND AFTER V1 THE HOLY SPIRIT AND THE TRINITY V11 THE CHURCH AND THE MINISTRY V111 THE SACRAMENTS Appendix-ADDITIONALREFERENCES INDEX OF NAMES PREFACE THISbook is offered, in the first instance, to thoughtful persons who, whether or not they contemplate a systematic study of Christian theology, are interested in the history of the subject, but who are often, at the outset, bewildered by the massively detailed expositions in the larger works on the History of Christian Doctrine. I have, I hope, been helped to avoid a mere ' sketch ' of the main aspects of the subject by approachmg it in the light of certain principles of fundamental importance. (i) A; a matter of fact, there has been a ' main stream ' in the hlstory of Christian Thought, in whlch doctrines and beliefs which have been historically vital to Christianity have survived through periods sometimes of embittered controversy and con- fusion. But it has not been a mere ' survival '. The canonical Scriptures+ of the Old and New Testaments have been, and are, its primary source. But the authority of the Scriptures and their interpretation inevitably gave rise to questions which could not be directly decided by quotations from the Scriptures themselves, and which, therefore, necessarily led to a development of Christian doctrine. (ii) The very idea of development, in reference to the history of Christian doctrine, brings us to face the conclusion powerfully argued by the greatest Christian scholar of the last century. Adolf Harnack, with a vast knowledge of the relevant facts, brought to his interpretation of the facts a guiding idea of which there is no proof adequate to the radical conclusion which he derived from it, and which is defended, though in a less extreme form, by some recent theologians. The is therefore one of contemporary importance. Harnack saw in the history of Christian doctrines (which he always described as ' dogmas '), and in the history of the Church at large, an alien philosophical method and an illegitimate growth of ecclesiastical authority. PREFACE PREFACE The Gospel of Jesus was changed from its original forin, by the sonahty and work of men who may, in the full meaning of the acceptance of Jewish ' es~hatolo~ical' hopes, by the intrusion of words, be described as creative leaders of Christian thought. Greek and Roman theories about God and the Soul, and above Each of them, directly or indirectly, gave a vital impulse to the all by the Logos doctrine, resulting in a philosophy unfit for the movement of the great Christian doctrines-the value of Tradi- expression of the Gospel. Christianity continued more and more tion, the Being of God and the Creative Word, the nature of to lose its original character, becoming an authoritative Church, haan, the Person and Work of Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit and prescribing belief, ritual, and practical duties. This, then, is held the Trinity, the Church and the Sacraments. In each case, it to have been an overlapping of the teachings of the Founder by seemed possible to state the essential meaning of that ' vital dogmatic, ecclesiastical, and ritual excrescences which have impulse ' without dwelling at length on questions whch (though nothing to do with the authentic message of Jesus himself. It is they may have a historical interest of their own) are none the less true that the series of changes, historically inevitable as they were, ' side-issues '. This involves a distinction between the essential did involve a spiritual danger, because, as time went on, more and the unessential, and a special emphasis on what is essential. stress was laid on the stated content of faith than on faith as an inner The references at thk end of the book will reveal the extent of disposition of the soul. For purposes of unity and fellowship, it my indebtedness to others. The works referred to'which have was easier to deal with characteristics which were comparatively been published in English will provide guidance for students external; and this was accompanied by a similar movement of desiring further systematic study but who do not read in any thought and practice in the history of the Church. But Harnack's language but their own. It is a pleasure to acknowledge per- estimate of the history is not only condemnatory to a degree but mission given by Messrs. James Nisbet, Ltd., to quote from Pro- is profoundly pessimistic. The endowments of man's nature fessor C. H. Dodd's book According to the Scriptures, and to the include a mind and a reasoning faculty. Christianity became Student Christian Movement Press, Ltd., to quote from Pro- theological because man is rational. As for the ' intrusion ' of fessor S. L. Greenslade's book Schism in the Early Church. philosophical ideas, it did not go far enough. Some embittered I may add a short statement on my own behalf. Nothing that and confused controversies would have died a ' natural death ' is said, here or in the following pages, about the Arian movement much sooner than they did, if more, not less, had been learnt from in the fourth century, implies any pre-judgment on the ' Arian- Plato, Aristotle, and the Stoics. It has been said that some of ism ' maintained, twelve centuries later, by some able theologians these controversies were about nothing but words. Those who in this country. The revival of a doctrine is an entirely different thd so have not realised what the issues really meant to those question from that of its first origin. But I believe that the who contended so strenuously about them. We do not need to victory of Arianism in the fourth century would have resulted in go far beneath the surface to discern their vital relation to some of the destruction of everything that is rationally and spiritually the controversies which trouble our minds today. valuable in Christianity. The result of the conflict was a con- (iii) It is widely recognised, at the present time, that history viction which it was impossible for the Arians at that time to hold : must be related not only in terms of events but in terms of the that there is an essential relation of man's nature to the Nature of persons who make the events. Above all, in the case of Chris- L God. It was confined to Christ alone. The whole endeavour tianity, the influence of dominant personalities is a standing refuta- was at first concentrated on the explanation, in terms of thought tion of the ' im~ersonal' view of historv. I have therefore I I and feeling, of the Personahty of him who was at once Son of Man endeavoured to gather the essentially important material-fr om and Son of God. The life and work and teaching of Christ, in a the later apostolG age to the age of Augustine-round the per- word, his whole Personality, must be known to be real before the xii idea and ideal of the essential relation of man to God could be carried further ; but ths, once known to be real, must inevitably determine the whole issue. ' The Incarnation is true, not of Christ exclusively, but of man universally, and of God ever- lastingly '. The Light which creates our higher life, our higher INTRODUCTION human life of thought and feehg, is ' of one substance ' with the THE BACKGROUND : HISTORICAL OUTLINE very being of God. Of this universal truth Christ became the THEimperial constitution of Rome mav be considered to have Revealer, with a personal power destroying every illusion which L J would hide it. begun in the year 27 B.c., when the conqueror of Antony at Actium was summoned, by a world worn out by twenty years of war and anarchy, to the task of establishing a government whch, without destroying the trahtions of the republic, would provide for the centralisation of authority whch experience had shown to be necessary for the stability and integrity of the empire. Octavian was well fitted for the task. Cool-headed, far-sighted, opportunist tactful, for over forty years he governed, organised, conquered, and left behind him a coherent and well-administered empire. In recognition of hs achievements the Senate conferred on him the title ' Augustus '-a title which he was very whg to accept. His successor, Tiberius, began by ruling in the spirit of Augustus, but ended by creating a reign of terror when no prominent man in Rome felt that hs life was safe. During the next thirty years we see on the imperial throne Caius Caesar (' Caligula ') , vain, cruel, half-insane ; Claudius, personally of weak health and with a stammering tongue, but a skilful organiser and empire-builder, whose fate was to be murdered (by poison) in the year A.D.