A History of Christian Theology
Class Notes #4 –
Chapters 7 & 8
- The Ninth Sunday after Trinity.The Collect.
GRANT to us, Lord, we beseech thee, the spirit to think and do always such things as are right; that we, who cannot do any thing that is good without thee, may by thee be enabled to live according to thy will; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
- Recap last class –
October 11, 2006 - Chapter 7
- Pp 90 – the initial confluence of ‘Church and State’
i.
ii. Was known as first Christian Emperor – According to the Christina historian Eusebius Constantine was marching with his army when he looked up to the sun and saw a cross of light above it, and with it the Greek words "by this, conquer!" The following night, he had a dream in which Christ explained to him that he should use the sign against his enemies and Constantine had the Latin cross painted on his soldiers sheilds.
iii. Constantine legalized Christianity with the Edict of Milan in 313.
iv. He was baptized on his death bed
v. In the 8th century, a document called the "Donation of Constantine" first appeared, in which the freshly converted Constantine supposedly handed temporal rule over Rome, Italy and the Occident to the Pope. In the High Middle Ages, this document was used and accepted as the basis for the Pope's temporal power, though it was denounced as a forgery.
- Constantine called the First Council of Nicea in 325.
- The mixing of Chruch and state (bottom pp 91)
i. The Emperor under Justinian had significant powers of appointment of church officials and direction over theological differences
1. Much like the Anglican Church since Henry VIII – the King/Queen is head of the Church of England.
- Iconoclastic debates (pp 92/93)
i. Jews took the commandment against images very seriously – no pictures or statues should depict God.
ii. Over time the use of images increased in Christian worship
1. Jesus was God – images should not be allowed; or
2. Jesus was a man – his manhood can be depicted just as any other man’s would be (john of
- Hesychasts (pp 98/99) – deeply spiritual and mystical groups (monks)
i. Mysticism vs rational or liturgical modes of worship (connection) with God
ii. A danger with spiritual gifts was that those who had assumed those who did not were not saved.
1. What did Paul say? 1 Cor 12-14 (especially 14)
- The Great Schism of 1054
i. The Procession of the Holy Ghost – is it ‘From the Father’ or ‘From the Father and the Son’?
1. The filioque – Nicene Creed: “And I believe in the Holy Ghost, The Lord, and Giver of Life, Who proceedeth from the Father and the Son” (double procession)
ii. Background – back to Arianism – the west was fighting against resurgent or persistent Arianism and inserted the clause to support the deity of Christ.
iii. East objected because this seemed to make the Holy Spirit subservient to the Son (or even the Father’s grandson!)
iv. A usual compromise is: “Who proceeded from the Father through the Son”.
- Chapter 8 – Augustine
- The great theologian of the West.
i. Writing against the Donatists (pp 114)
1. Donatists held out for the perfect church. Refused re-admittance of fallen Christian clergy.
2. If clergy were not valid then the sacraments might be worthless.
a. Article 26: XXVI. Of the Unworthiness of the Ministers, which hinders not the effect of the Sacraments. Although in the visible Church the evil be ever mingled with the good, and sometimes the evil have chief authority in the Ministration of the Word and Sacraments, yet forasmuch as they do not the same in their own name, but in Christ's, and do minister by his commission and authority, we may use their Ministry, both in hearing the Word of God, and in receiving the Sacraments. Neither is the effect of Christ's ordinance taken away by their wickedness, nor the grace of God’s gifts diminished from such as by faith, and rightly, do receive the Sacraments ministered unto them; which be effectual, because of Christ’s institution and promise, although they be ministered by evil men.
Nevertheless, it appertaineth to the discipline of the Church, that inquiry be made of evil Ministers, and that they be accused by those that have knowledge of their offences; and finally, being found guilty, by just judgment be deposed.
ii. Against Pelagians:
1. Pelagius believed we could “lift ourselves up by our own bootstraps”.
2. Augustine argued that Original Sin infected all people so that we were prisoners of sin.
a. Only through free (and unmerited) grace from God can we be saved.
b. If God is the source of Grace for salvation, then we must be predestined by God for Salvation (or not).
3. Summary of Augustine’s (contradictory) teaching: pp 119
Augustine's Saying which alarmed Pelagius
This text, written in Latin in 400, is of both historical and theological importance. Theologically, it demonstrates Augustine's characteristic emphasis on the priority of God in the life of the believer. Historically, it was the public reading of this text at
Source: Confessions, X, 40; in St Augustine's Confessions, Loeb Classical Library, ed. W. Watts (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1961), pp. 148-50.
I have no hope at all but in your great mercy. Grant what you command and command what you will (da quod iubes et iube quod vis). You ask us to be continent. "And when I knew," someone said, "that nobody could be continent, unless God gave it, this also was itself a part of wisdom, to know whose gift it was." Truly by continence we are bound together and brought back into that unity from which we were dissipated into a plurality. For anyone who loves anything along with you (unless they love it for your sake), loves you too little. O love that burns for ever and is never quenched! O Charity, my God, set me on fire! You ask us to be continent. Grant what you command and command what you will.
Pelagius on Human Responsibility
In this letter written to Demetrias, a Roman lady of high social status who eventually became a nun, Pelagius argues that the divine commands are unconditionally binding upon Christians. God knows the abilities of humanity, and the commands reflect the ability with which God endowed humanity at creation. There is no defect in human nature which prevents them from achieving what God commands people to do. See also 6.14; 6.19; 6.20.
Source: Letter to Demetrias, 16; in J. P. Migne, Patrologia Latina, 33:111OA-B.
[Instead of regarding God's commands as a privilege] ... we cry out at God and say, "This is too hard! This is too difficult! We cannot do it! We are only human, and hindered by the weakness of the flesh!" What blind madness! What blatant presumption! By doing this, we accuse the God of knowledge of a twofold ignorance - ignorance of God's own creation and of God's own commands. It would be as if, forgetting the weakness of humanity - his own creation - God had laid upon us commands which we were unable to bear. And at the same time - may God forgive us! - we ascribe to the righteous One unrighteousness, and cruelty to the Holy One; first, by complaining that God has commanded the impossible, second, by imagining that some will be condemned by God for what they could not help; so that - the blasphemy of it! - God is thought of as seeking our punishment rather than our salvation ... No one knows the extent of our strength better than the God who gave us that strength ... God has not willed to command anything impossible, for God is righteous; and will not condemn anyone for what they could not help, for God is holy.
Augustine on Human Freedom
Augustine's emphasis on grace occasionally seems to suggest that he denies human freedom. In this passage, originally written in Latin at some point during the period 413-26, Augustine discusses the relation of sin, grace and free will in some detail, noting the various types of freedom which humanity possesses, from the freedom enjoyed by Adam to that which will be enjoyed by those who finally inhabit the heavenly
Source: de civitate Dei, XXII, 30; in The City of God against the Pagans, Loeb Classical Library, ed. W. M. Green (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1972), vol. 7, pp. 376-8.
Nor will they not have free choice because sins will have no power to attract them. Far from it; it will be more truly free, when it has been set free from the delight of sinning, to enjoy the steadfast delight of not sinning. For the first free will (liberum arbitrium) which was given to humanity when it was created upright (rectus), gave not just the ability not to sin, but also the ability to sin. This new freedom is all the more powerful precisely because it will not have power to sin; and this, not by its unaided natural ability, but by the gift of God. It is one thing to be God, and another to share in God. God is unable to sin; anyone who shares in God has received from God the inability to sin ... The first immortality, which Adam lost by sinning, was the ability not to die (posse non mori), the new immortality will be the inability to die (non posse mori). In the same way, the first freedom of choice conferred the ability not to sin (posse non peccare); the new freedom will confer the inability to sin (non posse peccare) ... It surely cannot be said that God does not have any freedom of choice, just because God is unable to sin?
Thus the freedom of that city will be one single will present in everyone, freed from all evil and filled with every good, enjoying continually the delight of eternal joy. Although sins and punishments will be forgotten, this will not lead to forgetting its liberation, or being ungrateful to its liberator.
