Brecht EFM 3.

1: THE FIRST 1800 YEARS – THE AGENDA DEVELOPS

Goals for our study of church history:

1. Answer how does what happened then help us to understand what is happening
now?
2. To acquire a critical ability to test the authority of what happened in the past.
3. To enrich the repertoire of models by which we interpret our own ministry. Each
model acts like a discipline or path to follow:
a. Theology – life of the mind
b. Liturgics – life of the spirit
c. Ethics – life of action

The HB and NT are accepted by the early church as accounts of the story of salvation. In
the events of Israel and the life of Jesus, the church saw the decisive moments of
salvation history. The life, death, and resurrection of Jesus were the climax of God’s
work began in the call of Abraham. The foundation myth has been told and the story now
centers on the human response.

What the church’s early teachers did was to transpose the Christian message or the
witness of the Bible from Jewish ways of thinking into Greek, that is Hellenized, ways of
thinking. Others, at a later time, transposed the Hellenized ways of thinking into a Latin
way of thinking. Sometimes the attempt succeeded, sometimes it failed. They succeed
when they hand on the heart and essence of Christianity.

From a western European perspective the history of the church is divided into 4 eras:
1. early church 60 – 565 CE
2. middle ages 1000 – 1400
3. Reformation 1500’s
4. modern period 1800 - 1900

The Eastern church’s heritage in its early forms is called “Alexandrian” – theology
consisting of writings of Clement of Alexandria, Origen, Athanasius.

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Brecht EFM 3.2: THE ROMAN EMPIRE: FIRST 5 CENTURIES OF CHRISTIANITY

Concept of empire was invented by Alexander the Great (356-323 BCE)

Roman Empire (Romitas):

1. universal language (Koine, common Gk.)
2. unrivaled roads – 50,000 miles
3. booming economy w/ common currency; dependent on slavery;
4. Pax romanas – peace in the empire under Augustus
5. 5 million poulation

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Suzanne Zantop Y3.4 EFM Notes: THE APOLOGISTS: JUSTIN AND IRENAEUS

From the time of Paul and the evangelists until the middle of the second century,
Christian writings were simplistic moral instruction dealing primarily with day-to-day
problems. By the time of Justin and Irenæus, a body of Christian teaching or “Christian
Testament” was available to inform and enrich the Christian faith and to defend it against
critics.

At this point, the church began to struggle in defining its faith -- what did it believe in
and on what authority – how should it proceed in worship, ministry, liturgy – etc.

Although the New Testament consistently portrays Jesus as fully human in a unique
relationship with God, one school of thought, known as Docetism, contended that Jesus
was divine and only “appeared” human.

At the opposite extreme was a community of Jewish Christians, known as Ebionites, who
contended that Jesus was strictly the human son of human parents and held to Mosaic
Law, accepting only the Gospel According to Matthew and rejecting Paul’s epistles.
Their Jewish monotheism made it difficult for them to affirm divinity in any other being.
This demonstrated the gulf that was separating the Christians from the Jewish
antecedents.

Between these extremes were two other distinct but related viewpoints.

1. The first view is philosophical, similar to Paul yet also following Hellenistic
thought. Christ was the bearer and teacher of the perfect knowledge of our relationship
with God, which saves us from ignorance, doubt, and sin and calls us to become one with
God beyond the temporal things of this life.

2. The second view is a theology that follows the Hebraic idea of representative
humanity or corporate identity. Christ represented all mankind, and in his resurrection

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from the dead, our human nature is elevated. Therefore, his suffering and death are not
merely an example for us to follow but the actual salvation of humanity.

The Christian convert Justin is the first of the major theologians to bridge these two ideas
to show Christianity as a “rational” religion. He used the Greek concept of “Logos”
(meaning “word”), which is the universal reason that governs the world, to commend
Christian faith to cultured or educated inquirers or philosophical critics. He contended
that the Word has always been implanted in everyone and enables us to discern the truth.
But, Christ is, himself, the Word of God who reveals the truth about God by coming to
world with enlightenment. With this doctrine, Justin sought to bind the continuity
between God and the world (theology) with pagan philosophy, because everyone,
including the pagans, was inspired by the germinal Logos.

Justin believed that the knowledge that Christ brings is the knowledge of sin and evil, all
of which come from the devil and his minions who attempt to keep their victims in
bondage through deception. They are the irrationality that opposes the rationality of
Christianity. In modern terms, Christ’s whole life – from wilderness temptations to the
cross – was one of conflict against the irrational and destructive force of sin and the
power of death. We, too, are in two places and must refocus our concern; we are part of
creation, but we also have within us the divine gift of reason, or Logos, through which we
can receive the gift of life by focusing on God’s concerns.

Gnosticism – claiming a special and often secret knowledge not generally available to the
public about the meaning of life and salvation. Gnostics believed that Christ’s teachings
had hidden meanings that he imparted to a privileged group of his disciples. They saw
creation as purely corrupt, unable to be in communion with God, and intimated that the
teaching of Jesus might be profaned if it got into the wrong hands. Ostensibly, this
effectively eliminated any type of communion amongst Christians.

Irenæus was a “biblical theologian”. He insisted that the Hebrew scriptures, along with
the writings that we now call the New Testament, were the truth because they are

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apostolic (meaning teaching that is handed down). This succession of the true faith from
the apostles through their successors, the bishops, is the foundation of his defense against
Gnostic distortions. Irenæus argued that if Jesus had given some secret gnosis to his
disciples to be handed down, it had not been transmitted as no one seemed to know what
it was. Therefore, the church’s teaching is consistent with truth and ascertainable in its
truest sense by anyone who reads or hears it. All other teaching can be measured by this
standard for validity. The teaching authority of the church hierarchy was asserted as one
means of deciding the proper interpretation of the scriptures.

Irenæus was the first Christian thinker to make use of Genesis 1 and 2 to develop a
doctrine of salvation, explaining it as a Trinitarian creation -- the God who created us is
the God whom we also know as Jesus Christ who is the Word for us and the God whose
is also the Creator Spirit. We are created by God to live in communion with him.

HOWEVER, the tragedy of creation is that we choose to be sinners by setting our wills
against those of God’s; we put ourselves out of communion. To Irenæus, separation
from God is death, just as separation from light is darkness. God, then, must lay demands
and pass judgment on us to control the course of sin in human life and prevent it from
degenerating into chaos. Through his incarnation, Jesus Christ made us what he is. He
brought us into communion with God by taking on the bondage of sin and giving us life
again.

This renewal of life is given in baptism through the church, which God provides us for
the nourishment of our lives. The life we experience now through the church will only be
more abundant in the “kingdom” to come when we shall be “perfectly what God created
us to be,” as Irenæus put it.

Other notes:

Introduces the idea of Mary the virgin who begat the savior of the world as opposed to
Eve, the virgin who created chaos.

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The Mysteries: To some at the time, some of the church’s practices and beliefs
resembled those of popular “mystery cults”. Example: the belief in the death and
resurrection of Jesus, baptism as an initiatory rite, and the Eucharist which resembled
blood sacrifice. However, modern scholarship maintains that these Christian beliefs and
practices are inherent from the salvation history and tradition of the Israelites.

Marcion & Marcionism: The son of a bishop in Asia Minor, Marcion felt that the church
was moving into the more legalistic territory of Old Testament Law and espoused Paul’s
teaching. However, whereas Paul did not reject the salvation-history of the Old
Testament, Marcion and his followers rejected the entire Old Testament notion of a God
of justice. He saw the O.T. God as angry and as a “fallen angel…who created the
material world in order to wreak his wrath on any who opposed his will. Christ…[a
Docetic Christ] was sent by the true God, the God of love, to call people away from the
false “god” of justice.” Consequently, Marcion rejected all of the O.T. and recognized as
authoritative only the letters of Paul and the writings of Luke, with references favorable
to the O.T. removed!

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Suzanne Zantop EFM 3.5: SCISM and DEVELOPMENTS: TERTULLIAN and
CYPRIAN

Although the golden age of Hellenism (latest period of Greek culture that saw the highest
forms of art, architecture, literature, philosophy, and science) had passed by the time of
Jesus, the culture was still alive and admired. The Hebrew bible had already been
translated into Greek for the many Jews who only spoke Greek. Educated Greco-Roman
minds were already influenced by diverse philosophical thought, each of which embodied
concepts similar to Christian thought. In particular, the arguments of Plato and Aristotle
upheld monotheism and reason (or logos) rather than pantheism.

Plato espoused another “shadow” world beyond what we can actually see that is “real”.
Platonism maintained the supremacy of the unseen “Form of the Good” over the seen.
The forms of the shadow world represent the thoughts of God to which human beings
aspire. Ultimately, the goal of a moral life is for the soul to reach its highest potential of
goodness.

Aristotle, who was Plato’s student, held God to be the Cause of all things but not a cause
in a personal relation with human life. The ideal is a life of moderation, where the mean
between extremes is desirable.

Stoicism taught that logos is present in nature. Therefore, everyone has logos in them.
“Life according to nature” is open to all. To be good is to be wise, living in accordance
with nature and reason.

In the second century, the Christian apologist Justin used the concept of logos to
commend Christian faith to inquirers or philosophical critics. He contended that Christ
is, himself, the Word of God who reveals the truth about God by coming into world with
enlightenment. Justin sought to bind the continuity between God and the world
(theology) with pagan philosophy, because everyone, including the pagans, was inspired
by the germinal Logos.

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The philosopher Epicurus believed that the physical universe resulted from the clash of
atoms. Although pantheistic, he did not believe that the gods concerned themselves with
the trivial activities of humans. Although Epicurus believed that we should respond to
the best of our ability as natural instincts and impulses arise, he advocaed the avoidance
of the pains of conscience by acting virtuously.

Neo-Pythagoreanism advocated vows of poverty, silence, obedience, and chastity to

enable our divine spark to return to its divine origin. There is divine order in nature.
This gave a promise of release from the tyranny of capricious and mindless forces.

Greco-Roman society associated philosophy with lifestyle and religion with cult.
Christian principles -- of God the creator and benefactor, of an unseen kingdom beyond
earthly life, of Jesus’ humility and obedience, of the Holy Spirit’s presence in all
mankind – embodied the varying philosophies of Hellenistic thought.

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 ON THE EVE OF THE COUNCILS
Summary

What were the ideas that influenced the great ecumenical councils? This chapter covers the philosophical
(the way we approach ‘how we think’) and theological (how we think about God) ideas in play during the
2nd- 3rd century CE.

The two competing philosophical systems during this period were neo-Platonism and Aristotelianism. Both
stem from Hellenistic Idealism: ideas of the human mind are the fundamental means of understanding
reality.

In neo-Platonism (based on Plato’s ideas; 427-347 BCE), the universe streams forth (emanates) from the
One (the ultimate idea, God). It is impossible to speak of the One at all, the via negativa is all that is
possible. The logos is the expression of the inner being of the One: God’s face, his speech, his self-
manifestations; he is the intermediary between the absolute, unchanging, and unspeakable One and the
relative, changing describable universe. Nous is the first emanation from the One, containing the ideas of
all things.

In Aristotelianism (based on teachings of Aristotle; 384-322 BC;, pupil of Plato) a person sought facts and
substances rather than ideal forms; causality, reasoning, and logic over contemplation of the idea as in
Plato; held God to be the Cause of all things.

There were two competing theological schools: (1) the Alexandrian School based on Platonism: in the
Logos all truth is found; the Logos spoke to the Jews in the Torah; the same Logos spoke to the Greeks
through the philosophers; identified this Logos w/ “Word became flesh” of John; looked for mystical
meaning behind every scripture passage; and (2) the Antioch School, which was based on Aristotelian
philosophy; examined every scripture passage minutely to see what it was actually saying.

The Alexandrian school had two great theologians during this period: (1) Clement of Alexandria (b. 150)
who adapted Platonic world view into a Christian worldview: a) he transformed spiritual discipline
(knowledge) that led to salvation from an intellectual orientation to an ethical one; b) instead of ecstatic
absorption into the One, he envisioned a new union of love, which necessarily preserves the identity of
lover and beloved; and (2) Origen (b. 185) who taught that the essential nature of God was triune, with no
division into lesser and greater; the only true source for Christian theology is found in OT + NT scripture;
secondary source is the ‘ecclesiastical and apostolic tradition’ expressed in the ‘rule of faith;’ prayer is not
so much a request for divine favors as a process that sanctifies the life of the worshiper; God and
humankind work together to achieve God’s goals.

The Antioch school had Paul of Samosata (c. 260): who taught form of Monarchianism, according to which
the Word was simply an attribute of the father, his reason, or his power. In the Incarnation, the Word
descended on the man Jesus, who thus became ‘Son of God.’

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Theological Vocabulary

- apatheia (ah-pah-THAY-ah) –fulfillment; the heart’s content; abundance rather than lack

- Apologists: all Easterners had employed the Logos concept, w/ its inherent tendency toward
Subordinationism. The East is constantly striving to overcome this inherent tendency.

- Gnosticism: claiming a special and often secret knowledge not generally available to the public about
the meaning of life and salvation. Gnostics believed that Christ’s teachings had hidden meanings that
he imparted to a privileged group of his disciples. They saw creation as purely corrupt, unable to be in
communion with God, and intimated that the teaching of Jesus might be profaned if it got into the
wrong hands. Ostensibly, this effectively eliminated any type of communion amongst Christians.

- Trinity: God was a trinity – three hypostases (persons) in one ousia (substance): “ the grace of our
Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit” (2 Cor. 13).

- Monarchism: emphasis on the divine aspect of Jesus challenged the sovereignty of one God.
o Dynamic monarchism: Jesus was truly indwelt by the divine, but not by God himself; it was
God’s power that was in Jesus.
o Modalism: the one God (the Father) himself became flesh as the Son of God, to redeem the
world. The West is inclined to see God as one single divine entity (essence – Tertullian used
substantia) carrying out three roles in the oikonomia.

- oikonomia (oi-kon-oh-MEE-ah): divine economy where the three persons of the Trinity carry out
different operations. Origenism concept.

- ousia: Gk. the essential reality that underlies any particular object (its being) Lat. essentia Tertullian
used substantia for the oneness of God, Origen used ousia to express this essential unity.

- persona/personae Lat. prosopon Gk lit. a mask or role or stage identity; theol. the specific
manifestation of God;. Tertullian used persona, Origen used hypostasis (a being) instead of prosopon
to express the threefold distinctions of God’s ousia (being) or substantia.

- pistis – the word Plato used for the mental act by which ‘opinion’ is generated; the same word the NT
uses for ‘faith.

- substantia Lat. hypostasis/hypostases: Gk. a particular or concrete expression of a thing (Paul is a

particular or concrete expression of humankind).

- Sabellianism (also modalism or Modalistic Monarchism): teaching of Sabellius (early 3rd century) that
God has one nature and is one person with three names: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This Trinitarian
teaching was heretical as the church taught that God is one and that the Godhead consists of three
persons.

- subordinationism: Christ and the Holy Spirit are lesser in rank than the Father. Inferred from
oikonomia appearing in writings of Justin Martyr 9c.100-c.165), Origen (c.185-c.254) and in Arianism.
This was viewed as heresy by Council of Constantinople, 381.

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Lyle Brecht 25-Jul-09 EFM Notes III: Ch8 – THE DEVELOPING FAITH of the EARLY
CHURCH: THE TRINITY and PERSON of CHRIST

Ecumenical Councils: First 7 councils were recognized as authoritative in both eastern + western
Christianity. Language of these councils was Greek. The Roman Catholic Church as recognized
to date 21 ecumenical councils, the most recent being: Council of Trent (1545-63); Vatican I
(1869-70; Vatican II (1962-65).
CE
325 Council of Nicea: affirmed against the Arians that Jesus Christ was truly the son of God.
Called by Emperor Constantine, who presided. 300 bishops attending did not consider it their task
to create theological doctrine but to act as custodians for the tradition; to decide whether either
side in the dispute represented the teachings that had come down from the beginning. A creed
was written, (revision of the creed of Caesarea) including ousia and homoousia to make it
explicitly anti-Arian.
I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and of all things
visible and invisible; And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God,
begotten of his Father before all worlds, God of God, Light of Light, very God of very
God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father; by whom all things
were made; who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven, and was
incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary, and was made man; and was crucified
also for us under Pontius Pilate; he suffered and was buried; and the third day he rose
again according to the Scriptures, and ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand
of the Father; and he shall come again, with glory, to judge both the quick and the dead;
whose kingdom shall have no end. And I believe in the Holy Ghost the Lord, and Giver
of Live, who proceedeth from the Father [and the Son]; who with the Father and the Son
together is worshipped and glorified; who spake by the Prophets. And I believe one holy
Catholic and Apostolic Church; I acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins; and
I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. AMEN.
Four views on use of homoousia: 1) western bishops saw it as defense of Trinitarian formula
inherited from Tertullian, una substantia (one substance) and three personae; 2) Sabellianism
eastern bishops (Marcellus of Ancyra, Eustathius of Antioch) viewed homoousia as expression of
their belief to the one God acting in the modes of Father and Son; 3) Alexandrians (Nicene party)
used homoousia to express the full divinity of the Son; 4) majority of bishops in the East were
concerned homoousia use leaned toward Sabellianism.

381 Council of Constantinople: affirmed against the Apollinarians that Jesus Christ is also truly
human and reaffirmed the Creed of Nicea. It also condemned the Apollinarian teaching. The
church proclaimed that Christ is truly God – ‘consubstantial’ w/ the Father – and is also
completely human, with body, animal soul, and rational soul.

431 Council of Ephesus: affirmed against the Nestorians that Jesus Christ is one person. Called by
the two emperors, Theodosius II in East and Valentinian III in West.

451 Council of Chalcedon (kal-SEE-dun):affirmed against the Monophysites, that in the one
person of Jesus Christ there are two distinct natures.

553 Constantinople II: strengthened Chalcedon formula by condemning Nestorianism and

moving along lines laid out by Cyril.

680-1 Constantinople III: reaffirmed the traditional doctrine of two natures of Christ by
condemning Monothelitism

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787 Nicea II: condemned iconoclasm (destruction of icons) by restoring veneration of icons and
regulating how they should be honored.

Theology

Alexander of Alexandria: an Origenist who taught the Father and the Son are coeternal and share
the same incorporeal divine nature; the Son is eternally begotten of his Father.

Alexandria: northern city of Egypt on Mediterranean.

Alexandrian: theology of Alexandrian school of theology inc. Clement, Origen. Alexandrian

thought never considered salvation to be result of moral activity. The goal of Christian life was
symbolized as mystical union w/ God, w/ righteousness following as result.

anthropos: Gk. man as a species as distinct from animals, angels, Christ, and God; subject to
weakness, death, sin, evil, flattery, error.

Antioch: the most ancient Christian see; the mission to the Gentiles (Greeks, pagans) began here.
Gospel of Matthew composed here. Christianity is the new Torah; Jesus the new Moses. Lucian
school of theology produced Arius.

Antiochene: theology coming out of Antioch school of theologians.

Apollinarius of Laodicea, Syria (near Antioch): Supporter of Athanasius. Like other Hellenists,
saw the nature of a human being comprised of 3 parts: body, soul (life principle), and spirit/mind
(mind = rational soul, the seat of personhood). Believed it absolutely essential that divine Word
be joined to human flesh; only a union of deity and humanity could give immortality to
humankind. Therefore, Christ must be ‘one person’ in whom the two natures are joined. This
enables Apollinarius to affirm Christ was one person. It was this that made it possible for Christ
to assume humanity and yet live w/o sin. His divinity prevailed. The divine Word (Logos) is the
archetype after which human ‘rational souls’ (logoi) are patterned.

Apollinarians: believed Christ, in whom the Word was made flesh, is not also truly man.

Arianism: Arianism: teaching of Arius (c. 250-336) that Jesus was the highest and most complete
manifestation of the true moral nature of humanity but does not share the same substance as God
the Father. Believed the Word who was made flesh was not completely and truly God. “’If the
Father begat the Son’ he that was begotten had a beginning of existence; hence it is clear that
there was when the Son was not. It follows then of necessity that he had his existence from the
non-existent.” Something that has its existence from the non-existence is a creature, not God. God
exists from Himself alone, and he is the only one of whom this can be said. The Son was different
from the Father. The Son can have no direct knowledge of the Father and is unable to
comprehend the infinite essence of God. The Son is even subject to change-a characteristic
foreign to God- a fact made apparent by his becoming flesh. The Father calls him Son by
adoption and we properly revere him; but he is not God, and we dishonor God is we call him
such. Jesus was the highest and most complete manifestation of the true moral nature of humanity
(Prov. 8:22; John 14:24; Acts 2:36; Rom. 8:29; Col. 1:15; Heb. 3:2). [the Jewish image of the
Messiah did not involve the assertion of his divine nature, and the eschatological hope of Judaism
did not require it.]

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Arius, 250-336: pupil of Lucian of Antioch serving as presbyter to Alexander of Alexandria.

Athanasius: d. 373 (Defense of the Nicene Definition); in 362 called synod in Alexandria where
bishops agreed that the Son and father were equally divine – which homoousia stated- and that
they were distinct from one another – as intended by those bishops who preferred homoiousia and
the Holy Spirit was divine in the same way that Father and Son were divine.

Cappadocians: Basil of Caesarea, Gregory of Nazianzus), Gregory of Nyssa; Basil’s younger

brother) helped to prepare the way for Council of Nicea. After the Council they strongly
advocated Nicene faith, and along w/ Athanasius helped lay the foundation for final formulation
of Trinitarian doctrine @ Council of Chalcedon in 451.
Basil of Caesarea (c.330-379): became the formative influence in the early development
of monasticism in the East. In thinking through meaning of Trinity, helped define the terms that
later came into common use in theological reflection. Since Jesus Christ is divine, we may
properly speak of Jesus as homoousious with God the Father. In On the Holy Spirit affirms the
divinity of the Holy Spirit.
Gregory of Nazianzus (330-c.389; helped to refine vocabulary of doctrine of God and
theology as a science. God is one, there can be only one God. When we pray to God or worship
God, we worship only one God. But we can consider the Father apart, the Son apart, and the
Spirit apart. The Father is unbegotten; the Son uniquely begotten.
Gregory of Nyssa (c. 335-394: is greatest of Cappadocians as theologian. We affirm the
unity of God when we assert that the Son and Father are of the same ousia. The Son is
‘consubstantial’ with the Father. But within the oneness of the deity we affirm a distinction
between the hypostases or ‘persons’ of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, thereby recognizing the
distinctive properties of each. The Spirit ‘proceeds.” The Spirit is of the Father or derived from
the Father without being created. But he is also of the Son (like a light kindled through the
medium of a second light from the first).

ecumenical: representative of the whole church in matters of doctrine.

eschatology/eschatological: theology of the Kingdom of God’s final form at the end of present
history.

Eusebius of Nicomedia: an Arian bishop who attempted to: 1) discredit Nicene council; 2) gain
personal favor of Emperor Constantine; 3) win support for Arianism.

Hellenists: Greek culture, values, and language developed after time of Alexander the Great.

Heresy: doctrine that is destructive of Christianity. It is also a one-sided choice that contains some
truth, but becomes destructive.

homoousious/ homoousia: Gk. having the same essence or essential being or substance as (Eng.
consubstantial).

homoiousia (ho-MOY-oo-see-ah): Gk. Father and Son are of like substance.

hypostasis/hypostases: Gk. a particular or concrete expression of a thing (Paul is a particular or

concrete expression of humankind) Lat. substantia.

Julian the Apostate: succeeded Constantius as Emperor; restored Athanasius to Alexandria from
3rd exile.

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Macedonianism (Pneumatomachianism): did not believe in the full divinity of the Holy Spirit but
that the Spirit was subordinate to God the father and God the Son. Their teaching was condemned
by Pope Damascus in 374.

modalism: heretical view that one God was revealed at different times in different ways and thus
has three manners (modes) of appearance rather than being one God in three Persons.

Monarchianism: A form of modalism that focused on the unity of God by seeing God as a divine
monad w/ no distinctions w/in the divine Being. God only appears as Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit; includes Patripassianism and Sabellianism.

Monophysites: heretical view that Christ had only one nature rather than a divine and a human
nature that were united in one person.

Monothelitism (MON-oh-THEL-uh-tism): From edit of Heraclitus (Emperor of Constantinople)

in 638 declaring that Christ operated under the exercise of one divine-human will.

Nestorianism: Followers of Nestorius (d. 451) who taught Jesus Christ was two separate persons
as well as possessing two distinct natures. Declared as heresy by Council of Ephesus, 431.

Nestorius (d. 451): student under Theodore of Mopsuetia at Antioch; became Bishop of
Constantinople in 428.

Origenism: Views emerging from teachings of Origen (c. 185-c. 254) including the preexistence
of human souls, subordination of the Son to the father, and view of universal salvation
(universalism) condemned at various Councils through the 6th century.

ousia: Gk. the essential reality that underlies any particular object (its being) Lat. essentia
Tertullian used substantia for the oneness of God, Origen used ousia to express this essential
unity.

Patripassianism: (Modal Monarchism) The Son identified w/ the Father. “the Father himself
descended into the virgin, was himself born of her, himself suffered” (Tertullian).

prosopon Gk lit. a mask or role or stage identity; theol. the specific manifestation of God; .Lat.
persona/personae. Tertullian used persona, Origen used hypostasis (a being) instead of prosopon
to express the threefold distinctions of God’s ousia (being) or substantia.

Pneumatomachians (new-MAT-oh-MAC-ians): same as Macedonianism from Macedonius,

Bishop of Constantinople in 360 (Arianism of the Holy Spirit) believed the Son to be a creature
of the Father; the Holy Spirit was a creature of the Son (Heb 1:14).

physics: Gk. used to refer to the divine and human natures of Christ; Lat. natura Eng. nature.

Sabellianism: (Modal Monarchism) one God in three temporary manifestations. Father, Son, and
Holy Spirit are one and the same being, in the sense that the names are attached to one being.

Trinity: image of God as Creator (the Father), Redeemer (Jesus Christ), and Sanctifier (Holy
Spirit). Human beings are created in the “image of God.”

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Tertullian (ter-TULL-ian): first major theologian to write in Latin. First to use trinitos (Eng.
trinity). Divine revelation, not human wisdom, was source of truth. One God, the divine Trinity is
“one substance in three persons (una substantia tres personae). Christ is persona duae naturae.
In the Trinity, each persona is distinct – although not separate from the other, but each has the
same substantia. In Christ, each natura is distinct, although possessed by the same persona.
Three personae share the same substantia of deity, and one of the personae also possesses the
substantia of humanity.

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Lyle Brecht 25-Jul-09 EFM Notes 3.9: APOLLINARIUS and NESTORIUS

Antioch vs. Alexandria: vied for intellectual leadership.

Apollinarius, bishop of Laodicea, Syria (near Antioch): Supporter of Athanasius. Like other
Hellenists, saw the nature of a human being comprised of 3 parts: body, soul (life principle), and
spirit/mind (mind = rational soul, the seat of personhood). Believed it absolutely essential that
divine Word be joined to human flesh; only a union of deity and humanity could give immortality
to humankind. Therefore, Christ must be ‘one person’ in whom the two natures are joined. This
enables Apollinarius to affirm Christ was one person. It was this that made it possible for Christ
to assume humanity and yet live w/o sin. His divinity prevailed. The divine Word (Logos) is the
archetype after which human ‘rational souls’ (logoi) are patterned.

Cyril of Alexandria (d. 444) was disturbed by Nestorius views on Theotokos. He believed in
“both natures which by the highest and unmixed union are adored in the one person of the One
begotten.”

Council of Ephesus 431: Called by the two emperors, Theodosius II in East and Valentinian III in
West it affirmed against the Nestorians that Jesus Christ is one person. Both Nestorius and Cyril
were thrown into jail at the end of the Council. Cyril was eventually let out, Nestorius remained
in prison.

Gregory of Nazianzus: Alexandrian in sympathy w/ Apollinarius but believed Apollinarian

teaching was heresy: “What [the Word] has not assumed [the human rational soul], he has not
healed; it is what is united to his deity that is saved”[assumed = taken on: taken up to himself].

Logos Christology (Gk. word, reason): In Christian theology Logos refers to the second person of
the Trinity, Jesus Christ (John 1:1), who as the creative power of God embodied truth and was
God incarnate. Jesus is the hypostasis; concrete, historical expression

Rome vs. Constantinople: competed w/ each other for jurisdictional supremacy.

Nestorius (d. 451), bishop of Constantinople 428-431: student under Theodore of Mopsuestia at
Antioch took Antiochene position: If God, Jesus was righteous, no new thing has occurred: if, as
man, Jesus was righteous, this is new indeed. Ruled that Theotokos was misleading term for
Mary.

Theodore of Mopsuestia (Mop-soo-ESS-tee-ah) 392: student of Diodore in Antioch attacked

Apollinarianism. He maintained that human flesh and human animal soul are merely abstractions;
no such realities exist except as components of an actual human individual, complete w/ rational
soul. [following Aristotle: for and mater together constitute and existent thing; neither, apart from
the other, can be said to exist.]

Theotokos (THEE-oh-TOH-kus, God Bearer) – Mary, the mother of God

16
Lyle Brecht 25-Jul-09 EFM 3.10: CHRISTOLOGY DEFINDED: CHALCEDON

Christology:
1. Christ’s divinity can be denied. When Arius did so, Nicea and Constantinople
declared this heresy.
2. Christ’s humanity can be denied. When Apollinarius made this claim,
Constantinople declared this heresy.
3. The unity of Christ can be denied. The Council of Ephesus affirmed Christ’s
unity: divine and human.
4. What happens when divinity and humanity are united in Christ? Tertullian
formula was: Christ was one person in two nature, each distinct from the other,
yet inseparable bound together in the unity of one person.

communicado idiomatum (interchange of divine properties): Humanity was given

immortality by the act in which God suffered death,. This was a transaction that occurred
in the body of Christ; he-who-is-God suffered death in his own body, not that God died;
Based on Cyril’s Twelve Anathemas Against Nestorius and in a Dogmatic Letter where
he attested that the Incarnation did not involve a change of human nature into divinity or
of the divine nature into humanity; was to explain “what happened when divinity and
humanity were united in Christ?”

Council of Chalcedon, 451: condemned decisions of Robber Synod and Eutyches and
stated that communicado idiomatum of the divine and the human natures does not result
in a ‘confusion’ of those natures. This definition has remained the standard of orthodoxy
in both eastern and western traditions to the present. This definition was largely a
rejection of errors, not a description of truth; the definition did not resolve the paradox –
how can a person be both immortal and mortal, divine and human? The common sense of
Hellenistic culture was affronted by the Christian affirmation, and the church decided to
let it be so. Two schisms arose from Chalcedon:

- Nestorian churches: (east Syria, Persia, India, China) had more members than
orthodox churches until the 14th century. It is now found only in Kurdistan.

- Monophysite (mon-AH-fiss-ite, one nature) churches in southern Egypt and

Abyssinia (modern Ethiopia) now called Coptic Christian churches (Coptic is
native language of Egypt) and eastern Mediterranean area called Jacobite
Christians (from 6th century Syrian monk, Jacob Baradai). Today the Coptic
and Catholic Churches are in full communion w/ each other.

Dioscorus (DIE-us-CORE-us)

Eutyches: follower of Cyril taught that divinity and humanity had become one nature in
Christ; this seemed to be saying that nothing of Christ’s human nature remained distinct.

Robber Synod, 449; emperor, Theodosius II, called a council where Dioscorus was leader
who condemned the Symbol of Union as heresy.

17
Root metaphors: the assumptions about reality that are embodied in the images through
which we perceive reality. In Hellenistic culture a root metaphor was “reality is mind:”
the universe at its central core or its highest summit was assumed to resemble the human
mind. Ideas, essences that are abstract and unchanging were thought to be ‘real’ whereas
material things were viewed as less real. From that perspective, Hellenistic Christianity
found it difficult to affirm God as someone who as immanent – who comes into contact
w/ the physical world. The common sense of Origen’s world was different than the
common sense of ours.

The Christological formula of Chalcedon relegated mind to a less central position. It

violated modern common sense as much as it did that of the 5th century Hellenistic world
– perhaps more so. Neither Lat. word persona (an entity that legally can own property)
nor Gk. hypostasis (a thing that exists in its concreteness) carried the connotation of
psychological self-consciousness as the modern Eng. word “person” (psychological
center of self-consciousness) does. Thus the root metaphor of “mind” has changed. It no
longer invokes rationality as it did in 6th century Hellenism, but means consciousness,
specifically self-consciousness today.

Symbol of Union, creed of 433: John of Antioch and Cyril of Alexandria compromise
creed that supported Cyril’s views: the unity of the person of Christ, the use of theotokis,
the union of the natures and interchange of divine and human properties and Antiochene
views: humanity taken by the Word as the “temple” to which Christ is united, Christ’s
consubstantiality w/ us, and the distinction between those properties proper to divinity
and those proper to humanity.

Theodosius II, 401-50, Roman Emperor who summoned the Council of Ephesus, 431.

18
Lyle Brecht 25-Jul-09 EFM Notes 3.11: THE DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY

Summary of the Nicene Trinitarian Problem1

1. the Nicene formula identifies Jesus Christ, the one who underwent gestation,
birth, growth, a human career, rejection, torture, and execution as “true God.”

2. up until Nicea, subordinationism had relieved this problem by making the one
who suffered (was not impassible) less than God.

3. After Nicea (325):

a. Alexandrian school: ‘we have no idea how the Son, who is true and
therefore impassable- God, can have suffered, but somehow it happened.’
b. Antiochene school: ‘if we think that being God is defined by impassable,
in the gospels that Jesus the Son suffered, and now w/ Nicea that God the
Son is true God – only one solution is open: we must modulate the
identification of Jesus as God the Son so that when Jesus suffers, God the
Son nevertheless does not. Therefore, the Logos and God the Son are
identifying descriptions of a divine entity who himself is simply other than
the man Jesus.’

4. Antiochene Theodore of Mopsuestia: ‘in Christ there are 2 natures, 2 active

personal entities, each of its kind: the Logos and the man. The incarnation is that
these are conjoined.’

5. Nestorius, Antiochene bishop of Constantinople: ‘Mary…did not bear deity…;

she bore a man….And the incarnate God did not die, but raised him in whom he
was incarnate….’

6. Cyril, an Alexandrian, rose up against Nestorius: ‘We confess that the very
one…who is only-begotten God – and who indeed according to his own nature
impassible – suffered in the flesh for us….’

7. Council of Ephesus (431) condemned Nestorius.

8. Robber Synod (449) + Leo’s Tome (unread at Robber Synod): ‘For each nature is
agent of what is proper to it, working in fellowship w/ the other: the Word doing
what becomes to the Word and the flesh what belongs to the flesh. The one shines
forth in the miracles, the other submits to the injuries.’

9. Council of Chalcedon (451): Chalcedon stated that communicado idiomatum

(interchange of properties) of the divine and the human natures did not result in a
‘confusion’ of those natures. One divine nature in 3 hypostases; in Christ there are
divine natures in one hypostasis (Chalcedon Statement); + appended Leo’s Tome
1
Jensen, 1997, 125-133

19
 (it stated Tertullian’s formula2: Christ was one person in two natures, each nature
distinct from the other, yet inseparably bound together in the unity of the person)!
In Cappadocian Trinity there is one nature and plural hypostases. In Chalcedon it
is the other way around!

10. Chalcedonian formula: Christ is human, sharing all that is common to us; he
possesses human nature fully. His person, however, is unique to himself – he is
son of God, part of the Trinity. In the Incarnation, his person remained the same.
But now, sharing our nature, he shares our human condition. The incarnation of
the divine person did not result in a ‘confused nature, in which the radical
distinction between deity and human is blurred. Contrary to Eutyches, the two
natures remain distinct.

A. Settling the issue of the divinity of Christ as part of the Trinity:

In the East, Basil of Caesarea (a Cappadocian) in response to the Monarchians (God, the
Father was most important in the Trinity) came up w/ three arguments: 1) he
distinguished three kinds of causes “…the original cause, the Father;…the creative
cause, the Son;…the perfecting cause, the Spirit.” 2) he reinterpreted the notion of
number; when speaking of God, the word “one” is not used as an arithmetical counter,
but as a statement of the nature of God the “One” as opposed to the ‘many’ of creation. 3)
the manner in which the Holy Spirit derives his existence: since he is as the breath of
God, the Spirit is ‘of God’ in a sense qualitatively different from that of creation.

Basil says the indwelling power of the Spirit enables us to recognize Jesus as the Son;
seeing him as the Son enables us to know the Father (oikonomia, the Economic Trinity).
The Father as the single source (monos arche), extends the divine substance from himself
through the Son to the Holy Spirit. This affirms the Monarchy – all divine attributes are
the Father’s, shared by Son and Holy Sprit. (This was to become a central feature of
Eastern Orthodoxy Trinitarian thought- the Son is the one through whom the Spirit
proceeds, but the Spirit does not proceed from him as a source.)

Gregory of Nyssa, Basil’s younger brother defines spirit as holy and divine in the sense
that he can impart sanctification to creatures. Once we acknowledge that the Spirit is
Holy, then one must grant that he is completely divine, of the same ousia as the Father.

Summary of the Cappadocians solution to the Problem of the Trinity and Monotheism:

1. They defined usage of ousia and hypostasis: ousia is used for one deity, God;
hypostasis used for each of Father, Son, Spirit (e.g. Peter, Paul, Barnabus are
three hypostases who have same ousia, humanity).

2
In the west, both Hippolytus and Tertullian fought against Modalism. Tertullian expressed the distinctions
in the Trinity while maintaining unity by using categories “substance’ and ‘person.’

20
 2. “Differentiated though the hypostases are, the entire undivided godhead is one in
each” (Gregory of Nazianzus, Orations 31.14).

3. Therefore hypostasis = identity; “three identities in one being.”

4. The Spirit must be recognized as homoousious w/ the Father.3

a. the very nature of God is to be divisible.
b. The father was the source of the Spirit’s mission in the divine Economy,
through the Son as intermediary. Thus, creeds of Eastern Christianity say
that the Spirit proceeds from the Father through the Son vs. western creeds
that say the Spirit proceeds ‘from the Father.’
c. A synthesis says: the Spirit proceeds ‘from the Father through the Son.’

B. Settling Christological Issues as to the Nature of Christ as part of the Trinity

The question of the divinity of the Second Person of the Trinity had been settled by the
Councils of Nicea (325) and Constantinople (381). In response to Arianism and
Pneumatomachianism in the East and Sabellianism in the West, after the Council of
Constantinople, both eastern and western Christians were in substantial agreement that
God was a trinity – three hypostases (persons) in one ousia (substance): “ the grace of our
Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit” (2 Cor. 13).
The problem then became one of deciding on what that meant.

Foremost of the issues that would cause sharp theological disagreement was the question
of how divinity and humanity are joined in Jesus Christ. The question was, how can the
immutable, eternal God be joined to a mutable, human man? The Alexandrians stressed
the significance of Jesus as the teacher of divine truth. The Antiochenes felt that for Jesus
to be the Savior of human beings he had to be fully human. Both sides agreed that Jesus
was both divine and human. The question was how to understand that union. This was
not a burning question in the West – which simply revived Tertullian’s old formula – that
in Christ there were two natures united in one person.

Apollinarius of Laodicea, an Alexandrian, thought he could help the Nicene cause by

explaining how the eternal Word of God could be incarnate in Jesus. He claimed that in
Jesus the Word of God, the Second Person of the trinity, took the place of the rational
soul – Jesus had a human body, but a divine, not a human intellect. The Antiochenes
insisted that Jesus must be fully human. Gregory of Nazianzus (a Cappadocian) put it this
way: “If any believe in Jesus Christ as a human being w/o human reason, they are the
ones devoid of reason.” The Council of Constantinople (381) rejected the theories of
Apollinarius).

The next controversy was precipitated by Nestorius, a representative of the Antiochene

school who became patriarch of Constantinople in 428. Nestorius declared that Mary
3
Jensen, Robert. The Triune God. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997, 105-107

21
should not be called theotokis, but Christotokos. When Nestorius declared that Mary was
the bearer of Christ, but not God, he was affirming that in speaking of the incarnate Word
one may distinguish between his humanity and his divinity – some of the things said of
Jesus are to be applied to his humanity, others to his divinity. Nestorius declared that in
Jesus there were “two natures and two persons,” one divine and one human. The human
nature and person were born of Mary; the divine were not.

The center of opposition to Nestorius was Alexandria, whose bishop, Cyril was a much
abler politician and theologian than Nestorius and who had support of the West. The
Council of Ephesus (431) declared Nestorius’ views as anathema.

When Dioscorus succeeded Cyril as patriarch of Alexandria, the stage was set for a third
acrimonious theological dispute. The controversy centered on the teachings of Eutyches,
a monk in Constantinople, who held that, while the Savior was “of one substance w/ the
Father,” he was not “of one substance w/ us.” Through a series of maneuvers, Dioscorus
had the affair grow into a conflict that involved the entire church, so that a council was
called by Emperor Theodosius II, to meet at Ephesus in 449. The council was called a
“Robber Synod” by Pope Leo who had written a letter on the subject, but whose letter
was not allowed to be read at the meeting. The Robbers’ Synod declared the doctrine that
there are in Christ “two natures” heretical.

In 450, after the Robber Synod, Theodosius II horse stumbled, and the emperor fell and
broke his neck. He was succeeded by his sister Pulcheria and her husband Marcian. At
the behest of Leo, she called a new council, which met at Chalcedon in 451 and Leo’s
Tome was read – a restatement of what Tertullian had declared two centuries earlier, that
in Christ there are “two natures in one person.” This council reaffirmed the decisions at
Nicea (325), Constantinople (381), and Ephesus (431) and attached Leo’s Tome to the
Chalcedon “Definition of Faith” – which soon became the standard of Christological
orthodoxy in the entire Western church, and in most of the East. In the East some, mostly
in Syria and Persia, insisted on a clear distinction between the divine and the human in
Christ, and were eventually called “Nestorians.” Many others in the East took the
opposite tack, rejecting the doctrine of “two natures,” and for that reason were called
“Monophysites” – from the Gk. monos, one, and physis, nature.

Finally Augustine’s theology gained more widespread acceptance – “faith seeking

understanding” which guided the church until the 13th century. Augustine of Hippo in his
On the Trinity (15 books written between 399-419): “I do not grasp what difference [the
Greek theologians] intend between ousia and hypostasis”(Augustine On the Trinity,
5.10).4 He exposed the doctrine that the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit
demonstrate a divine unity of one and the same substance in an indivisible equality;
therefore they are not three Gods, but one God.

Augustine demonstrates from scripture the unity and equality of the Trinity (Book I). He
expounds the economy of roles of the Son and Spirit (Books II-IV). He defines the
distinction between ‘substance’ and ‘relation’ (Book V) whereby some things that are
4
Jensen, 1997, 111.

22
said of God do not refer to his substance but to the way he is related to something else. In
Book VIII, Augustine notes that love itself is an image of the Trinity; “There…are three
things [in love]: he that loves, and that which is loved, and love.” The mind also
expresses the idea of Trinity – the mind itself, the knowledge by which it knows itself,
and the love with which it loves itself. “Memory’, ‘understanding’, and ‘will’ can be used
in place of ‘the mind.’ Using these analogies, Augustine asserts that in God, the
Trinitarian distinctiveness from one another are relational, not substantial.

Theological Dictionary

Alexandrian: theology of Alexandrian school of theology inc. Clement, Origen.

Alexandrian thought never considered salvation to be result of moral activity. The goal of
Christian life was symbolized as mystical union w/ God, w/ righteousness following as
result.

Antioch, Syria (East) vs. Alexandria, Egypt (East): vied for intellectual leadership w/
each other. Both turned to the bishopric of Constantinople (Greek East) rather than to
Rome (Latin West) for guidance. Most of the patriarchs of Constantinople were
Antiochenes. In the Greek-speaking East, the empire continued as the Western empire of
the Romans collapsed. The East’s autocratic empires kept a tight reign on ecclesiastical
leaders. Many emperors made theological decisions on the basis of political decisions and
theological controversy became one of the hallmarks of eastern Christianity during the
early Middle Ages.

Antioch: the most ancient Christian see; 3rd largest city in Roman Empire in time of Jesus
(“1 Rome, #2 Constantinople); the mission to the Gentiles (Greeks, pagans) began here.
Gospel of Matthew composed here. Christianity is the new Torah; Jesus the new Moses.
Lucian school of theology produced Arius.

Antioch School of Theology: founded in 260 CE by Lucian of Antioch was based on

Aristotelian philosophy; examined every scripture passage minutely to see what it was
actually saying.

Antiochene: theology coming out of Antioch school of theologians.

Apollinarianism: view of Apollinarius (c. 310-c.390) that Christ did not assume full
human nature but that in the incarnation the divine Logos took the place of the human
soul or psyche. It sought to maintain the unity of the person of Jesus Christ as the one
incarnate nature of the divine Logos.

Arianism: teaching of Arius (c. 250-336) that Jesus was the highest and most complete
manifestation of the true moral nature of humanity but does not share the same substance
as God the Father.

23
Augustine (354-430): was born in Tagaste, in North Africa. He was the most influential
theologian in the West since the apostle Paul. He was the last of the great leaders of the
Imperial Church in the West. When he died, the Vandals were at the gates of Hippo,
announcing a new age. Augustine was baptized by Ambrose of Milan.

Basil of Caesarea (c.330-379): became the formative influence in the early development
of monasticism in the East. In thinking through meaning of Trinity, helped define the
terms that later came into common use in theological reflection. Since Jesus Christ is
divine, we may properly speak of Jesus as homoousious with God the Father. In On the
Holy Spirit affirms the divinity of the Holy Spirit.

Cappadocians: Basil of Caesarea, Gregory of Nazianzus), Gregory of Nyssa; Basil’s

younger brother) helped to prepare the way for Council of Nicea. After the Council they
strongly advocated Nicene faith, and along w/ Athanasius helped lay the foundation for
final formulation of Trinitarian doctrine @ Council of Chalcedon in 451.

Christology (Gk Christos, “anointed one” + logos, “study”): discusses any evaluation of
Jesus w/ respect to who he was and the role he played in the divine plan. (The study of
the person and work of Jesus Christ, and in particular of the union in Him of the Divine
and human natures, and of Jesus’ significance for the Christian faith.) The basic
theological views about Jesus Christ were adopted at Nicea (325), Constantinople (381),
and Chalcedon (451).

communicado idiomatum (interchange of divine properties): Humanity was given

immortality by the act in which God suffered death,. This was a transaction that occurred
in the body of Christ; he-who-is-God suffered death in his own body, not that God died;
Based on Cyril’s Twelve Anathemas Against Nestorius and in a Dogmatic Letter where
he attested that the Incarnation did not involve a change of human nature into divinity or
of the divine nature into humanity; was to explain “what happened when divinity and
humanity were united in Christ?”

Council of Nicea, 325: affirmed against the Arians that Jesus Christ was truly the son of
God. Called by Emperor Constantine, who presided. 300 bishops attending did not
consider it their task to create theological doctrine but to act as custodians for the
tradition; to decide whether either side in the dispute represented the teachings that had
come down from the beginning. A creed was written, (revision of the creed of Caesarea)
including ousia and homoousia to make it explicitly anti-Arian.

Council of Constantinople, 381: used Cappadocian theology to reaffirm Nicea and

published a baptismal creed based on this affirmation; affirmed against the Apollinarians
that Jesus Christ is also truly human and reaffirmed the Creed of Nicea. It also
condemned the Apollinarian teaching. The church proclaimed that Christ is truly God –
‘consubstantial’ w/ the Father – and is also completely human, with body, animal soul,
and rational soul.

24
Council of Ephesus, 431: affirmed against the Nestorians that Jesus Christ is one person.
Called by the two emperors, Theodosius II in East and Valentinian III in West.

Council of Chalcedon, 451: condemned decisions of Robber Synod and Eutyches and
stated that communicado idiomatum of the divine and the human natures does not result
in a ‘confusion’ of those natures. This definition has remained the standard of orthodoxy
in both eastern and western traditions to the present. This definition was largely a
rejection of errors, not a description of truth; the definition did not resolve the paradox –
how can a person be both immortal and mortal, divine and human? The common sense of
Hellenistic culture was affronted by the Christian affirmation, and the church decided to
let it be so. Two schisms arose from Chalcedon:

- Nestorian churches: (east Syria, Persia, India, China) had more members than
orthodox churches until the 14th century when Moslem invaders wiped out
these churches. It is now found only in Kurdistan.

- Monophysite (mon-AH-fiss-ite, one nature) churches in southern Egypt and

Abyssinia (modern Ethiopia) now called Coptic Christian churches (Coptic is
native language of Egypt) and eastern Mediterranean area called Jacobite
Christians (from 6th century Syrian monk, Jacob Baradai). Today the Coptic
and Catholic Churches are in full communion w/ each other.

[The Christological formula of Chalcedon relegated mind to a less central position. It

violated modern common sense as much as it did that of the 5th century Hellenistic world
– perhaps more so. Neither Lat. word persona (an entity that legally can own property)
nor Gk. hypostasis (a thing that exists in its concreteness) carried the connotation of
psychological self-consciousness as the modern Eng. word “person” (psychological
center of self-consciousness) does. Thus the root metaphor of “mind” has changed. It no
longer invokes rationality as it did in 6th century Hellenism, but means consciousness,
specifically self-consciousness today.]

Cyril of Alexandria (d. 444) was disturbed by Nestorius views on Theotokos. He believed
in “both natures which by the highest and unmixed union are adored in the one person of
the One begotten.”

Dioscorus (DIE-us-CORE-us) (d. 454): partriarch of Alexandria who supported Eutyches

at the Robber’s Synod. After the death of Theodosius II in 450, Dioscorus was deposed at
Council of Chalcedon in 451 and banished by the secular authorities.

Eutyches (c. 375-454): follower of Cyril who asserted that divinity and humanity had
become one nature in Christ; this seemed to be saying that nothing of Christ’s human
nature remained distinct.

Filioque Clause: Inserted into the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed (381) at the Council
of Toledo (587) to say that the Holy Spirit proceeds from both the Father and the Son in
the Trinity. The Eastern church regarded filioque as the original sin of “Latin theology”

25
rejecting this double procession believing that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father
through the Son.

Gregory of Nazianzus (330-c.389; helped to refine vocabulary of doctrine of God and

theology as a science. God is one, there can be only one God. When we pray to God or
worship God, we worship only one God. But we can consider the Father apart, the Son
apart, and the Spirit apart. The Father is unbegotten; the Son uniquely begotten.

Gregory of Nyssa (c. 335-394: is greatest of Cappadocians as theologian. We affirm the

unity of God when we assert that the Son and Father are of the same ousia. The Son is
‘consubstantial’ with the Father. But within the oneness of the deity we affirm a
distinction between the hypostases or ‘persons’ of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, thereby
recognizing the distinctive properties of each. The Spirit ‘proceeds.” The Spirit is of the
Father or derived from the Father without being created. But he is also of the Son (like a
light kindled through the medium of a second light from the first).

Hippolytus (c. 170-236): theologian and presbyter at Rome who expresses his Trinitarian
theology in the form of Logos doctrine that distinguished between two states of the
Word; the one immanent and eternal, the other external and temporal as the father’s
voice.

homoousious/ homoousia: Gk. of the same one being (Eng. consubstantial).

homoiousia (ho-MOY-oo-see-ah): Gk. of like being.

hypostasis/hypostases: Gk. a particular or concrete expression of a thing (Paul is a

particular or concrete expression of humankind) Lat. substantia.

impassibility: God does not change and thus is not affected by actions that take place in
the world, particularly by suffering and pain. It emphasizes that God is active rather than
passive or acted upon by other agents.

Leo I (d. 461), ‘Leo the Great,’ Pope from 440. At the Council of Chalcedon (451) his
legates spoke first and his Tome was accepted as a standard of Christological orthodoxy.

Leo’s Tome: the letter sent by Leo I to Flavian, Patriarch of Constantinople on June 13,
449. It expounds the Christological doctrine of the Latin Church and was directed against
Eutyches. Dioscorus refused to read the letter at the Robbers Synod, but it was given
formal authority at the Council of Chalcedon (451).

Logos Christology (Gk. word, reason): In Christian theology Logos refers to the second
person of the Trinity, Jesus Christ (John 1:1), who as the creative power of God
embodied truth and was God incarnate. Jesus is the hypostasis; concrete, historical
expression of God’s Logos.

26
Modalism: heretical view that Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are roles God adopts in chief
stages of salvation history. Tertullian crushed modalism in his Contra Praxean.

Monarchism: emphasis on the divine aspect of Jesus challenged the sovereignty of one
God. Dynamic monarchism: Jesus was truly indwelt by the divine, but not by God
himself; it was God’s power that was in Jesus. Modalism: the one God (the Father)
himself became flesh as the Son of God, to redeem the world. The West is inclined to see
God as one single divine entity (essence – Tertullian used substantia) carrying out three
roles in the oikonomia.

oikonomia (oi-kon-oh-MEE-ah): divine economy where the three persons of the Trinity
carry out different operations. Origenism concept.

Pneumatomachianians (Macedonians): did not believe in the full divinity of the Holy
Spirit but that the Spirit was subordinate to God the father and God the Son. Their
teaching was condemned by Pope Damascus in 374.

Robber Synod of Ephesus (449): a church council at Ephesus that reinstated Eutyches (c.
375-454) and asserted the view that the idea of the tow natures of Jesus Christ was
heretical. This view was ultimately rejected by the Council of Chalcedon (451).

Rome (West) vs. Constantinople (East): competed w/ each other for jurisdictional
supremacy. In the Greek-speaking East, the empire continued for 1,000 years after the
Western empire of the Romans collapsed. The East’s autocratic empires kept a tight reign
on ecclesiastical leaders. Many Eastern emperors made theological decisions on the basis
of political decisions and theological controversy became one of the hallmarks of eastern
Christianity during the early middle ages. In the West, the church stepped into the
political vacuum, and the Pope gained political power as well as ecclesiological power.

Sabellianism (also modalism or Modalistic Monarchism): Teaching of Sabellius (early 3rd

century) that God has one nature and is one person with three names: Father, Son, and
Holy Spirit. This Trinitarian teaching was heretical as the church taught that God is one
and that the Godhead consists of three persons.

Tertullian (ter-TULL-ian): first major theologian to write in Latin. First to use trinitos
(Eng. trinity). Divine revelation, not human wisdom, was source of truth. One God, the
divine Trinity is “one substance in three persons (una substantia tres personae). Christ is
persona duae naturae. In the Trinity, each persona is distinct – although not separate
from the other, but each has the same substantia. In Christ, each natura is distinct,
although possessed by the same persona. Three personae share the same substantia of
deity, and one of the personae also possesses the substantia of humanity.

Theodore of Mopsuestia (Mop-soo-ESS-tee-ah) 392: student of Diodore in Antioch

attacked Apollinarianism. He maintained that human flesh and human animal soul are
merely abstractions; no such realities exist except as components of an actual human

27
individual, complete w/ rational soul. [following Aristotle: form and mater together
constitute and existent thing; neither, apart from the other, can be said to exist.]

theotokos (THEE-oh-TOH-kus, God Bearer) – Mary, the mother of God

Trinity: Our monotheistic God is a Triune God, a trinity – three hypostases (persons) in
one ousia (substance): “ the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the
fellowship of the Holy Spirit” (2 Cor. 13).

Bibliography

Gonzalez, Justo L. The Story of Christianity: Vol. 1 The Early Church to the Dawn of the
Reformation. HarperSanFrancisco, 1984.

Jensen, Robert. The Triune God. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997.

Livingstone. Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. 2nd edition.

McKim. Westminster Dictionary of Theological Terms, 1996.

Wright, Rebecca Abts. Education for Ministry: Year One. 3rd ed. University of the South,
2000.

28
Lyle Brecht 11-Nov-03 EFM Notes 3.12: EASTERN SPIRITUALITY

aeskesis: the training of the Christian spirit creates the state of openness to God; God himself
gives the rapture.

apatheia: detachment from the controlling power of passion was to be achieved by continuous
meditation on scripture and by constant warfare against the demons.

apophatic prayer: seeking mystical union through an emptying; an absence, not a concentration,
of thought is the goal of this form of prayer. The Jesus Prayer is one form: “Lord Jesus Christ,
Son of God… Have mercy on me” repeated over and over during prayer time. A monologistic
(one word) prayer.

comprenetration; in the midst of darkness, Go comes to the soul and gives it an ‘intelligible light’
– but that light is itself darkness; “for God comes to be in the soul and in turn the soul dwells
together in God” (ref. Gregory of Nyssa, one of the Cappadocian Fathers).

Eastern monasticism: the goal of human life was to ‘become what he is.’ They believed that we
attain this goal when the soul is opened so that the Word of God can enter our lives.

epectascy (ep-EK-stah-see): the characteristic of the soul that provides the point of contact by
which God finds a place in our lives. It is the image of God in humankind to which God himself
can adhere (ref. Gregory of Nyssa, one of the Cappadocian Fathers).

eros: human life is driven by eros – love that seeks fulfillment for oneself. But eros can lead to
either of two marriages – marriage of the flesh or marriage of the Spirit. Gregory advises virginity
– an inner virginity that forsakes the quest for pleasure of any earthly sort.

kataphatic prayer: is earthy prayer filled w/ images of mortality and replete w/ specific
expectations for the moral life of the Christian.

People/Theology

Evagrius (ev-AY-gree-us), b. 346 ordained deacon by Gregory of Nazianzus. Taught three stages
of spiritual development: 1) discipline to cleans the soul leads to apatheia, 2) meditation which
leads to divine reason, 3) contemplation which leads to knowledge of the Trinity.

Isaac of Nineveh: After Council of Ephesus, 431, extreme Antiochene Christians formed
Nestorian church. In 7th century, Isaac was Nestorian bishop of Nineveh. He taught: “that which
is hidden within you have not reached the realm of tears, that which is still within you still serves
the world – you still lead a worldly life and do the work of God only with your outer man, while
the inner man is barren; for his fruit begins with tears.”

John Chrysostom, c.350-407: Bishop of Constantinople, former hermit; used kataphatic prayer.
He believed that the good news was that through moral action rather than mystical contemplation
we could receive loving forgiveness by God, expressed and conveyed by Christ, a person can be
healed of sin. Repentance is only medicine for sin: 1) condemnation of our own sins, 2)
forgiveness of our neighbors sins, 3) prayer, 4) restitution, 5) acting w/ humility.

29
Messalians: 4th century sect denied the power of baptism to cleanse the soul of demons.
Condemned as heresy at Council of Ephesus, 431.

Pseudo-Dionysius, the Areopagite (air-ee-AH-pog-ite): Climax of eastern mysticism ~500 in

Syria. He retains 3 images as overarching motifs for his mystical system: 1) nine hierarchal
spheres between created order and God; sacraments assist us in our journey up the ladder to God,
2) the emptiness and darkness of the apophatic way shine with the shekinah (the glory of God), 3)
in the mystical ascent the human spirit is infused w/ the divine Logos – the mind of God. As this
happens, our minds are made increasingly like the mind of God, we become like him. This is the
goal of all eastern spirituality; it is the meaning fo salvation itself, as eastern Christians
understood it.

Pseudo-Macarius: 5th century writer for whom the mystical experience is expressed in the image
of light. He sought to empty the mind, not fill it w/ words of prayer. Everyone has a demon united
w/ the soul. Even baptism cannot cast it out. Only constant prayer can control this demon.

Synesius of Cyrene, b. 375: Alexandrian selected for bishop of Ptolemais, Libya kept his wife and
enjoyed his pleasures contrasts w/ Antiochene school of apophatic devotion.

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Lyle Brecht 12-Nov-03 EFM 3.13: THE EAST THROUGH THE EIGHTH CENTURY

communicatio idiomatum: the attributes of the divine and human natures of Jesus Christ are
attributes of one person and that what can be said of Christ’s divinity can be said of his humanity,
and visa versa. (This was an idea of Cyril of Alexandria that in virtue of the union on natures in
Christ’s hypostasis (person), one could appropriately ‘predicate’ attributes of one nature to the
other)

Council of Chalcedon (kal-SEE-dun), 451: affirmed against the Monophysites, that in the one
person of Jesus Christ there are two distinct natures.

Cyril of Alexandria (d.444), Patriarch of Alexandria from 412 had Nestorius deposed before
Antiochene bishops arrived at Council of Ephesus, 431. Most brilliant of Alexandrian
theologians, he put into systematic form Greek doctrines of Trinity and person of Christ.
For Cyril, Christ is identified as the pre-existent Logos with the hypostasis (person) who unites
divine and human natures.

Eastern Orthodoxy: Churches that accept the primacy of the Patriarch of Constantinople and the
teachings of the first seven ecumenical church councils. A split from Western Churches occurred
in 1054. The two main points at issue were the Papal claims of supremacy and the Filioque. The
church of the East today: the Autocephalous Churches of the Orthodox East (Eastern Orthodox
Churches – Greek Orthodox + Russian Orthodox are the largest in Orthodox communion). These
churches have retained the theology, liturgical practices, and spiritual discipline of the early
imperial church virtually intact – like returning to ancient Constantinople. Two other liturgies: 1)
Egyptian- rites used in the Monophysite churches of Egypt and Ethiopia in Coptic; 2) Syrian: east
Syrian rites of Nestorian churches and west Syrian rites used by orthodox churches.

Filioque Clause: Inserted into the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed (381) at the Council of
Toledo (587) to say that the Holy Spirit proceeds from both the Father and the Son in the Trinity.
The East rejected this double procession believing that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father
through the Son.

Iconoclastic Controversy (eye-KAHN-oh-klasic): the breaking of physical images of God or

Christ in churches. Mohammed had recognized Jesus as a true prophet, but for Islam calling Jesus
God was blasphemous idolatry, which violated the first commandment of the Decalogue, a law as
sacred to the Muslims as the Jews. A similar prejudice against representing divinity in images
existed in Hellenistic thought. Leo III (the Isuarian), c.675-741, the Byzantine Emperor, in 726-
729 issued a number of edicts against image worship. Leo III could not enforce his decree in the
West, and Pope Gregory III convened a synod in Rome in 731 that excommunicated all
iconoclasts, including Leo III. This essentially created war between Constantinople and Rome
until Constantine IV became emperor in 780. Constantine IV called Nicea II, which decreed that
reverence, but not worship, was properly given to icons. The justification for icon-reverence was
based on the humanity of Christ. God, the council argued, can even be represented in human
form; the Incarnation is witness to that.

John of Damascus (c.655-c.750): Greek theologian, a monk at the monastery near Jerusalem. Said
communicatio idiomatum operated only one way (from divine to the human), the divine fully
permeating the human nature of Christ by an act of ‘coinheritance (perichoresis).5 His most

5
Sarah Coakley, Powers and Submissions: Spirituality, Philosophy and Gender (Oxford: Blackwell, 2002)
15.

31
important work, Fount of Wisdom covered three areas: 1) philosophy; 2) heresies; 3) Exposition
of the Orthodox Faith: a comprehensive presentation of the teaching of the Greek Fathers on the
Trinity, Creation, and the Incarnation.

Monothelitism (MON-oh-THEL-uh-ism): held that Jesus had only one will. In 649, Pope Matin I
secured its condemnation at a synod in Rome. For his opposition, Matin was taken to
Constantinople and cast into prison, where he died. Constantine IV convened Third Council of
Constantinople, 680, which asserted that Christ had two wills, one human and one divine, since
he had two natures, but that they always acted in mutual accord.

Monophysites (mon-AH-fi-site): heretical view that Christ had only one nature rather than a
divine and a human nature that were united in one person

orthodox: that which is considered to be a correct or proper belief as defined by official

ecclesiastical bodies.

Orthodox spirituality: in Eastern Orthodox Church stresses worship as adoration; the mystical
presence of Christ; emphasis on contemplation. Also central are the liturgy and sacraments and
observance of the church year.

perichoresis: used to indicate the intimate union, mutual indwelling, or mutual interpenetration of
three members of the Trinity w/ each other. Also used for the relation of the two natures of Christ.

Three Chapters Controversy: The three subjects condemned by Justinian in an edict of 543-4: 1)
the person and works of Theodore of Mopsuestia; 2) the writings of Theodoret against Cyril of
Alexandria; 3) the letter of Ibas of Edessa to Marius. All three were considered sympathetic to
Nestorius. Justinian hoped the edit would conciliate the Monophysites. The Eastern Patriarch
assented but Pope Vigilus at first refused to approve the edict on the grounds that the dogma of
the Council of Chalcedon. After Constantinople II, 553 had condemned the Three Chapters, the
Pope accepted the Council’s decision. The Antiochene school of thought was no longer orthodox.

Justinian I (483-565): Roman Emperor from 527, re-conquered N. Africa and Italy, built
Hagia Sophia in Constantinople, issues “Code of Justinian” in 529 which became one of the
authoritative statements of Roman Law which in turn strongly affected cannon law of the
Western church. Championed orthodoxy, persecuted the Montanists and closed the theology
schools in Antioch in 529. His efforts to reconcile the Monophysites issued in the Three Chapters
controversy.
Montanists: adherents of Montanus, especially in N. Africa, who proclaimed
himself the chosen vessel for the Holy Spirit and protested the growing worldliness of the
church by providing a church w/ absolute standards. Tertullian converted to Montanism
in 207. Condemned by the church.

Theodore of Mopsuestia (so. Turkey)(c.350-428): Antiochene theologian. In his biblical

commentaries (exegesis) he used critical, historical, philological methods rejecting Alexandrian
use of allegorical interpretation. His teaching on Incarnation was condemned at Councils of
Ephesus, 431 and at Constantinople, 553.

Theodoret (c.393-c.460): bishop of Cyrrhus in Syria. In work against Cyril of Alexandria

he maintained duality in Christ and accepted title of Theotokis only in figurative sense. He was
deposed at Council of Ephesus, 449 and forced into exile. His writings against Cyril were subject
of Three Chapters Controversy and were condemned at Council of Constantinople, 553.

32
Ibas, bishop of Edessa, 435-49; 451-7. took a conciliatory position between Nestorius and Cyril.
His letter to Mari in 433 was condemned by Justinian.

Marius Mercator (early 5th cent.) wrote against Nestorians and Pelagians. His works are main
source for our knowledge of Nestorius’ doctrines.

Nestorius (d. 451), Patriarch of Constantinople, taught Mary should not be called theotokos –
bearer of God – but instead should be called Christokos – bearer of Christ because in Jesus there
were “two natures and two persons,” one divine and one human. Only the human nature and
person were born of Mary. Thus, Jesus Christ was two separate persons as well as possessing two
distinct natures. Declared heretical by Council of Ephesus, 431.

Pope Vigilius (d.555). Pope from 537. Switched sides on Three Chapters controversy 3x due to
political pressure. His case was cited at the First Vatican Council by opponents of Papal
infallibility.

General Council at Constantinople II, 553: strengthened Chalcedon formula by condemning

Nestorianism and moving along lines laid out by Cyril.

33
Lyle Brecht 5-Dec-03 EFM Notes 3.14: AUGUSTINE of HIPPO: SALVATION by
GRACE

Augustine (354-430): was born in Tagaste, in North Africa. He was the most influential
theologian in the West since the apostle Paul. He was the last of the great leaders of the
Imperial Church in the West. When he died, the Vandals were at the gates of Hippo,
announcing a new age. Augustine was baptized by Ambrose of Milan.

1. To counteract Manichean dualism, Augustine had to clarify his doctrine of the

intrinsic goodness of creation in relation to the presence of evil in the world and
the reality of free will despite human sin.

2. Against the Donatists who claimed that clergy who had sinned invalidated the
sacraments they performed (thus, baptisms were invalid), Augustine insisted that
the holiness of the church and its sacraments did not depend on the subjective
moral state of the clergy or the faithful, but on the objective gift of grace
conferred through the sacraments. And the sacraments depended on their validity
on the institution of Christ and on the preservation of the unity of the Catholic
Church as their place of transmission.

3. Against the Pelagians, Augustine formulated his doctrine of original sin as the
unavoidable consequence of the fall of Adam and Eve passed on to all their
natural descendents, together w/ his doctrine of sovereign grace as the unearned
gift of God to those who were subject to God’s divine election.

4. Augustine weighed in on the controversy on the doctrine of the Trinity in his On

the Trinity (the most brilliant theological writing in the Christian church). “When
all things began, the Word (Logos) already was.” He said the image of God was
the image of the entire Trinity, which itself was reflected in the structure of the
human mind and in the nature of human thought and experience.

5. Through his Confessions (397-401), a spiritual autobiography, Augustine

established the theologian’s personal experience as a legitimate component of the
theological task, and the person of the theologian became part of the theology.

Since nothing could exist w/o You, You must in some way be in all that is: [therefore
in me, since I am]. And if You are already in me, since otherwise I should not be, why
do I cry to You to enter into me?....I should be nothing, utterly nothing, unless You
were in me – or rather unless I were in You “of whom and by whom and in whom are
all things.” So it is Lord. So it is. Where do I call You to come to, since I am in You?
Or where else are You that You come to me? Where shall I go, beyond the bounds of
heaven and earth, that God may come to me, since He said: “Heaven and earth do I
fill.” –Augustine, Confessions

6. In Augustine’s City of God (De civtate Dei), he formulated the classic theory of
the philosophy of history: that the providence of God was at work, through the
events of human history, in leading the elect to the heavenly City of God, of

34
 which they already were citizens, and that the history of Rome, whatever earthly
good it might accomplish, was always subordinate to that providence. 6

7. Augustine’s formulated a theology of politics in De civatate Dei: The true polity

was created before humanity w/ angels as citizens. The greatest good of earthly
polity is peace, “the tranquility of order” (tanquillitas ordinis) achieved w/o the
violence of dominion or servitude. “Two loves makes the two polities, love of self
the earthly polity…love of God the heavenly.” Love of self in communal form
leads to “lust for dominion” over others. W/o love of God, which is an
encompassing love, there is no chance for koinonia – community governed by law
w/ consent of a people constituted for justice. Thus, politics are the organically
structured sovereignty of the people who are engaging in discourse where the
violence of dominion and servitude is absent and justice is present. In this polity,
we are able to listen to the moral address by which God speaks to us. God speaks
to us to initiate and sustain the koinonia of humanity living together in community
– a community in which God calls us to be human by addressing the other with
unforced mutual service, in love, peace, and justice.7 [From Augustine’s
definition of politics, politics in America is functioning as the manipulation of the
“public” by professional managers and an oligarchy of federal judges where
“interests” are weighed and judged rather than justice served and God listened to.
What we call “politics” has little relation to Augustine’s definition of politics.]8

Augustine’s understanding of grace and ‘original sin’ vs. the theodicy of Irenaeus:

1. According to Irenaeus (i-RAIN-eus), the basic truth about human existence is that
we are created by one God, whose goodness is infinite. The Creator is also the
God whom we know as Jesus Christ and the Spirit. Augustine (au-GUS-tin) was
also a Trinitarian.

2. For Irenaeus, man, who bears the image of God has yielded to temptation. The
human tragedy is that we are sinners who set our wills against the Creator’s.
Human beings have fallen into bondage to a new lord, the devil. For Augustine,
the basic truth is that the fallen state is the lot of all human beings, inherited from
Adam – we have inherited an inclination to sin, concupiscence (con-CU-pi-cents)
– the tendency to seek the lesser good of this world over the supreme good, which
is God. Augustine sees the fall of man as the explanation for evil. Irenaeus sees
evil as part of God’s eternal eschatology leading to a perfect ending. Augustine

6
Jaroslav Pelikan, The Melody of Theology: A Philosophical Dictionary (Cambridge, Harvard University
Press), 14-18.
7
Robert W. Jensen, Systematic Theology, Vol. 2: The Works of God (New York: Oxford University Press,
1999), 76-81.
8
“The kingdom of God, according to all prophetic tradition meant the replacement of all human forms of
government by a human society united by faith in one God. The kingdom of God stands in contrast to every
worldly state of affairs, which is always marked by compromise.” Wolfhart Pannenberg, “The Task of
Christian Eschatology” in The Last Things: Biblical & Theological Perspectives on Eschatology, eds. Carl
E. Braaten and Robert W. Jensen (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2002), 6.

35
 sees the fall of man as the explanation for evil. Irenaeus sees evil as part of God’s
eternal eschatology leading to a perfect ending.

3. For Irenaeus, the whole incarnate life of Christ has meaning for our salvation. “By
reason of his immeasurable love [Jesus Christ] became what we are, in order to
make us what he himself is.” Christ recapitulates the creation of God, he brings it
to the fullness or unity intended for it by the Creator. For Augustine, there is no
way we can escape the doom that is our destiny. All humankind is “a mass of
damnation.” God of his goodness, acted in Christ to bring deliverance from this
plight. This life he has offered to us – it cannot be achieved, but it can be received
by faith. By the grace of God, we can fulfill God’s commandments; without it, we
can do not good works that are truly good. Augustine relieves God of the
responsibility for evil by placing the responsibility on mankind. Irenaeus accepts
God’s responsibility for evil existing and justifies it as good in eschatology.

4. For Irenaeus, Mary’s role in salvation is not merely passive. She freely consented
to fulfill the design of God and “became the cause of salvation both for herself
and the whole human race.” Through Mary, Jesus is fully one w/ humanity. The
humanity of Jesus is the developed and mature humanity to which we are called to
grow. Jesus’ sinless ness means simply that he has overcome both sin and death,
which separate us from God. Irenaeus sees man created for fellowship w/ God.
Augustine sees God’s relation to His creation in non-personal terms. For
Augustine, at the end there will be a final division of mankind into saved and the
damned. For Irenaeus, an eternal hell for the damned is a problem for Christian
theodicy.9

[I imagine that the ideal relationship w/ God would consist in a vivid awareness of Him,
at once joyous and awesome, and a consequent wholehearted worship of the infinite
goodness and love by obedient service to His purposes w/in the created realm.10]

concupiscence: (con-CU-pi-cents) – the tendency to seek the lesser good of this world
over the supreme good, which is God.

Donatists: a schismatic body in the African Church that continued until the African
Church was destroyed by the Arabs in the 7th – 8th century. They believed that the clergy
must be morally fit to administer sacraments and that if a sacrament was administered by
a clergy who had sinned, the sacrament was invalid. They were vigorously opposed by
Augustine.

Doctrine of predestination (Augustine): Not all those who hear the gospel proclaimed
respond. Why do some respond and others not? Augustine’s answer was that God has
graciously predestined some to salvation. God has prepared a destiny for them in spite of
their unworthiness. God has given them salvation as their destination, and this gift is

9
John Hick, Evil and the God of Love. (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1977), 236; EFM, Year 3: Ch.
4, Ch. 12.
10
Hick, 262.

36
motivated solely by his love – no matter what sins they commit. Although God
predestines some to salvation, God does not will damnation on the rest. Those who are
not elected by God to be saved are damned by their own sin, not by God’s decree. It is
solely by the wondrous grace of God that they are saved at all. In ~474, Abbott Faustus,
building on the ideas of Vincent (434), a monk of Lerins (an island off so. Gaul) wrote
Grace which states that grace inclines the weakened will to good, but the will itself
determines what we do; people are saved because they choose righteousness, not because
God elects them. A synod at Arles in 473 upheld his views.

evil:11 Evil as a philosophical problem is never really addressed in biblical literature. In

the OT evil in the world is taken for granted. There is no distinction between moral evil
and natural calamity for the same Hebrew word is used for both. Evil is anything that is
unpleasant, repulsive, or distorted (Gen. 41.3-4). Gen. 1 shows how in the beginning
there already exists darkness and the cosmic sea (symbols of evil) requiring God’s
subjugation and no attempt is made to explain their origin. Although God subdues evil in
the cosmos, a number of texts in the OT identify God as the source for evil (Job 9.17-18;
13.24; 16.7-14; 19.21-22; Psalm 39.10; 51.8; 60.1-3). In the OT, evil is not seen as an
intrinsic feature of the physical world (Gen 1.32). The idea that evil can be attributed to a
supernatural being opposed to God has roots in the OT (Isa. 14.12-15; Ezek. 28.11-19)
but only becomes common in NT writings (Matt. 17.14-18; Acts 5.3; Cor. 12.7). In the
NT, a climatic confrontation between the cosmic forces of good and evil at some time in
the future will eradicate all evil with those creatures who have aligned themselves w/ it
(Rev. 19-21).12

Free Will: According to Augustine, the power of sin is such that it takes hold of our will,
and as long as we are under its sway we cannot move our will to be rid of it. The most we
can accomplish is that struggle between willing and not willing, which does little more
than slow the powerlessness of our will against itself. The sinner can will nothing but sin.
This does not mean that freedom has disappeared. The sinner is still free to choose
between sins. The one alternative that is not open is to cease sinning. For Augustine,
before the Fall, we were free to sin or not to sin. But between the Fall and redemption the
only freedom left to us is freedom to sin. When we are redeemed, the grace of God
enables us to freely choose to sin or not to sin. In heaven, we shall continue to have free
choices, but none of them will be sin.13

11
A modern definition of evil is the use of power to destroy the spiritual growth of others for the purpose of
defending and preserving the integrity of our own sick selves. In short, it is scapegoating. For the evil to so
misuse their power, they must have power to use in the first place. Evil is always done by the powerful
against the powerless. Think of human good and evil as a kind of continuum. Each step in life that
increases my self-confidence, my integrity, my courage, my conviction also increases my capacity to
choose against doing evil. The central defect of evil is not the sin but the refusal to acknowledge it. Scott
M. Peck, MD, People of the Lie: The Hope for Healing Human Evil (New York: Touchstone, 1983), 67 –
81.
12
Samuel A. Meier article in Bruce M. Metzger and Michael D. Coogan, eds., The Oxford Companion to
the Bible (New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 1993), 208-209.
13
Justo L. Gonzalez, The Story of Christianity: Vol. 1 The Early Church to the Dawn of the Reformation
(HarperSanFrancisco, 1984), 214.

37
Manicheism (MAN-ik-ee-ism) was an important syncretistic and dualistic religion from
Persia – a Gnostic rival of catholic Christianity in the fourth century. Mani borrowed
from the teachings of the church and from the ideas of Marcion and Basildes. It was
based on a dualistic philosophy where the devil and his kingdom became a rival not only
to the Christian soul, but to the divine sovereignty.14 Augustine of Hippo, the most
influential of all western church fathers started out as a Manichaean adherent from 374 –
383. The problem of evil had driven him to Manichaeism, but Manichaeism had failed to
resolve it.

Neo-Platonism (dualistic philosophy)

- The ultimate One lies beyond all things, and it is impossible to speak of that One at
all. The via negativa is all that is possible.
- From the One all the rest of the universe emanates as light emanates, flows, or shines
from a light bulb or a candle. The farther away from the source, the less like the One
a thing becomes, until finally, at the farthest remove, there is matter.
- A human being, is really spirit, akin to the One, but the spirit is trapped in a material
body. Below humanity there is no spirit; all is merely material. (Augustine was a
Neo-Platonist before becoming a Christian.)
- There is a God who is transcendent over the entire universe; God the Idea of Ideas, is
transcendent even over the Ideal realm itself.
- The One is absolute unity and Eternity; the origin of the universe could not be
explained as an act of creation- the very nature of the One made that impossible.
- emanation – the universe streams forth (emanates) from the One. The One neither
wills it nor know it, but simple emits its existence, as the sun emits light.
- logos – the expression of the inner being of the One; he is God’s face, his speech, his
self-manifestations; he is the intermediary between the absolute, unchanging, and
unspeakable One and the relative, changing describable universe.
- nous (nooss) – the first emanation from the One. Nous contains the ideas of all things.
Ideas are part of the Nous; in a sense they are the mind. Nous is in direct contact w/
the One.
- World-Soul emanates from the Nous. As eternal emanations (emanation is as eternal
as the One who is its source) human souls are immortal.

Paul’s view on the relationship between moral responsibility and human salvation: God,
having shown his love to Israel by leading them out of Egypt gave them the Law (Exod.
19.4-6). They were to love God and obey his commandments because he had first loved
them. Paul believed that the Judaism of his day had reversed the sequence – obedience to
the Law was required if one expected to appear righteous in the sight of God. Not until
Jesus appeared to Paul w/ the offer of undeserved love did Paul experience the atonement
w/ God he had been seeking. Thus, Paul taught justification by grace, through faith; he
opposed any attempt to negate graciousness of salvation by interposing requirements
between the sinner and God’s love. And Paul says, therefore we live the moral life that
befits God’s beloved.

14
Jaroslav Pelikan, The Emergence of the Catholic Tradition (100 – 600) (Chicago: University of Chicago
Press, 1971), 85, 91, 136.

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Pelagius (pel-AY-jee-us) an Irish monk came to Rome ~400 CE where he attacked
Manichaeism ( (MAN-ik-ee-ism). For Pelagius, the sin of Adam was his alone; we have
not inherited it. According to Pelagius, everyone who sins does so of his or her own free
will. To assign blame for our sin on an inherited defect of our nature is an affront to our
Creator as well as an evasion of our own responsibility. Pelagius agreed that we need the
grace of God if we are to be righteous. But we already have it. God gave us the freedom
to obey when he created us. He gave us the Bible so we would know his will. He gave us
Law. He forgave our sins. Thus, we have sufficient grace for righteousness. God has
given us the freedom to do good or to do evil. Pelagius imposed “the terrifying weight of
complete freedom on the individual: [the individual] was responsible for every action
(ref. Peter Brown) vs. Augustine who held that our wills were corrupt from birth” – a
greater tolerance toward those who sinned was reasonable.15 Ultimately, the third general
council at Ephesus in 431 condemned Pelagianism (pel-Ay-jee-an-ism) as heresy.

Sin: the only possible definition of sin is that it is what God does not want done. In the
OT the sin that God judges Israel first, last, and foremost is for idolatry; in the NT, when
Paul specifies occasions for God’s wrath against the Gentiles, he says that they have
“served the creature rather than the Creator” (Rom. 1.18-25). We are sinners in that we
revolve in our own self-reference and do so piously. Augustine’s description of his own
career of sin in his Confessions remains unmatched.16

Semi-Pelagianism: many contested Augustine’s view that the beginning of faith was
God’s action rather than a human decision. These opponents of Augustine’s doctrine of
predestination were called “Semi-Pelagians.”

synod of Orange: in 529, the Synod of Orange, with Bishop Caesarius of Arles, a former
monk of Lerins presiding proclaims that we are all born into original sin and have no
power to turn to God. Only by infusion of power from the Holy Spirit are we moved to
seek our salvation and submit to baptism. Any good we do is due to God’s grace
(supporting Augustine). Contrary to Augustine, the synod said we can resit God’s grace if
we desire; acceptance grace requires of god’s initiative, but our own wills cooperate to
receive it. Pope Boniface II approved the findings of the synod of Orange in 531, and its
semi-Pelagianism.

theodicy (term coined by Liebnitz 1646-1716): the justification of God’s justice and
goodness in light of suffering and evil.

15
Gary A. Anderson, The Genesis of Perfection: Adam and Eve in Jewish and Christian Imagination
(Louisville: John Knox, 2001), 66.
16
Jenson, 134-142.

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 Chapter 15

The Rise of the Middle Ages

The sixth and seventh centuries saw the establishment of Christianity in Europe. As
discussed previously, Arianism, which denied the divinity of Christ, was declared a
heresy at the Council of Constantinople in the 4th century, and its supporters fled to
northern Italy, Germany, Spain, and North Africa. Roman Christian outposts in Gaul
were few and far between, and they were threatened by pagan and Arian Germans. Only
in Italy was Catholicism dominant. When Arian Ostrogoths seized Italy, they allowed
the Roman (or Latin) catholic customs, granting religious freedom to non-Arians and
even to non-Christians. For the first time since Christianity had gained a religious
monopoly in Italy under Constantine, Jews could appeal to the state for protection.

Despite the conversion of many Germanic tribes to Arian Christianity, the Franks, who
ranged from northern Gaul and south to the Pyrenees and east across the Rhine into
modern day Germany, were pagans. In the fifth century, their king, Clovis, married a
Catholic Burgundian princess and converted to Christianity, which was binding on his
followers as well. His dynasty was successful at stopping the Moslem advance into
Europe at the Pyrenees.

The royal descendents of Clovis were inept, and their rule was challenged by a non-royal,
Pippin the Short. Pippin was an influential member of the king’s council. He succeeded
in obtaining the Pope’s blessing because the Pope had longed to regain lands that had
been forcibly taken from him by Pippin’s father, Charles Martel. Pippin became the first
king anointed by the Pope, following the example of the ancient kings of Israel.
Additionally, Pippin was given the rank of Patrician of the Romans, a title that had been
held by the eastern emperor’s deputy in Italy. In return, Pippin marched against the
Arians in Lombardy, returning their land to the pope, which made the pope the ruler of a
political state for the first time.

Pippin’s son, Charlemagne, succeeded him and was crowned Emperor of the Romans by
Pope Leo III. This established an empire in the west that separated the papacy from the
control of the Byzantine emperor. The alliance of Charlemagne and the pope ultimately
became known as the Holy Roman Empire, which served and protected the Roman
church. Charlemagne did not regard his authority as derived from the pope but as derived
from God.

Charlemagne also regarded himself as the overlord of bishops within his realm. Bishops
of metropolitan cities, often called “patriarchs”, were regarded as more important than
bishops of smaller sees. The title “archbishop” was adopted to designate such important
bishops, and Charlemagne used the archbishops as his principal channel of control. He
did not dictate the selection of popes, but it was clearly at the royal pleasure that the
papacy enjoyed its spiritual supremacy throughout his realm.

40
Charlemagne’s relationship with the pope effectively isolated Arians in Spain and North
Africa. The king of Spain soon renounced Arianism and much of North Africa fell to the
Moslems.

In Eastern Europe, the Slavs moved in from the Ukraine and adopted the form of
Christianity in their new homeland. The Poles and Czechs followed the Latin form, and
the Balkan Slavs and Russians chose Byzantine Christianity. The Byzantine empire
became isolated and struggled to survive against Moslem invaders.

Northernmost Europe was ruled the pantheistic Angles, Saxons, and Jutes. The Celts in
Britain were Christianized, and British bishops were present at the Council of Arles in
314. Irish Celtic Christians established missions in Scotland, and Pope Gregory I sent a
mission to England in 596. Under King Edwin, Roman Christianity spread northward,
meeting the Celts. The first archbishop of Canterbury was Augustine, at the close of the
sixth century. By the seventh century, after differences between the Celtic and Roman
Christians were resolved, the church in England declared its allegiance to the Pope,
which remained until the sixteenth century.

Scholastically, most of the scholars and libraries were in England and Ireland. Irish
monks copied religious and secular works, including Aristotle. Charlemagne advocated
scholarship and education, including the copying of the gospels and psalms in a
responsible manner and produced a purified text of the Vulgate, the Latin bible in the
form that we know it today.

These early students engaged in debate about the nature of the Eucharist. Eastern
theologians saw the reenactment of the sacred meal as the occasion of spiritual union
between the Lord and his people. Latin theologians viewed it as the sacred mystery
through which the saving grace of Christ made satisfaction for the sin that separated
people from God.

However, more literal-minded Germans put forth the question: are the bread and wine
symbols, or are they really the body and blood of Christ? They could not make a
connection between the spiritual and the actual. The argument died down, unresolved,
for two centuries.

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6-Feb-04
Chapter 17
Medieval Monasticism & Mysticism

Monasticism and mysticism are the hallmarks of stability in the turbulent times of wars,
crusades, and plagues in the medieval ages. Monasticism fostered contemplation and
prayer, scholasticism and theology, and promoted service to others through communal
labor and charity. From within the monastic communities, contemplative practices led to
a greater understanding of communion with God for the both the contemplative and for
the Christian masses and inspired missionary service. Countless people were kept alive
by the monasteries, which produced food and clothing by men who sought to share, not
profit materially. Work was dignified as a Christian vocation. Christian society became
divided into two levels – the ordinary Christians who followed the active life of
obedience (generally meaning the “secular world”) and the elite who pursued
contemplation (generally meaning the “religious”, but not necessarily the ordained).

John Cassian (c.360-430), a contemporary of Augustine, patterned eastern monastic

piety to fit western practicality, which dictated that spiritual ardor be tempered by
“discretion”. Cassian said that the route to spiritual perfection is the practice of
contemplation, in which the soul enjoys, in advance, the blessedness of the kingdom of
heaven. He urges poverty, penance, and fasting to discipline the body and produce purity
of heart as well as an awareness of and response to the needs of others. His principle
dominated western monasticism, setting it apart from its eastern forebears, and was a
principal forerunner of the Benedictine monastic style.

Benedict of Nursia (c.480-550) brought stability to the movement by introducing a

uniform rule of spiritual discipline and order to daily monastic life. Because it proved
adaptable, the Benedictine Rule spread, and Charlemagne’s son imposed it on
monasteries throughout the empire. The rule expressed moderation, which contrasted
with eastern practices of severity which included mortification of the flesh. The
Benedictine monk’s pattern of life consisted of private and public prayer and manual
labor. Private prayer took the form of devout reading and meditation – the lectio divina.

Pope Gregory I (c.540-604) erected the structure that the church was to inhabit for the
next thousand years; its organization, theology, discipline, liturgy, politics, and style of
life. He asserted that obedience to the church’s moral guidance conquers the pride of the
will and leads to the virtuous life. The active life produces humility, without which no
one can see God, but the contemplative life leads to the vision of God. Gregory’s
translation of the Benedictine Rule into general church practice opened the way for
masses of Christians. The Benedictine-Gregorian approach demonstrated a deep concern
for the world and its welfare.

[Original sin, Gregory said, made infant baptism obligatory as unbaptized infants would
be damned. The sacrament of penance brings forgiveness of mortal sins committed after
baptism. The Eucharist provides grace for the active life, giving strength to perform
moral obligations and help to acquire the virtues of the Christian life. It is a repetition of

42
Christ’s sacrifice for us made available in the present moment – the past made present, as
the crossing of the Sea of Reeds was made present at Passover.]

The origins of monasticism in Ireland are obscure. Celtic monasticism was much like
that of the East – individualistic, prone to ascetical excesses, and highly dependent on the
spiritual genius of a strong leader. One of these leaders was Columba (c.521-597).
After spending some time in a monastery and founding two of his own, he left Ireland
and went to northern Britain. On the island of Iona, he built a monastery and a church to
serve as the base of his mission.

Dionysius the Areopagite, whose conversion by Paul is recorded in Acts, was the name
that became attached to treatises actually written c.500. A Christian writing with
Neoplatonic language, he sees the union of the whole created order with God as the final
stage of a threefold process of purification, illumination, and perfection. In the
Neoplatonic view of negativity, the contemplative must plunge into the unknowing that is
God to experience the ecstasy of union with God.

John Scotus Erigena (c.810-877) was an Irish philosopher who had a unique knowledge
of classical Latin and Greek and became the interpreter of Dionysius to the west. He was
brought to the court of Charlemagne’s grandson to teach. His unique knowledge of
Greek allowed him to translate the writings of Pseudo-Dionysius. According to John,
creation begins with the uncreated Creator, God, and the universe is a procession from
and a return to God. From this nameless God emanates nature and material existence
from which only death will set us free.

Ivo (c.1040-1115), was the Bishop of Chartres who encouraged the religious family
known as the Canons Regular (meaning rule) of St. Augustine – know in England as the
Austin Canons – and helped found the Augustinian house of St. Victor in Paris. The
canons, who were clergy, not monks, shared all earnings and rejected private property.
St. Victor’s became an influential center of learning and produced numerous cardinals,
archbishops, abbots, and three notable canons. Hugh St. Victor’s major contribution
was to clarify the three steps in the mystic way; thinking, meditating, and contemplation.
Richard St. Victor was a Christocentric mystic who would have nothing to do with any
practice that did not lead to Christ. He insisted on the necessity of ethical as well as
intellectual preparation to avoid possible self-delusion in contemplation. Adam St.
Victor spent a life of quiet seclusion composing musical “sequences”, which were
incorporated into the Mass.

[The Cistercian Order was founded in the 11th century by those who wanted a form of
Benedictinism stricter and more primitive.]

Bernard of Clairvaux (c.1090-1153) was a Cistercian monk whose monastery became

the chief source of the power of western Catholicism during the life of its founder. Three
hundred Cistercian abbeys were established during his life, and another five hundred
more within fifty years of his death in 1153. His wisdom was sought in church
controversies, and he was invited to arbitrate when a papal election was disputed. His

43
mysticism is rather Catholic, Christocentric, and practical. Union with God is the end of
an ascent to God and should be the normal or personal experience of the Christian.
Although he advocated a disastrous crusade to save Antioch, his reputation remained
intact as a trusted guide of the leaders of Christendom.

Joachim of Fiore (c.1135-1202) was a Cistercian monk and mystic who set up a
community of hermits. One of his fundamental conceptions is the series of three world
epochs. The first age is that of the Father when creation lived under the Law (OT). The
second is the age of the Son, lived under grace and characterized by the sacraments (NT).
The third age is the age of the Spirit, which will witness the perfection of mystical
fellowship with perfect liberty and abundant grace and without the need of priests,
sacraments, altar or sacrifice.

Francis of Assisi (c.1182-1226) adopted poverty and proclaimed a message of

repentance, faith, and peace. Pope Innocent III authorized him and eleven companions to
be itinerant preachers of Christ, and Francis helped the church recover its commitment to
mission. He impressed the world with his simplicity, spirit of service, goodness, and love
of God. His disciples organized a general chapter, which spread throughout Europe,
known as the “Order of Friars Minor”. They were available to all and lived under the
rule of the abandonment of self-will and submission to others – literally, “Friars Minor”
– following Christ, who came not to be served but to serve.

Peter Dominic (c.1174-1221), a Spaniard, began a preaching mission in southern France,

the Order of Preachers, whose sole aim was preaching and the salvation of souls. It was
eventually known as the Dominican Order (a play on the words Domini canes, meaning
hounds of the Lord). The order eventually numbered among its members the most
eminent scholars of the period.

Meister Eckhart (c.1260-1328) was a well-educated, German-born, Dominican monk

and master of theology who pioneered the use of German as a theological language. He
wrote that the surest means of attaining union with God is through the soul, which, in a
manner, contains all things in itself. In a sense, it has never left divine ground, so the
meeting place between God and ourselves is the essence of the soul itself. Sin has
nevertheless disordered God’s creation, and a divine initiative is required to bring the
soul back from its lower consciousness to the divine center where it immediately
experiences.

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 Monastic Communities for Women

Monastic communities for women provided a way of expressing the Christian view of
women’s place in society. In secular society, the majority of women were treated as little
more than chattel, but abbesses held power equivalent to that of abbots. Nuns could
follow the same way of religious life as monks.

In about 415, John Cassian established a monastery near Marseilles and began a sister
community there for women.

Clare of Assisi (c.1193-1253) was introduced to Francis of Assisi after hearing him
preach and was received by him to pursue a second order of Franciscans for women,
which came to be known as the “Poor Clares”. She, along with her sister and widowed
mother and others, adopted a life of poverty for the means of union with God and with
one another. She is considered one of the foremost medieval contemplatives.

Bridget of Sweden (c.1303-1373) joined the Cistercians after her husband’s death. The
mother of eight children, she founded the Brigittine order and followed Catherine of
Siena in promoting the restoration of the pope from Avignon to Rome. The Brigittines
were a semicloistered order whose constitution provided for double communities, with
nuns and monks using the same chapel but living in separate parts of the monastery.

Julian of Norwich (c.1342-1416) was probably a nun in a Benedictine convent who

lived the greater part of her adult life as an anchorite, or hermit, in a cell built against the
wall of the church at Canisford, Norwich. She prayed to have bodily sight of the passion
of Christ, bodily sickness, and God’s gift of true contrition, kind compassion, and earnest
longing for God. In the course of a serious, nearly fatal illness, Julian experienced a
series of visions and voices. She wrote about it in The Revelations of Divine Love. Her
mysticism was strongly, vividly, Christocentric and distinctively creation-centered.
Creation reveals God but must not stand between God and the simple souls who come to
him. Julian had a strong sense of the divine purpose working out for good when the
appearance of things seems to deny that purpose. “All will be well; and every kind of
thing will be well.” She is considered one of the greatest of the medieval mystics.

Catherine of Siena (c.1347-1380) lived at the same time as Julian. She attached herself
to a group of women living in the world but under no religious vows. As a tertiary of the
Dominican Order (penitent dedicated to serving the needs of the poor and sick),
Catherine became something of a legend for her service as a nurse and for the radiance of
her character. In her later years, she devoted herself to the organization of a crusade to
the Holy Land and to the restoration of peace in the church by the return of the pope from
Avignon to Rome. She began a prolific letter-writing career and wrote the Dialogue,
which describes her religious experiences and is one of only two women receiving the
title of doctor in the Roman Catholic Church.

45
 Chapter 19
The Franciscan Schoolmen

The agenda for thought during the late Middle Ages was reason trying to understand the
substance of faith.
From the fifth century, Augustine’s views of a union between God and creation provided
the framework within which all discussions of human free will and responsibility and of
God’s sovereignty and love have been held by western Christianity. The natural order,
the human soul, and the transcendent mystery of God were all seen as manifestations of
God, grounded in faith and open to human understanding. Faith was a gift from God.

Thomas Aquinas’ thoughts, based on Aristotle, prompted him to construct a rational

foundation on which the substance of Christian faith could stand. Reason progressed
from the understanding of the natural world (philosophy) to a demonstration of God as its
cause (theology). The revealed body of knowledge filled out what was lacking in
understanding. [Suzanne’s “Catch-22” of Faith: In order to speak of faith rationally, you
must accept that it exists. Therefore, reason cannot provide faith as a conclusion.] As a
conservative force maintaining the structure of traditional Christian teaching, Thomas’
beliefs continue to serve as a voice of rationality within the theological camp, insisting on
the truth of the gospel without sacrificing intellectual integrity.

John Bonaventure, a traditional and conservative Franciscan, opposed Thomas’ modeling

of Christianity, following, instead, Augustine’s teachings. He believed that true
knowledge results when the divine light shines through our souls, illuminating all things
so we can see them as they exist in the mind of God. His essential difference from
Aquinas is his belief that ecstasy is not a vision given to the intellect but a union of
human and divine wills in which both sense and intellect are transformed. His
contribution to theology is his preservation of Augustine’s elements in the Aristotelian
system.

Also challenging Thomas’ reasoning was Duns Scotus, an influential teacher at Oxford,
Paris, and Cologne. He also accepted Aristotelianism, using it to understand Christian
truth. Like Thomas, he accepted the inevitable conclusion that we can have no direct,
experiential knowledge of God in this life. His emphasis of will over intellect veered
slightly from Thomas, saying that will is the primary faculty of the soul. Philosophy
could not address itself to supernatural concerns. The truths of theology are not subject to
reason’s scrutiny.

William of Ockham, a scholar at Oxford in the early 14th century, repudiated Thomas,
saying that philosophy could not address itself to supernatural concerns, and the truths of
theology are not subject to reason’s scrutiny. Reason can tell us nothing about God
because God is not an individual being that can be perceived with the senses. The truth
of theological teaching comes from revelation alone, not from reason. The theologian
must observe what in fact God has done, as the Scriptures report, and frame theological
doctrines around this revelation, which is received through the teachings of the Catholic
Church.

46
Modern life has put its trust in the ability to conclusively reason without recognition of
God’s presence; secular reason and transcendent vision are considered incompatible. In
theology, trust in God has always required commitment by the will. Trust in God is not
the same as assent to authoritative teachings. In its ancient setting, dogma meant a
teaching whose truth had been tested in the crucible of religious experience. To many
people, it has come to mean a teaching to be accepted without question, subject to no
testing at all. “Dogmatic” has taken on the overtones of arbitrariness, sometimes of
irrationality. As a consequence, theology, considered the “queen of the sciences” in the
middle ages, is seldom regarded as any kind of science or source of knowledge at all.

Transubstantiation - Ockham also challenged the long held dogma of

transubstantiation, which said that the “whole substance” of the bread and wine becomes
the “whole substance” of Christ’s body and blood. The dogma depended on Aristotelian
distinction between “substance”, the underlying reality of a thing, and “accidents”, which
is the appearance of a thing. Ockham denied this distinction saying that there is no
“underlying reality; a thing is what it looks like.” The transubstantiation, he said, is a
revealed truth, meaning that the Eucharistic mystery persists in the realm of supernature
and cannot be expected to conform to philosophical canons. It is solely because God wills
to use this sacrament to bestow grace upon us that it is effective for our salvation. It is to
be accepted on the teaching authority of the church, not on rational grounds.

47
 Chapter 20

The Acts of the Apostles, Part II

The Apostles began preaching in the synagogue. At first, Paul’s preaching about Christ
is accepted, but the following Sabbath, as Paul starts to make clear that Christ’s message
was also meant for Gentiles, the Jews object and contradict him. Paul supports his claim
through the prophecy of Isaiah in which the Lord says, “I will give you as a light to the
nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.” (Isa. 49:6).

The problem is the church’s insistence that Gentiles can be heirs of God’s promises to
Israel without first becoming Jews. Chapter 15 of Acts presents Luke’s solution to that
problem, an apostolic decree that upholds three Jewish laws that were especially aimed at
the Gentile converts: idolatry, sexual immorality, and the prohibition against eating live
animals. The other four laws (blasphemy, murder, robbery, and disregard of judicial
orders) were considered obvious to the Gentiles. This new system of law creates a new
fellowship of Jews and Gentiles without abandoning or violating the Torah.

Following his call from Christ, Paul’s mission develops a pattern. First, he goes to the
synagogue, and then he goes to the Gentiles, sometimes with success, sometimes not, but
always with divine protection and with the Holy Spirit as the guiding force. Squabbling
amongst the Jewish communities continues, aggravating their relations with the Roman
governments. Paul is often arrested, held, and released by the Romans, occasionally with
apology. However, wherever Paul is led by the Spirit or taken by the Romans, his
preaching continues and his mission spreads. He is received in love and peace by the
Christian communities. Paul’s journeys ultimately take him from Jerusalem to Cyprus,
Galatia, Antioch, Thessalonica, Philippi, Athens, Corinth, Ephesus, Macedonia, and
Rome several times.

Paul continues to claim that rejection of the gospel by some Jews is a fulfillment of
prophecy and a sign that the salvation of God is now also sent to the Gentiles, who “will
listen”. One of Luke’s chief aims is clearly to emphasize that the mission to the Gentiles
is directed by God, which is itself proof that we are now in the messianic age. How could
such things be happening if Jesus were not the Messiah?

Following in the tradition of Jesus in the gospels, women are mentioned as supporters of
the church’s mission. In Corinth, Priscilla and her husband, Aquila, join with Paul in his
mission to preach the gospel. In the Macedonian city of Philippi, Paul met Lydia, whose
household was baptized and who allowed her house to be used as a meeting place for
prayer, essentially, the first European church.

By the end of Luke’s narrative, two years have elapsed, during which Paul has been
under house arrest but has “welcomed all who came to him, proclaiming the kingdom of
God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance”.
Nothing can stop the gospel.

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 Chapter 24
The German Reformation – Martin Luther

Luther was born in 1483, at Eisleben, Saxony, a land largely untouched by the
Renaissance. His parents were “middle-class” and “upwardly mobile”, a class of society
that was conservative and even superstitious. He attended school, and, at the age of 18,
matriculated at the University of Erfurt, an old and well-established university, where the
faculty was influenced by William of Ockham’s stress of freedom of the will. [The soul
can be saved by its own acts of goodness, thus meriting God’s mercy.] He graduated
from the university with a master of arts degree in 1505, and, six months later, made a
sudden and unexpected decision to enter the Augustinian Order of Hermits. [This was
possibly prompted by a lightning strike.]

After his ordination, Luther received orders to deliver lectures on moral philosophy,
meaning Aristotelian ethics, at the University of Wittenberg. He became a competent
scholastic theologian and a convinced Ockhamist.

However, the doctrine of predestination presented Luther with an impossible dilemma.

Following Augustine, Luther believed that God had divided the human race into two
classes, the elect who are saved for all eternity, and the lost or reprobate, who are
damned. Their numbers are fixed and unalterable. That any should be saved is due to the
mercy of God. Luther was repelled but what he saw as a capricious God and felt that
since he did not love God, God must have damned him. Luther’s mentor, Johann
Staupitz, taught him that even temptation and trial can be a sign of grace. He gradually
came to see that his feeling of alienation was from God did not mean that God had
forsaken him. Even Christ, as evidenced on the cross, was predestined by God to suffer
for sinners. This “theology of the cross” became central to Luther’s thought. He learned
to look away from his own spiritual condition and contemplate the good and loving
purposes of God in his own soul.

Having been ordered by Staupitz to study for a doctor of theology degree, Luther studied
the scriptures as chair of Bible at the University of Wittenberg. His search for a gracious
God found its eventual solution in a rediscovery of the gospel. His studies and lectures on
the psalms and the letters of Paul separated his beliefs from traditional scholasticism. He
found that the heart of the gospel reveals God’s forgiving righteousness, not his punitive
righteousness. Our faith leads us to God and opens up his graciousness towards us.

Luther placed his confidence in the preaching of the gospel as the central activity of the
church, for Christ establishes, governs, and preserves his church through the word. He
viewed the church’s essential nature as invisible, the communion of saints. The visible
church is only the means or organ of the invisible. The church hierarchy is not as
important as the succession of believers, who are known only to God.

Luther also began to develop the idea of the Christian vocation or calling. Neglecting to
heed God’s call could not be helped by fasting, making pilgrimages, telling beads,
endowing masses [indulgences], and such other activities sanctioned by the church as

49
“good works”. His studies brought a re-examination of church practices in light of his
belief in God’s graciousness, which led him to condemn many of the contemporary evils
in the church, including the corruption of the papal court. He offered suggestions for the
alteration of canon law.

Luther also began to make a much more radical diagnosis of sin, rejecting Ockham’s
freedom of the will. “Sins,” he said, “are remitted, not by any works, but alone by the
mercy of God without any merit.” The real nature of sin is the selfishness of human
nature which destroys the capacity to will freely. He rejected the moral philosophy of
Aristotle, which did not account for God’s grace.

His reputation as scholar, lecturer, and preacher and the radical implications of his
message drew a variety of people to him, propelling him into the leadership of a new
theological movement. His ideas were an appeal to the church to recover the gospel of
forgiveness.

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 Chapter 25
The Reformation Develops
1517 - 1555

Objecting to abuses of the church, on the eve of All Saints’ Day in 1517, Luther posted
95 theses on the door of the Castle Church, questioning church beliefs and practices and
calling for debate and reformation. He did not, as yet, see himself outside of the Catholic
church.

Major issues of the Reformation:

Indulgences – Do external acts in this world atone for sins in either this world or
purgatory?
Papal infallibility – From where does the pope derive authority?
Essence of the church – Who is the church?
Sacraments – Which were instituted by God and which were man-made?
State-sanctioned religion – What authority does the pope have over secular states?

Indulgences

The original sequence of reconciling an individual was public contrition, confession,

penance, absolution. Eventually, confession became private, and penance was at the
discretion of one’s parish priest. Penance evolved into punishment and retribution,
frequently by monetary means known as indulgences. Joining in the Crusades brought
absolution, as eventually did paying for someone to substitute for you. The idea
developed of purgatory, a period of purification for souls who had died penitent but not
worthy of penance. As need for church funding arose, the sale of indulgences was used
as a means of raising money. Pilgrimages to religious shrines and relics had monetary
indulgences attached to them. Indulgences were “marketed” to pay clerical fines, finance
construction projects, etc. The indulgence offered: the remission of all sins; a letter
allowing penitents to designate their own confessor (rather than their own parish priest
who might be too harsh); participation in the merits of all the saints; and the release of
their friends from purgatory. A sliding scale of charges allowed the poor to pay less than
the wealthy, and all the people were eager to pay. Whether or not the indulgences gave
remission of the guilt or the punishment of sin or whether or not they extended to souls in
purgatory was never finally resolved.

Luther objected to the matter of paying the pope to use his authority to release souls from
purgatory. Why, said Luther, did he not do it as an act of charity? Luther was also
concerned that true penance was not an external, mechanical act but an inner attitude of
mind, extending throughout life. Politically, Luther objected to the exploitation of people
of the north to build a church in Rome.

Papal infallibility

Luther declared that the pope could only remit penalties he had imposed, not purgatorial
penalties. Pope Leo X asked the General of the Augustinian Order to settle the matter,

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but the Augustinians were supportive of Luther, their fellow monk. The pope next
authorized the Dominicans to undertake proceedings against Luther. They pronounced
that the real issue was the pope’s infallibility and that whoever maintained that the pope
could not do what he did with reference to the indulgences was a heretic. Luther’s
exhaustive research led him to conclude that the papacy was merely the form of
monarchy developed within the Roman church. In a debate with the scholar Johann
Meier of Eck (known as John Eck), he asserted that the church was a monarchy with
Christ as its head and that the papacy was a human institution. Luther questioned
whether the councils themselves might err.

Essence of the church

Luther denied that those who share the same faith and baptism are heretics if they do not
subject themselves to the pope because the papacy is not essential to the church’s
existence. Luther maintained that the church exists only in Christ, and its representative
only in the council. He asserted that the temporal world had jurisdiction over the papacy
because all baptized Christians are members of the priesthood of believers. He denied
that the pope was the final and infallible interpreter of scripture as all Christians, lay or
cleric, are potentially able to determine what God says in scripture. He denied that only
the pope could call a general council as scripture teaches that if a brother offends us, we
are to tell it to the church. Using scripture to support his case, Luther denied that either
the church or the pope could establish articles of faith. He advocated reform: return to
apostolic simplicity; the reduction of the numbers of cardinals, of monastic orders, and of
church festivals; the abandonment of secular claims and properties; permission for
clerical marriage.

Sacraments
Luther stressed that the Bible recognizes only one sacrament, the word of God, and three
sacramental signs – baptism, penance, and the Eucharist. He saw the others as rites or
even, as in the case of extreme unction, an ineffectual, superstitious practice.

State-sanctioned religion
The pope demanded that the German princes either banish Luther or forcibly send him to
Rome. The princes refused. Seeking a negotiated settlement with the now-popular
Luther to avoid estrangement from the powerful Hapsburg empire, the papal commission
published a bull declaring the right of the pope to remit “punishment which is due
according to divine justice for actual sins” through indulgences from the treasury of merit
and would apply either in this life or in purgatory. The emperor sided with the pope and
proclaimed that Luther was to be regarded as a convicted heretic. Not all of the German
rulers and people agreed. The edict never succeeded due to lack of support by a growing
Protestant allegiance. The Hapsburg empire was now religiously divided and violent
groups of Protestants and peasant revolts threatened its stability.

In 1530, the emperor Charles invited the Protestants to put forward their point of view.
Under the imperial ban, Luther was unable to be present, so the Lutheran cause was
entrusted to his colleague, Philip Melanchthon. Melanchthon presented a statement of

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what the Lutheran princes and cities believed – the Augsburg Confession. The first part
presents the ‘articles of faith and doctrine’ held by the Lutherans, and the second part lists
the abuses to be reformed. They averred themselves to have acted not in an unchristian
and frivolous manner but to have been impelled by God’s command to merely correct
some abuses. They declared themselves to be Catholics in essentials.

War broke out between the Protestants and Catholics, which was quickly put down by the
imperial army, but peace could not be maintained. Charles resigned the empire to his
brother. In 1555, at another imperial diet at Augsburg, Roman Catholics and Protestants
were given more or less equal recognition.

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 Chapter 26
The Swiss Reformation
1520 - 1560

As the Swiss Reformation began, around 1520, the cantons that formed the Swiss
Confederation were known for their independence and love of freedom. They were
governed by a series of councils. Although lacking a central government, they
recognized the importance of the confederation’s bonds. Militarily, the Swiss
Confederation was recognized as a leading military nation in Europe whose soldiers were
recruited by other nations. Ecclesiastically, church structure was not aligned with the
confederation’s structure, and the clergy were more secular than religious. It was,
however, staunchly Catholic.

Two figures dominated the Reformation in Switzerland: Ulrich Zwingli and John Calvin.

Zwingli was a Catholic priest who, with the approval of the canons of Zurich, departed
from following the church’s lectionary in his preaching; emphasized scripture as the sole
basis of his preaching; and in his own 67 theses challenged the church’s position on
dietary restrictions, celibacy; tonsure, pilgrimages, and papal supremacy; and proposed
that civil authority is responsible to God. He, himself, married. In 1522, the burgomaster
(a secular official) decreed that all preaching should be done strictly from scripture.

From 1525 on, Zwingli’s service was basically a preaching service, rejecting sacramental
ceremonialism, which he regarded as idolatry. For him, the Lord’s Supper is a memorial
in which God is thanked and the people rejoice and bear witness that they belong to the
company of the redeemed. Though the bread and wine remain bread and wine, through
faith, believers receive the body and blood of the Lord. The great council ordered that
images should henceforth be removed from the city churches, though only after due
instruction of the people, along with vestments, incense, altar cloths, vessels of gold and
silver, and organs. Zwingli intervened in the debate to preserve the stained glass, but the
authorities set about logically and carefully working out the details of reform.

Other cantons in Switzerland rejected the reforms and clashes broke out between the
Protestants and the Catholics. Zwingli himself urged a Protestant offensive and proposed
an alliance with the German Protestants against the Catholic Hapsburgs. Although
religious disagreements between Lutherans and Zwinglians threatened the alliance, the
two sides came to a general agreement. Zurich was defeated by the Catholic troops, and
Zwingli, himself, was killed. A treaty was signed giving Catholic cantons and Catholic
subject minorities in Protestant canons protection and rights. Both sides were to give up
their alliances with external powers.

Zwingli was succeeded by Heinrich Bullinger, the chief author of the first Helvetic
Confession, a blend of Zwinglian and Lutheran teachings. He also produced a lengthy
personal confession of faith, usually known as the second Helvetic Confession, a
moderate statement of reforming views that came to be widely authoritative in the Low
Countries, Scotland, and England. However, Bullinger’s chief influence on the English

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Reformation came in part through his voluminous correspondence with English
theologians and through the collection of his sermons on the doctrine of the church which
were required reading for the clergy during the reign of Elizabeth I. He speaks of the
sacraments as “visible signs of invisible grace”, a term familiar to Anglicans.

Calvin was born in France in 1509. Educated in the law, Calvin received a master’s
degree but did not go on, as he had planned, to study theology in preparation for
ordination. He experienced a sudden conversion and, in 1523, was influenced by French
reformers and fled with them to Basel and, eventually, to Geneva.

The ethos of Calvinism may be summarized as follows:

1. Passionately theocentric - Man’s chief end is to give God the glory and to enjoy him
for ever. Life had been taken under God’s control, and that no real freedom was possible
for anyone until the will was gathered up in the sovereign will of God. This doctrine of
predestination is not one of impersonal fatalism but is a belief that all things move toward
the end appointed for them by God.

2. An evangelical and catholic church – Besides the original word of scripture, Calvin
sought to rehabilitate the doctrine of the apostles and prophets and the ecumenical
councils, as they constituted for him an authoritative witness to the gospel of Christ. It is
catholic because it embraces all people and apostolic because it depends on the witness of
the apostles to Jesus Christ. Our security and salvation lie not in our own choice but in
the certainty of God’s grace. Like Luther, he believed that the true church is invisible, the
chosen people known only to God. With Roman Catholicism, he also believed that the
visible church is the school of Christ in which believers grow to maturity, nurtured by
scripture and the sacraments.

3. God’s will sought in history and politics – God’s purpose is to establish a redeemed
community through the church and state, whose duty is to preserve order and promote
piety. The church is a sharing in the lives of one another. The clergy consisted of pastors
who preached the gospel, instructed the faithful, and administered the sacraments;
teachers who taught the people doctrine; elders who, along with the pastors, exercised
discipline; and deacons who managed church finances and/or ministered to the poor and
needy. Pastors were to swear an oath of loyalty to the city.

4. Ethics and the life of holiness – The end of the Christian life is to conform one’s life
to the will of God. A chief characteristic is an emphasis on personal discipline,
promoting the deliberate and intelligent use of human energies for the advancement of
God’s cause in the world. Pleasurable activities should not be extravagant or exploitative.

5. The life of the mind – This stresses an educated clergy as well as an informed laity.

6. The cultural life – Although the Calvinist churches repudiated the use of the visual
arts as either adornments of the sanctuary or as aids to worship, Calvin himself insisted

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that art was a gift of God. He brought from Paris a distinguished musician, Louis
Bourgeois, who composed the Old Hundredth – which is also known as the Doxology.

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 Chapter 27
The Radical Reformation

In the early years of Zwingli’s campaign, he managed to keep his followers more or less
united. They had doubts then that the world would ever be a friend of Christ, and they
proceeded with reform whether the church or state assisted or opposed it. As support for
reform increased, Zwingli began to believe that nothing should be done without the
support and legal action of the civil government. It proved to be an unacceptable
decision to his more extreme followers who wanted to reform the church by reference to
the literal teaching of scripture.

The radical view became marked by its adherence to Scriptural text only and its
separation from the temporal world. In this, they rejected the medieval church entirely,
regardless of its reforms, and set about creating a new denomination. In this, they were
similar to the Islamic reformers of the Jewish/Christian church.

Their fundamental differences were:

1. On divine predestination:
Zwingli: God’s grace elects and accepts us. Faith is God’s gift.
Radicals: The individual must make the conscious decision to follow God. Faith is a
response of will.

2. What is the church?

Zwingli: Because God has called all of us, we are all members together in the body of
Christ and baptism is a sign of that membership.
Radicals: We cannot be in the church unless we are saved. The church is made up of
committed members.

3. What role does the state play?

Zwingli: The state is the Christian body responsible for carrying through needed reforms
and discipline of members.
Radicals: The state is typical of the world, not scriptural, and hostile to Christ. Church
and state must be kept separate.

4. How should reform proceed?

Zwingli: The medieval church should be reformed, not discarded.
Radicals: The medieval church was so corrupt, so far from being scriptural, that it should
be rejected and rebuilt.

One group who opposed him became known as “Anabaptists”. They were named
because they were “rebaptized”, by full immersion, as a sign of their reaffirmation or
rebirth in their faith in Christ. It was a sign of their conversion.

Ostensibly pacifist because they rejected participation in the civil world, they were not
against taking up arms to defend Christ and instigated several bloody revolts against

57
authority. They were opposed by most Christian nations, and the Roman, Lutheran, and
Reformed traditions on political and religious grounds due to their notion of the
separation of church and state.

The Anabaptists looked to scripture as the sole authority for Christian life, which, they
felt, neither Lutheran nor reformed traditions did. The ideas of the radical movement
eventually became part of the order of things in the new world.

1. Baptism was only for adults who have learned repentance and believe that their sings
are forgiven. One of the original statements on this was given by Menno Simons,
founder of the present-day Mennonite Church.

2. The Ban – Excommunication – The Anabaptists did not believe that the church could
be a mixed body of faithful and sinners. Any who refused to repent after being
admonished by the congregation three times should be expelled from the church and
shunned. They were truly lost and could never return.

3. The Eucharist – They believed that it was a memorial meal only for the truly worthy, a
communion of saints with their Lord.

4. Separation from the Abomination (the World) – Withdrew from the civil community,
participating in no state or civil services, into “Utopian” communities, trying to embody
Christian standards.

5. Pastors – Each congregation was independent and hired its own pastor to care for the
body of Christ so that it may be build up and developed and to stop what they called “the
slanderer”. Their was no ecclesiastical hierarchy.

6. The Sword – As God provides the ultimate punishment, within their communities,
they held warnings, commands to sin no more, and finally, The Ban. As the separation
between church and state is complete, no Christian need feel any responsibility whatever
toward the secular world.

7. The Oath – Probably as a response to medieval fealty oaths, they forbade the taking of
oaths of any kind.

Although they were considered drop-outs from Christian society in Europe, their impact
in England and in the American colonies was profound. Their traits are still found in
politics, religious, and ethical life in the U.S. today. One other group worth noting were
the “Unitarians”, whose ideals were also brought to the U.S. They opposed the doctrine
of the Trinity. Unitarianism was popularized by two Italians named Lelio Sozzini and his
nephew, Fausto. They were greatly influenced by the humanist movement. They
believed that Jesus was only a man, not God incarnate, but that he was born of the Virgin
Mary and raised from the dead by God to show us that a life such as his leads to eternal
life. Without knowledge of him, we cannot hope to have eternal life. Their influence
spread to Poland, where the first Unitarian churches were created.
CHAPTERS 28 & 29

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 The Reformation in England
Anglicanism in the 16th Century

By 1500, the English church occupied a prominent position in the lives of its citizens, providing preaching,
education, and relief for the sick, the poor, and for travelers. The rise of the great universities provided an
educated laity and a clergy that was not flagrantly immoral. Most of the church’s money was concentrated
in monastic houses and cathedrals. The Tudor period saw the turbulence of two changes of official
religion, resulting in the martyrdom of many innocent believers of both Protestantism and Roman
Catholicism. The fear of Roman Catholicism induced by the Reformation was to last for several centuries
and to play an influential role in the history of the Succession. The important changes in the English church
during the 16th century hinged on changes in the political structure of the Tudor monarchy. They were
made by statute rather than by theological decree.

Henry VIII was born in 1491 (eight years after Martin Luther), the second son of Henry VII, who had
united England by ending the Wars of the Roses. He became heir to the throne on the death of his elder
brother. After succeeding the throne, Henry VIII applied and received a license from the pope to marry his
brother’s widow, Catherine of Aragon. Catherine was the daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain,
and, eventually, the aunt of the Holy Roman Emperor. During their marriage, Catherine suffered five
miscarriages and gave birth to only one living daughter, Princess Mary.

Henry was described as educated, intelligent, and religious, a musician and author. In 1521, Henry was
given the title 'Defender of the Faith' by the pope because of a popular book he authored attacking Martin
Luther and supporting the Roman Catholic church. He followed the political wranglings of the Holy
Roman Emperor and the King of France (brother of Henry’s sister). Later, the pope would back France in
its dispute with England, which angered Henry.

Henry's varied interests and lack of application to government business and administration increased the
influence of Thomas Wolsey, a butcher's son, who became Lord Chancellor in 1515. Wolsey became one
of the most powerful ministers in British history (symbolized by his building of Hampton Court Palace - on
a greater scale than anything the king possessed). Wolsey exercised his powers vigorously in his own court
of Chancery and in the increased use of judicial authority. Wolsey was also appointed Cardinal in 1515 and
given papal legate powers, which enabled him to by-pass the Archbishop of Canterbury and 'govern' the
Church in England.

The second half of Henry's reign was dominated by two issues very important for the later history of
England and the monarchy: the succession and the Protestant Reformation, which led to the formation of
the Church of England.

Anxious to produce a male heir, Henry petitioned the pope for an annulment on the grounds that his
marriage had never been legal. The pope denied it on theological and political grounds (avoiding conflict
with the Holy Roman Emperor). In May 1529, since Wolsey failed to gain the Pope's agreement to resolve
Henry's case in England, Wolsey was dismissed and arrested, but died before he could be brought to trial.

Since the attempts to obtain the divorce through pressure on the papacy had failed, Wolsey's eventual
successor Thomas Cromwell turned to Parliament, using its powers and anti-clerical attitude (encouraged
by Wolsey's excesses) to decide the issue. The result was a series of Acts cutting back papal power and
influence in England and bringing about the English Reformation. In 1532, an Act against Annates (a tax) -
was a clear warning to the Pope that ecclesiastical revenues were under threat. In 1532, Thomas Cranmer
was promoted to Archbishop of Canterbury and, following the Pope's confirmation of his appointment, in
May 1533, Cranmer declared Henry's marriage invalid; Anne Boleyn was crowned queen a week later.

The Pope responded with excommunication, and Parliamentary legislation enacting Henry's decision to
break with the Roman Catholic Church soon followed. An Act in restraint of appeals forbade appeals to
Rome, stating that England was an empire, governed by one supreme head and king who possessed 'whole

59
and entire' authority within the realm, and that no judgments or excommunications from Rome were valid.
An Act of Submission of the Clergy and an Act of Succession followed, together with an Act of Supremacy
(1534) which recognized that the king was 'the only supreme head of the Church of England called
Anglicana Ecclesia'. The breach between the king and the Pope forced clergy, office-holders and others to
choose their allegiance - the most famous being Sir Thomas More, a compassionate and devout educator,
who was executed for treason in 1535.

While Cromwell was sympathetic to Lutheran reforms, Henry was more cautious. He staunchly believed in
transubstantiation yet ordered a vernacular bible, as well as services in English. For a period of ten years, a
new rule of faith was debated and shaped by various factions of influence. While catholic in inspiration, it
still maintained a distance between the church as represented by the Bishop of Rome and the national
churches. By the time of Henry’s death, Lutheranism had been rejected.

The other effect of the English Protestant Reformation was the Dissolution of Monasteries, under which
monastic lands and possessions were broken up and sold off. In the 1520s, Wolsey had closed down some
of the small monastic communities to pay for his new foundations (he had colleges built at Oxford and
Ipswich). In 1535-6, another 200 smaller monasteries were dissolved by statute, followed by the remaining
greater houses in 1538-40; as a result, Crown revenues doubled for a few years, but 800 monasteries totally
disappeared. Without the monasteries, travelers were inconvenienced and endangered, and access to
hospice and almshouse care and to education were curtailed. Most monks became secular priests, and
nuns had nowhere to go.

Henry's second marriage, to Anne Boleyn, produced another daughter, Princess Elizabeth, and failed to
produce a male child. Henry got rid of Anne on charges of treason (presided over by Thomas Cromwell)
which were almost certainly false, and she was executed in 1536. In 1537 her replacement, Henry's third
wife Jane Seymour, finally bore him a son, who was later to become Edward VI. Jane died in childbed, 12
days after the birth in 1537.

Although Cromwell had proved an effective minister in bringing about the royal divorce and the English
Reformation, his position was insecure. The Pilgrimage of Grace, a catholic-inspired insurrection in 1536,
called for Cromwell's dismissal (the rebels were put down), but it was Henry's fourth, abortive and short-
lived marriage to the German Anne of Cleves that led to Cromwell's downfall and brought serious
consideration of Lutheranism into the kingdom (although it had been in the universities).

Henry made two more marriages, to Katherine Howard (executed on grounds of adultery in 1542) and
Catherine Parr (who survived Henry to die in 1548). None produced any children.

Henry VIII forced through changes to the Church-State relationship which excluded the papacy and
brought the clergy under control, thus strengthening the Crown's position and acquiring the monasteries'
wealth. However, Henry's reformation had produced dangerous Protestant-Roman Catholic differences in
the kingdom. The monasteries' wealth had been spent on wars and had also built up the economic strength
of the aristocracy and other families in the counties, which in turn was to encourage ambitious Tudor court
factions. Significantly, Parliament's involvement in making religious and dynastic changes had been firmly
established.

Henry made sure that his sole male heir, Edward, was educated by people who believed in Protestantism
rather than Catholicism because he wanted the anti-papal nature of his reformation and his dynasty to
become more firmly established. Upon Henry’s death in 1547, Edward became king at the age of nine, and
a Regency was created. Although he was intellectually precocious (fluent in Greek and Latin, he kept a full
journal of his reign), he was not, however, physically robust.

His short reign was dominated by nobles using the Regency to strengthen their own positions. The King's
Council, previously dominated by Henry, succumbed to existing factionalism. On Henry's death, Edward
Seymour, the new King's eldest uncle, became Protector.

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During Edward's reign, the Church of England became more explicitly Protestant - Edward himself was
fiercely so. The Book of Common Prayer was introduced in 1549, aspects of Roman Catholic practices
(including statues and stained glass) were eradicated and the marriage of clergy allowed. The Act of
Uniformity imposed a Prayer Book which was in English and which was modeled after the medieval
church. This led to rebellions in Cornwall and Devon

The Accession of Lady Jane Grey was engineered by the powerful Duke of Northumberland, President of
the King's Council, in the interests of promoting his own dynastic line. Northumberland persuaded the
sickly Edward VI to name Lady Jane Grey as his heir. As one of Henry VIII's great-nieces, the young girl
was a genuine claimant to the throne. Northumberland then married his own son, Lord Guilford Dudley, to
Lady Jane.

On the death of Edward, Jane assumed the throne and her claim was recognised by the Council. Despite
this, the country rallied to Mary, Catherine of Aragon's daughter and a devout Roman Catholic. Jane
reigned for only nine days and was later executed with her husband and the Duke of Northumberland (who
made a last minute conversion to Catholicism).

Mary I, daughter of Henry and Catherine of Aragon, was the first Queen Regnant (that is, a queen reigning
in her own right rather than a queen through marriage to a king). She had been pressured to give up the
Mass and acknowledge the English Protestant Church. Mary restored papal supremacy in England,
abandoned the title of Supreme Head of the Church, reintroduced Roman Catholic bishops and began the
slow reintroduction of monastic orders. One of the bishops, Cardinal Pole, advocated reforms of
Catholicism. Mary also revived the old heresy laws to secure the religious conversion of the country;
heresy was regarded as a religious and civil offence amounting to treason (to believe in a different religion
from the Sovereign was an act of defiance and disloyalty). As a result, around 300 Protestant heretics were
burnt in three years - apart from eminent Protestant clergy such as Thomas Cranmer (a former archbishop
of Canterbury and author of two Books of Common Prayer), these heretics were mostly poor and self-
taught people.

Apart from making Mary deeply unpopular, such treatment demonstrated that people were prepared to die
for the Protestant settlement established in Henry's reign. The progress of Mary's conversion of the country
was also limited by the vested interests of the aristocracy and gentry who had bought the monastic lands
sold off after the Dissolution of the Monasteries, and who refused to return these possessions voluntarily as
Mary invited them to do.

Aged 37 at her accession, Mary wished to marry and have children, thus leaving a Catholic heir to
consolidate her religious reforms, and removing her half-sister Elizabeth (a focus for Protestant opposition)
from direct succession. Over objections from the Commons and many of her subjects, Mary wed Philip,
King of Spain. The marriage was childless.
Mary died four years later, leaving the crown to her half-sister Elizabeth.

Elizabeth I - the last Tudor monarch - was born in 1533. Her early life was full of uncertainties. Roman
Catholics always considered her illegitimate, and she only narrowly escaped execution in the wake of a
failed rebellion against Queen Mary in 1554. She was very well-educated (fluent in six languages), and had
inherited intelligence, determination and shrewdness from both parents. Her 45-year reign is generally
considered one of the most glorious in English history. During it, a secure Church of England was
established. Its doctrines were laid down in the 39 Articles of 1563, a compromise between Roman
Catholicism and Protestantism.

Bishop John Jewel wrote a defense of Elizabethan reforms to the catholic church by appealing to both
scripture and the practice of apostolic fathers in the early church. He argued that the Christian ruler has
sacred obligations and rules under the law and that it is the duty of that ruler to undertake the reformation
of the church. The Scriptures, provide sufficient authority for reformation, must be linked to the tradition
of the “primitive” church.

Elizabeth herself refused to 'make windows into men's souls ... there is only one Jesus Christ and all the rest

61
is a dispute over trifles'; she asked for outward uniformity. Most of her subjects accepted the compromise
as the basis of their faith, and her church settlement probably saved England from religious wars like those
which France suffered in the second half of the 16th century. A papal bull of 1570 specifically released
Elizabeth's subjects from their allegiance, and she passed harsh laws against Roman Catholics after plots
against her life were discovered.

One such plot involved Elizabeth’s cousin, Mary, Queen of Scots, who had fled to England in 1568 after
her second husband's murder and her subsequent marriage to a man believed to have been involved in his
murder. As a likely successor to Elizabeth, Mary spent 19 years as Elizabeth's prisoner because Mary was
the focus for rebellion and possible assassination plots, such as the Babington Plot of 1586. Mary was also
a temptation for potential catholic invaders. Despite Elizabeth's reluctance to take drastic action, on the
insistence of Parliament and her advisers, Mary was tried, found guilty and executed in 1587.

During Elizabeth’s reign, a Puritan faction within the Church of England made its beliefs known, although
there was no division between them. The Puritans were in favor of the Swiss reforms of Calvin and others.
Many rejected the hierarchical episcopate. Some advocated Presbyterianism. Some wanted to abandon the
national church and Prayer Book. In Puritan worship, Scripture was the ultimate authority and preaching it
was the primary means of grace, not the sacraments.

Defending the union of church and state, Richard Hooker, rebutted Puritan thought and wrote on the
legitimacy of church law, which should direct worshippers toward the imitation of God, conforming to
natural law, aided by natural reason in discovering how this should be done. However, he did not believe
in the divine right of kings, but the right, originating in God, of the community to choose other forms of
government, even if it is not monarchy. He defended the episcopate of the Church of England because it
was used in the early church and because it had been the tradition in England. Hooker’s Anglicanism
embraced Augustinianism, medieval Catholicism, humanism, Calvinism, and even (in his views on
monarchy), Puritanism. His passion was a holiness that drew its strength from the sacrament of the altar, as
opposed to the pulpit.

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