tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10881824.post115014626500822263..comments2024-02-17T07:44:05.334-08:00Comments on Sinning Boldly: Anotioch and AlexandriaAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17835278970174444409noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10881824.post-1150396958252460972006-06-15T11:42:00.000-07:002006-06-15T11:42:00.000-07:00It's true. Things aren't what they used to be, an...It's true. Things aren't what they used to be, and they never were.Andy Kaylorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01863052203418450397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10881824.post-1150383544338142092006-06-15T07:59:00.000-07:002006-06-15T07:59:00.000-07:00I just appreciate the fact that denominational spl...I just appreciate the fact that denominational splits existed before denominations even existed. People have this notion that the ancient church got along much better than we do today. In the same way, people believe politicians were less divisive than they are today.<BR/><BR/>I think that we could make a case in both instances that we have actually before more cordial to each other. However, this is very much a surface "Minnesota Nice" thing. We are probably further away from understanding each other than we have ever been. We just have learned how to treat people with the minimum amount of etiquette and the maximum amount of condescention.<BR/><BR/>I would love to see an academic paper on the fights of the early church.Rosshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08732955876428732569noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10881824.post-1150232153823226812006-06-13T13:55:00.000-07:002006-06-13T13:55:00.000-07:00I think we've already got it right (how's that for...<I>I think we've already got it right (how's that for arrogant?)</I><BR/><BR/>It's very Lutheran. :-)<BR/><BR/>I wonder if better theology vis a vis personal accountability wouldn't lead to better practice. I recently read the following as the Mennonite evaluation of "the difference between the apostolic church and the compromised state church": <BR/><BR/>"First and fundamental...was the conception of the essence of Christianity as discipleship."<BR/><BR/>We might hear that from Bonhoeffer, but our theology tends to make discipleship secondary.Andy Kaylorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01863052203418450397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10881824.post-1150224871702173862006-06-13T11:54:00.000-07:002006-06-13T11:54:00.000-07:00I don't know if I'm willing to compromise Lutheran...I don't know if I'm willing to compromise Lutheran theology. I think we've already got it right (how's that for arrogant?)<BR/><BR/>I think where we've got to grow and change is in our practice. We don't evangelize very well, for example, and we've got Evangelical in our name. I also think of the peacemakers who go to the middle east and stand themselves between warring factions or countries. The ones I hear about tend to be Mennonites. We're the ones who've got our theology right, so why aren't we the ones over there carrying our crosses into harm's way for the sake of peace? We've got the theology right but we've compromised too much on our practice.<BR/><BR/>"It is also taught among us that such faith should produce good fruits and good works and that we must do all such good works as God has commanded, but we should do them for God's sake and not place our trust in them as if thereby to merit favor before God."Tom in Ontariohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12154434042794825551noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10881824.post-1150217766477330382006-06-13T09:56:00.000-07:002006-06-13T09:56:00.000-07:00I don't know if any compromises should be made for...I don't know if any compromises should be made for the sake of unity. The big thing I'd like to promote is compromise for the sake of better theology. Theology has a tendency to freeze. Compromise is a force working against that. If we're willing to hear and seriously consider why our opponents think we're heretics, we can make some progress.<BR/><BR/>My recent posts on free will were kind of an exercise in this sort of approach. How can Lutheran theology be made better by openness to so-called "synergistic" theologies?Andy Kaylorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01863052203418450397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10881824.post-1150207621123865672006-06-13T07:07:00.000-07:002006-06-13T07:07:00.000-07:00In the liberal vs. conservative disagreements, jus...In the liberal vs. conservative disagreements, just where do you propose that each side compromise for the sake of unity?Tom in Ontariohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12154434042794825551noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10881824.post-1150182120038263212006-06-13T00:02:00.000-07:002006-06-13T00:02:00.000-07:00Thanks for the extra details, Patrik.The beauty of...Thanks for the extra details, Patrik.<BR/><BR/>The beauty of digging into the history of heresy is that we so often find out thing like Nestorius wasn't Nestorian and Pelagius wasn't Pelagian. Or so the scholars tell us.<BR/><BR/>From the pieces I've read from Theodore (mostly quotations in Pelikan's "Emergence of the Catholic Tradition"), he sounds remarkably like a modern theologian.Andy Kaylorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01863052203418450397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10881824.post-1150175779166669372006-06-12T22:16:00.000-07:002006-06-12T22:16:00.000-07:00It was a bit different on "the Nestorian side". Th...It was a bit different on "the Nestorian side". The so called nestorians (a name that should be avoided), also known as the East Syrian Church, were great fans of Theodore of Mopsuestia, the exegete <I>par exellence</I> of the Antiochenes. This was their tradition. Also, by living way outside the Roman Empire, in Mesopotamia, the did not feel the Council of Ephesus concerned them - a fair point, since it was called by the Emperor of the Roman Empire. They were a pretty isolated bunch already.<BR/><BR/>Then there is the complicated question of language. The terms discussed, prosopon, hypostastasis, physis and so on all changed a bit in meaning when translated into Syriac. Essentially, the East Syrians meant something different when they said that Christ was two persons (in on hypostasis) then the greeks understood. <BR/><BR/>Most scholars today agree that the East Syrians never were "nestorians" in the "western" sense of the word, although their Christology did distinguish sharply between the divine and the human, in all parts of theology, not only the Christology. And it was only in the early seventh cenury that the East Syrians started to read Nestorius, and not that much even then. It was Theodore, "the Interpreter" that was the big name.Patrikhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10237545786695465374noreply@blogger.com