Barth and Patristic Theology

2019 ◽  
pp. 69-85
Author(s):  
Tom Greggs
Keyword(s):  
Early Church ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Hypostatic Union ◽  
Critical Heritage ◽  
The Church

This chapter examines Barth’s approach to patristic theology as well as his engagement with key doctrines and councils of the patristic era. It is clear in relation to Barth’s use of, and engagement with, the patristic fathers that the Bible is always sovereign over the church and its teachings; even so, the patristic witness is thought to proffer an authoritative reading of Scripture. This chapter, therefore, explores Barth’s approach to the patristic fathers in relation to the ‘Scripture principle’ and Barth’s Protestant, modern, and critical heritage. Having outlined Barth’s orientation, the chapter considers Barth’s approach to the major councils and definitions of the early church. It pays particular attention to the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed in relation to the divinity of Christ and the Symbol of Chalcedonian in relation to the hypostatic union.

scholarly journals Lessons from the Early Church for Today’s Evangelical Christianity

Kairos ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 67-90
Author(s):  
Ervin Budiselić
Keyword(s):  
Biblical Interpretation ◽  
Early Church ◽  
Evangelical Christianity ◽  
Christian Doctrine ◽  
Historical Process ◽  
Rule Of Faith ◽  
The Bible ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Church

Presuming that within Evangelical Christianity there is a crisis of biblical interpretation, this article seeks to address the issue, especially since Evangelicals view the existence of the church as closely connected to the proclamation of the Truth. Starting with a position that Evangelical hermeneutics is not born in a vacuum, but is the result of a historical process, the first part of the article introduces the problem of sola and solo scriptura, pointing out some problematic issues that need to be addressed. In the second part, the article discusses patristic hermeneutics, especially: a) the relationship between Scripture and tradition embodied in regula fidei and; b) theological presuppositions which gave birth to allegorical and literal interpretations of Scripture in Alexandria and Antioch. In the last part of the article, based on lessons from the patristic era, certain revisions of the Evangelical practice of the interpretation of Scripture are suggested. Particularly, Evangelicals may continue to hold the Bible as the single infallible source for Christian doctrine, continue to develop the historical-grammatical method particularly in respect to the issue of the analogy of faith in exegetical process, but also must recognize that the Bible cannot in toto play the role of the rule of faith or the analogy of faith. Something else must also come into play, and that “something” would definitely be the recovery of the patristic period “as a kind of doctrinal canon.”

scholarly journals VII.—Lessing's Religious Development with Special Reference to His Nathan the Wise

PMLA ◽  
1893 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 335-379
Author(s):  
Sylvester Primer
Keyword(s):  
Special Reference ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
New Testament ◽  
Canon Law ◽  
Early Church ◽  
Religious Development ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Church Hierarchy ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
The Church

The primitive purity of the early Church soon yielded to a Church hierarchy. In those early times, before the New Testament was admitted to equal canonical authority with the Old, the Church became the supreme authority and the Bible was subordinate. After the incorporation of the New Testament into the Bible, the Scriptures and the Church appear to be coördinate authority in the patristic writings of that period. During the Middle Ages the Church grew rapidly in political power and the influence of the Scriptures waned accordingly, so that Dante complains of the way in which not merely creeds and fathers but canon law and the decretals were studied instead of the gospels.

Canon Law Prohibitions on Marriage to Kin in Rus’ and Muscovy

2016 ◽  
Vol 50 (2) ◽  
pp. 123-141
Author(s):  
George G. Weickhardt
Keyword(s):  
Canon Law ◽  
Civil Law ◽  
Early Church ◽  
The Bible ◽  
The Church

Throughout the Kyivan, appanage and Muscovite periods, written Orthodox canon law generally prohibited marriage within the seventh degree of consanguinity. This rule prohibited marriage even between third cousins. This rule, with some notable exceptions, was observed and enforced in Kyivan Rus’ and Muscovy. Prohibition of marriage within the seventh degree went far beyond the Biblical and Justinianic rules, as well as the rules of the early church ecumenical councils, which all allowed marriage between first cousins. The present study will inquire into the origin and purpose of this rule, its reception in Rus’, and its effect on Rus’ and Muscovite society, with particular emphasis on why the church deemed it necessary to extend impediments to marriage far beyond the rules from the Bible, Byzantine civil law and the original canon law from the ecumenical councils.

scholarly journals nexus between church and gender

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Angeline Savala
Keyword(s):  
Early Church ◽  
Religious Movements ◽  
New Religious Movements ◽  
Leadership Roles ◽  
Leadership Positions ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
Church Mission ◽  
The Bible ◽  
And Gender ◽  
The Church

Interface between the Bible and ideas about gender and church mission work in Africa is a phenomenon that calls for discussion within theological forums. Despite both men and women being active in church activities, the early church depicts men as being at the forefront while women quietly participated. Concerning the missionary era, men publicly were the leaders as women followed or privately served as the personal assistant or as administrators. In addition, looking now at the contemporary church, in the traditional (orthodox) churches, the so-called historical or mainstream churches, men take the top leadership roles while women deputize them. However, this position is being challenged by the new religious movements and Christian ministries movements where women are usurping the top leadership positions. This paper therefore seeks to paint a seemingly more balanced account of gender roles that would benefit men and women alike by exploring historical and theological leadership roles and gender in the church.

scholarly journals Rural Pastoral Transfers in Classical Pentecostal Churches in Ghana and Pastors Children’s Holistic Development

2021 ◽  
pp. 23-28
Author(s):  
Job Wiredu
Keyword(s):  
Holy Spirit ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Early Church ◽  
Research Approach ◽  
Holistic Development ◽  
Unequal Treatment ◽  
The Bible ◽  
The Holy Spirit ◽  
Pentecostal Churches ◽  
The Church

The transfer of pastors is an age-old phenomenon dating from the early church as recorded in the Bible. This process was conducted in consultation with the Holy Spirit and the leaders of the Church. In the contemporary Church, the same format is used. However, what is lacking is unequal treatment given to pastors who are posted to rural areas that were not evident in the early church. This paper employed the qualitative research approach in studying rural pastoral care in three Classical Pentecostal churches in Ghana. The study findings indicate that children of rural pastors face challenges which affect their holistic development. It recommends pastors and their families should be given fair treatment in the transfer process to ensure the holistic development of their children. Keywords: Rural Pastoral Transfer, Equity, Holistic Development

Cunning-Folk Traditions and Mormon Authority

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan A. Stapley
Keyword(s):  
Church Leaders ◽  
Early Church ◽  
Lived Religion ◽  
Joseph Smith ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Folk Traditions ◽  
Institutional Structures ◽  
The Future ◽  
The Church

Cunning-folk found what was lost, healed the sick, foretold the future, influenced love, and, perhaps most importantly, battled witches in a time when churches had lost interest in them. When Joseph Smith established Mormonism, American villages lacked cunning-folk, though aspects of their traditions remained on the fringes of society. Smith and other early church leaders translated aspects of this culture into the LDS Church’s liturgy and cosmology. However, he and other church leaders also created alternatives to cunning-folk practice that were more explicitly rooted in the patterns of the Bible. Key to this process of translation and creation was Mormonism’s explicit anticessationism and the establishment of institutional structures that integrated folk practitioners into the church by channeling their impulses into orthopraxic liturgical forms. This context is useful for explaining modern uses of CAM among Mormons and to further contextualize the rise of the priesthood bureaucracy that regulates Mormon lived religion.

Polydore Vergil and Ecclesiastical Historiography in hisDe Inventoribus RerumIV–VIII

2013 ◽  
Vol 49 ◽  
pp. 144-155 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan Arnold
Keyword(s):  
Cultural History ◽  
Church History ◽  
Early Church ◽  
Religious Orders ◽  
True Nature ◽  
The Bible ◽  
History Of ◽  
Popular Work ◽  
Scientific Phenomena ◽  
The Church

Polydore Vergil (c.1470–1555) was a controversial critic of the church of his day. As this essay will show, his radical solution to its problems was based upon his reading of the church’s history. An Italian cleric on English soil for much of his life, Vergil is most famous for hisAnglica Historia(1533), the first Tudor history of England. However, he was also responsible for another great (although now neglected) work,De Inventoribus Rerum(‘on the inventors, or discoverers, of all things’). Consisting of eight volumes, it is an example of early encyclopaedic technique from original Latin and Greek sources, including the Bible, Josephus and Eusebius, as well as observation from contemporary life, in which ‘invention’ is depicted as a category of historiography and a means of examining scientific and cultural history. The first three books were published in 1499 in Venice and deal mainly with scientific phenomena. The other five books, with which we are concerned here, consider the origins of Christian institutions(initia institutorum rei Christianae)and were published much later, in 1521, although Vergil continuously revised the entireDe Inventoribus Rerumuntil his death. The topics covered range from early church history, baptism, clerical and religious orders, penance, prayers and simony, to heresies and schisms, martyrs and the triumph of Christianity. An extremely popular work, with over forty editions in Vergil’s lifetime, it was, nonetheless, censured for its criticisms of the church. Indeed, the purpose of Books IV–VIII was to demonstrate what was initiated by Christ and what the true nature of the church was, not by examining its doctrine but by seeking the origins of its practice.

The Bible in the spiritual culture of Kievan Rus

1998 ◽  
pp. 46-52
Author(s):  
S. V. Rabotkina
Keyword(s):  
Full Text ◽  
Spiritual Life ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Spiritual Culture ◽  
Slavonic Language ◽  
Long Time ◽  
The Church

A huge place in the spiritual life of medieval Rusich was occupied by the Bible, although for a long time Kievan Rus did not know it fully. The full text of the Holy Scriptures appears in the Church Slavonic language not earlier than 1499.

The Church on the World's Turf

2000 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul A. Bramadat
Keyword(s):  
Alcohol Consumption ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Sexual Ethics ◽  
Institutional Settings ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Conservative Protestant ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Christian Fellowship ◽  
The University ◽  
The Church

Is it possible for conservative Protestant groups to survive in secular institutional settings? Here, Bramadat offers an ethnographic study of the Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship (IVCF) at McMaster University, a group that espouses fundamentalist interpretations of the Bible, women's roles, the age of the earth, alcohol consumption, and sexual ethics. In examining this group, Bramadat demonstrates how this tiny minority thrives within the overwhelmingly secular context of the University.

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