Precreation Discourse and the Nicene Creed: Christianity Finds its Voice in the Roman Empire

2011 ◽  
Vol 18 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 334-350
Author(s):  
Vernon K. Robbins
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Jesus Christ ◽  
Holy Spirit ◽  
Fourth Century ◽  
Virgin Mary ◽  
The Holy Spirit ◽  
God The Father ◽  
Nicene Creed ◽  
Heaven And Earth ◽  
Christian Leaders

AbstractExploring the emergence of creedal statements in Christianity about non-time before creation, called precreation rhetorolect, this essay begins with the baptismal creed called the Roman Symbol and its expansion into the Apostles’ Creed. These early creeds contain wisdom, apocalyptic, and priestly rhetorolect, but no precreation rhetorolect. When the twelve statements in the Apostles’ Creed were expanded into the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed, the first three statements added precreation rhetorolect. God the Father Almighty not only creates heaven and earth, but God creates all things visible and invisible. Jesus Christ is not only God’s only Son, our Lord, but the Son is begotten from the Father before all time, Light from Light, and true God from true God. Being of the same substance as the Father, all things were made through the Son before he came down from heaven, the Son was incarnate by the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary, and became human. With these creedal additions, a precreation storyline became the context for a lengthy chain of argumentation about belief among fourth century Christian leaders.

“Born of the Virgin Mary”: Toward a Sprachregelung on a Delicate Point of Doctrine

2001 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 121-143
Author(s):  
Frans Josef van Beeck
Keyword(s):  
New Testament ◽  
Jesus Christ ◽  
Holy Spirit ◽  
Virgin Mary ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
The Holy Spirit ◽  
Infancy Narratives ◽  
The Church

This essay offers an interpretation of the traditional catholic teaching that “Jesus Christ, conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit, was born of the Virgin Mary”. The author reviews recent exegesis and theology, then revisits the tradition of the church, then discusses the contrast between the physiological “facts” involved in human conception as they were understood in the classical periods — and thus at the place and time of the composition of the infancy narratives — and the accepted modern, scientific account of the same “facts”. He argues that neither the New Testament nor the Church teaches that Jesus' virginal conception is a cosmological miracle: rather this is a conclusion of the data of the faith, not an article of faith in and of itself. This should guide our speech in ministry.

scholarly journals Late Antique Cultures of Breath: Politics and the Holy Spirit

2021 ◽  
pp. 69-84
Author(s):  
Thomas E. Hunt
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Holy Spirit ◽  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Fourth Century ◽  
Late Antique ◽  
Inner Life ◽  
The Holy Spirit ◽  
Human Difference ◽  
The Universe

AbstractUsing sources from the fourth century CE, Thomas E. Hunt analyses how people imagined breath in late antiquity. Breathing was a way to mark out and understand human difference in the complex social world of the late Roman Empire. In this context, a person’s breath was used to judge the quality of their social relationships. Breath also held cosmic import, for when a person drew in air they participated in the wider structure of the universe. Christian writers described the inner life of God by referring to these models of breath and breathing. In this essay, Hunt shows how social and theological accounts of breathy relation reinforced each other.

PERAN NABI MUHAMMAD DAN YESUS KRISTUS DALAM SISTEM PERADILAN TUHAN

2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 451-486
Author(s):  
Shohibul Adib
Keyword(s):  
Jesus Christ ◽  
Holy Spirit ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Belief System ◽  
Christian Belief ◽  
Christian Perspective ◽  
Power Difference ◽  
The Holy Spirit ◽  
God The Father

In Christian belief, God’s justice system reflects a perilous justice found in justice in the world. To realize justice in the judicial system of God then acting as a judge is Jesus Christ himself and not God the Father. This implies that in the Christian religion, the role of Jesus Christ so great occupy status as God. At the time, there is no higher authority than Jesus Christ. Who is on trial at the time was everyone from the Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu and a number of other religions. The main law laid down by Jesus Christ in human judge both of Christianity and non-Christian religions is love and faith in Jesus. It is obvious, that the pressure point is the Christian perspective of love as the main reference for justice law at the time the judge of mankind. From here it would seem that the Christian belief of Jesus Christ seemed to have authority above God the Father and God the Father not only has the power difference as a symbol or symbolic. That is why the Trinity in Christianity is believed to be monotheism. God is three (God the Father, God’s son and the Holy Spirit), but three in a singularity, which is the highest authority in the justice of God in Jesus Christ monopoly. Unlike the case with the Islamic belief system that God later in the justice system that acts as a single judge. The position of Prophet Muhammad can only apply for intercession, pleading for help to God means that man who sought the intercession was forgiven by God. This means that the role of the Prophet Muhammad is no more only as a servant of God and a very long and may not be equated with God’s position. Syafa’at is not necessary for God to grant it. God may grant or deny the intercession of it.

Christianity Before the Apostles' Creed

1962 ◽  
Vol 55 (2) ◽  
pp. 73-119 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arnold Ehrhardt
Keyword(s):  
Jesus Christ ◽  
Virgin Mary ◽  
Holy Ghost ◽  
The Third ◽  
Lasting Impression ◽  
The Dead ◽  
Ambrose Of Milan ◽  
God The Father ◽  
The Mind ◽  
Heaven And Earth

Not so long ago a little treatise on the Apostles' Creed was edited by the late Dom R. H. Connolly, and established as the property of Ambrose of Milan. In this treatise the statement may be found that “when therefore the holy Apostles all came together they compiled a short formula of the faith so that we might shortly be instructed about the whole course of the faith.” We are not concerned here with the question on what occasion the holy Apostles did come together. Apocryphal traditions know of several such meetings of the Apostles, usually with the Virgin Mary, and it was presumably one of these which was in the mind of the great bishop of Milan. The significant fact is rather that he denied here that Christianity ever went through a pre-credal period. His great authority could not fail to make a lasting impression, especially upon the Western Church. It is evidently on the basis of this his assertion that we find, in the orations of Pseudo-Augustine, a Creed that is divided as follows: “Peter said: ‘I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth.’ Andrew said: ‘And in Jesus Christ his only son our Lord.’ James said: ‘Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of Mary the virgin.’ John said: ‘Suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried.’ Thomas said: ‘He descended into hell; the third day he rose again from the dead,’ ” and so on till at last Matthias finishes with the words, “and the life everlasting. Amen.”

Montanism and Present Day “Prophets”

Pneuma ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 413-429
Author(s):  
Cecil M. Robeck
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Holy Spirit ◽  
Church And State ◽  
Second Century ◽  
Emerging Church ◽  
Government Officials ◽  
Orthodox Christian ◽  
The Holy Spirit ◽  
History Of ◽  
Christian Leaders

AbstractOver the past decade and a half, William Tabbernee, the world’s leading authority on Montanism or the New Prophecy, has written four major works on the subject. Three of them are reviewed in this article. One looks at Montanism through the eyes of church and state; a second provides documentation for the identification of the headquarters city of the Montanists; and the third puts the two together in a creative narrative. These three volumes are placed within the context of larger issues surrounding the history of this powerful prophetic movement that originated in late second-century Asia Minor and subsequently spread throughout the Roman Empire up until the sixth century. The reactions and responses of various orthodox Christian leaders and secular government officials to the claims of this highly independent prophetic movement, which called for more reliance upon the spontaneity of the Holy Spirit and a more conservative personal ethic, suggest strong parallels between Montanism and what might be found in today’s Charismatic, New Apostolic, and Emerging Church movements.

scholarly journals MENGENAL PENTAKOSTALISME DI INDONESIA

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 11-24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hendarto Supatra
Keyword(s):  
Jesus Christ ◽  
Holy Spirit ◽  
Christian Church ◽  
Pentecostal Movement ◽  
The Future ◽  
The Holy Spirit ◽  
The Face ◽  
History Of ◽  
Pentecostal Churches ◽  
God The Father

The author gives enough introduction of the development of the Pentecostal movement in the history of the Christian Church. The movement of the Pentecostalism was an unique development because the Holy Spirit is believed as the inisiator of the movement. Therefore, the Pentecostal churches really depends on the work of the Holy Spirit (without separated from the work of the work of God the Father and Jesus Christ). Furthermore, this article describes the development of the Pentacostal movement, especially in Indonesian context and observes the unique and positive things of the Pentacostalism, its doctrine and dangerous teachings, especially in Indonesian context. The author believes that Pentecostalism will be the face of Christianity in the future.

The Holy Spirit

2018 ◽  
pp. 182-197
Author(s):  
Thomas Joseph White
Keyword(s):  
Holy Spirit ◽  
Fourth Century ◽  
Basic Structure ◽  
Thomas Aquinas ◽  
Augustine Of Hippo ◽  
Christian Teaching ◽  
The Holy Spirit ◽  
Nicene Creed ◽  
The Church ◽  
Latin Version

This chapter explores the basic structure of Christian teaching about the Holy Spirit—pneumatology. The chapter considers, first, the biblical presentation of the Spirit and then explores the decisive contribution of theological debates in the fourth century ad. The contributions of the Cappadocian fathers and St Augustine of Hippo are considered. The chapter then focuses on the Filioque clause in the Latin version of the Nicene Creed, and the contribution of St Thomas Aquinas. It then goes on to explores the possibilities for ecumenical convergence on pneumatology, with a final discussion emphasizing the Spirit’s role as the soul of the Church.

The Fellowship of the Holy Spirit: Trinitarian Pneumatology

1984 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
pp. 287-300 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Moltmann ◽  
Margaret Kohl
Keyword(s):  
Jesus Christ ◽  
Holy Spirit ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Christian Church ◽  
Divine Sovereignty ◽  
The Holy Spirit ◽  
Love Of God ◽  
God The Father

‘The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God the Father and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all.’ This is an ancient form of benediction very generally used in the Christian church. I should like to take it up here, asking what is meant by ‘the fellowship of the Holy Spirit’? Does the divine Spirit enter into community with us human beings? Does he admit us into his ‘community’ with the Father and the Son? Why does the benediction not talk about divine sovereignty and absolute human dependence in connection with the Holy Spirit? Why does it so emphatically use the word ‘fellowship’ instead?

scholarly journals Leksemy oznaczające imię Boga w polskich pieśniach religijnych

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
pp. 13-34
Author(s):  
Kazimierz Ożóg ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Jesus Christ ◽  
Holy Spirit ◽  
Speech Acts ◽  
Large Collection ◽  
Son Of God ◽  
The Holy Spirit ◽  
The Subject ◽  
God The Father ◽  
The Church

The subject of the analysis performed by the author were the names of God in the songs recorded in the “Church Songbook”, by Rev. Jan Siedlecki. It is a relatively large collection of nominations the centre of which contains a collection of the names related to God the Father, successively to the Son of God Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. There are also frequent references to “Lord, Creator, Lamb of God”. The use of a given name depends on Christian dogmas and the prayer purposes of the speech acts.

The New Testament and Intellectual Humility

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Grant Macaskill
Keyword(s):  
New Testament ◽  
Jesus Christ ◽  
Holy Spirit ◽  
Intellectual Humility ◽  
Christian Communities ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
The Holy Spirit ◽  
Sacrificial Love ◽  
The One ◽  
The Mind

This book examines how the New Testament scriptures might form and foster intellectual humility within Christian communities. It is informed by recent interdisciplinary interest in intellectual humility, and concerned to appreciate the distinctive representations of the virtue offered by the New Testament writers on their own terms. It argues that the intellectual virtue is cast as a particular expression of the broader Christian virtue of humility, which proceeds from the believer’s union with Christ, through which personal identity is reconstituted by the operation of the Holy Spirit. Hence, we speak of ‘virtue’ in ways determined by the acting presence of Jesus Christ, overcoming sin and evil in human lives and in the world. The Christian account of the virtue is framed by this conflict, as believers within the Christian community struggle with natural arrogance and selfishness, and come to share in the mind of Christ. The new identity that emerges creates a fresh openness to truth, as the capacity of the sinful mind to distort truth is exposed and challenged. This affects knowledge and perception, but also volition: for these ancient writers, a humble mind makes good decisions that reflect judgments decisively shaped by the sacrificial love of Jesus Christ. By presenting ‘humility of mind’ as a characteristic of the One who is worshipped—Jesus Christ—the New Testament writers insist that we acknowledge the virtue not just as an admission of human deficiency or limitation, but as a positive affirmation of our rightful place within the divine economy.

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