scholarly journals PROPHETESSES MAXIMILLA AND PRISCILLA WOMEN’S HERESIES IN THE PATRISTIC PERIOD

2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-26
Author(s):  
Edison R.L Tinambunan

On his journey, the Church faces many heresies which try to deviate the orthodoxy teaching. One of these heresies was founded by Montanus and his teaching is known as Montanism. Montanus together with Maximilla and Priscilla claimed that they were filled by Holy Spirit and called themselves as a prophet and prophetesses who had to be followed and heard. The main teaching of this heresy is the promise of the second coming of Jesus Christ, and the promise of the end of the world. This theme is always interested by many people. The reason people attracted to the teaching of this heresy is the establishment of the coming of Jesus Christ which was promised by himself. Many of their followers became disappointed, because though the promised date had passed, Jesus Christ did not come yet. The other teaching of Montanism is about prophecy of the future which actually blinded the followers. If the prophecy failed to happen, it was because of the fault of the followers who lived less ascetic life and did many sins. The Prophets of Montanism had enthusiasm given by the Holy Spirit. It made them have to be obeyed and heard. They even claimed that the absolute truth was on their hand. Therefore, the hierarchy of the Church had to submit themselves to their teaching. Maximilla and Priscilla are two false prophetesses who had great influence in the Montanism period. In this heresy time, the Church had to work hard to fight Montanism teaching and prophecy, especially to defend its orthodoxy teaching of the Church from the false prophetesses.   Sepanjang perjalanan, Gereja menghadapi banyak eresi yang berusaha mendefiasikan ajaran resmi. Salah satu di antara eresi yang banyak itu dikembangkan oleh Montanus yang alirannya dikenal dengan Montanisme. Ia bersama dengan Maximilla dan Priscilla mengaku kepenuhan Roh Kudus dan menyebut diri mereka sebagai Nabi yang harus diikuti dan didengarkan. Ajaran pokok mereka adalah menjanjikan kedatangan Kristus yang mau tidak mau juga menjanjikan akhir dunia yang biasanya diminati oleh banyak orang. Salah satu alasan ketertarikan orang lebih akan ajaran eresi ini adalah penetapan kedatangan Kristus yang dijanjika-Nya, walau akhirnya banyak orang menjadi kecewa, karena waktu yang ditetapkan tidak kunjung datang. Ajaran mereka lainnya adalah ramalan masa yang akan datang yang berusaha mengelabui pengikutnya. Jika ramalan tidak terpenuhi atau tidak kunjung datang, maka kesalahan berdada di tangan para pemohon karena kurang askese dan disposisi diri tidak baik. Para nabi ini memiliki sikap antusiasme berlebihan yang menekankan peran Roh Kudus yang mereka terima. Dengan alasan ini, mereka harus ditaati dan didengarkan. Bahkan kebenaran absolut berada di tangan mereka, bahkan pemimpin Gereja sendiri harus tunduk pada pengajaran mereka ini. Maximilla dan Priscilla adalah dua nabi perempuan yang sesat. Mereka sangat berpengarauh pada periode Montanisme. Gereja harus berjuang keras pada periode mereka untuk meluruskan ajaran dan ramalan Montanisme, terlebih membela ortodox Gereja dari nabi perempuan yang palsu tersebut.

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-21
Author(s):  
Kejar Hidup Laia

The fall of the first man (Adam) into sin caused the man to lose the glory of God, man died and was separated from God. The gospel is glad tidings of Jesus Christ who died, rose again to save everyone who believes. To believe the gospel means to believe in the redemptive work of Christ, to reject the gospel is to reject salvation. In the Gospel God's truth is revealed to everyone who believes in Him. This truth is related to the absolute truth of God that no one has. The truth of God revealed in the Gospels is related to the truth that God has done through the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus to save sinners. Salvation can only be received through faith. Faith is a gift from God given to humans so that they believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. The gospel gives hope and sets people free from death. To get salvation everyone must listen to the gospel. The task of evangelism is the responsibility of the Church (believers) to preach the message of salvation in the power of the Holy Spirit to sinners so that they repent and have faith in Jesus and become disciples who obey the Great Commission of the Lord Jesus.  


2004 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 97-111
Author(s):  
Michael Goheen

AbstractIn this article, Michael W. Goheen summarizes and evaluates a debate between ecumenical pioneer Lesslie Newbigin and former WCC general secretary Konrad Raiser. Raiser exemplifies a trinitarian approach to ecumenism and mission that recognizes the universal presence of the Holy Spirit among all peoples and religions, and so would cease to have a Christocentric focus. For Newbigin, while a trinitarian approach to ecumenism and mission is of paramount importance, an abandonment of the centrality and universality of Jesus Christ is something that cannot be abandoned. In the end, says Goheen, the differences between Raiser and Newbigin are differences revolving around the meaning of Jesus Christ and his atoning work on the cross.


Author(s):  
Tom Greggs

This chapter examines Bonhoeffer’s account of the church and advocates that throughout Bonhoeffer’s corpus there remains a desire to explicate the reality of the church in terms of its structural being with and for the other. This structure exists both internally in terms of its members’ relation to each other, and externally as the church relates as a corporate body to the world. The chapter considers Bonhoeffer’s ecclesiological method; the visibility of the church; vicarious representation; the church as the body of Christ; the agency of the Holy Spirit; preaching, the sacraments, and the offices of the church; and the question of the church in a religionless age.


2021 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-19
Author(s):  
Philip LeMasters

Abstract Orthodox theology teaches that people may participate in the fruits of Jesus Christ’s mediation between God and humankind. The Holy Spirit enables people to become radiant with the divine energies as they embrace Christ’s fulfillment of the human person in the likeness of God. The Theotokos, the saints, and spiritual elders play particular roles in interceding for people to share more fully in the life of Christ. The eucharistic worship of the church, marriage and the other sacraments, the prayer of the heart, ministry to the poor, and forgiveness of enemies provide opportunities for people to be transformed by the grace mediated to humanity by Jesus Christ. Such mediation extends to every dimension of the human person, including the physical body, as indicated by veneration of the relics of the saints and the sacramental nature of Orthodox worship.


1967 ◽  
Vol 36 (3) ◽  
pp. 243-253 ◽  
Author(s):  
Loy Bilderback

The Council of Basle was officially charged with three basic concerns: the reform of the Church in head and members; the extirpation of heresy, particularly Bohemian Hussitism; and the attainment of peace among Christian Princes. Yet, the Council was most absorbed by, and is most remembered for, a fourth, unscheduled concern. From its outset, the prime determinant of the actions and decisions of the Council proved to be the problem of living and working with the Papacy. In retrospect it is easy to see that this problem was insoluble. One could not expect the efficient functioning of the Church if there was doubt or confusion about the will of God, and the presence of such doubt and confusion was certain so long as even two agencies could gain support for their contentions that they were directly recipient to the Holy Spirit. Singularity of headship was absolutely necessary to the orderly processes of the Church. Yet the contradiction of this essential singularity was implicit at Constance in the accommodation, by one another of the curialists, the protagonists of an absolute, papal monarchy, and the conciliarists, who sought divine guidance through periodic General Councils. This accommodation, in turn, was necessary if the doubt and confusion engendered by the Great Schism was to be resolved. At Basle, this contradiction was wrought into a conflict which attracted a variety of opportunists who could further their ancillary or extraneous ends through a posture of service to one side or the other, and in so doing they obfuscated the issues and prolonged the struggle.


1988 ◽  
Vol 57 (3) ◽  
pp. 298-309
Author(s):  
Joseph M. McShane

Throughout his career John Carroll supported the American religious settlement with surprising and consistent enthusiasm. Indeed, his enthusiasm for the religious liberty of the new republic seemed to be boundless. Thus he never tired of celebrating and advertising its benefits. He assured American Catholics that it was “a signal instance of [God's] mercy” and a product of the active intervention of Divine Providence and the Holy Spirit, who have “tutored the minds of men” in such a way that Catholics could now freely worship God according to the “dictates of conscience.” Flushed with pride, he even predicted that if America were wise enough to abide by the terms of this providential arrangement, the nation would become a beacon to the world, proving that “general and equal toleration…is the most effectual method to bring all denominations of Christians to an unity of faith.” Finally, confident that the extraordinary freedom accorded American Catholics would make the American church “the most flourishing portion of the church,” he urged European states and churches to follow America's inspired lead.


2001 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 121-143
Author(s):  
Frans Josef van Beeck

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.


2019 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
pp. 20-32
Author(s):  
Dale T. Irvin

In his 1998 article titled “God Inside Out: Toward a Missionary Theology of the Holy Spirit,” Stephen Bevans referred to Johannes Hoekendijk’s 1964 publication The Church Inside Out as his starting point. This article follows Bevans’s lead in exploring Hoekendijk’s legacy and contribution to theology and mission today. At key points I draw the connection of Hoekendijk’s thinking with that of Bevans, highlighting in the end the manner in which they both agree that the church itself is not of ultimate importance to God, but the world into which the Spirit still sends us in mission.


2008 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 86-101
Author(s):  
Robert P. Menzies

AbstractIn this article, Menzies notes that Reformed theologians have tended to read Luke's writings in the light of Paul's epistles. As a result, their theological reflection on the Spirit has centered more on his work in the Word and sacraments, the 'inner witness' of the Spirit, and less on his mission to the world. Additionally, this methodology has encouraged Reformed scholars to associate the Pentecostal gift (i.e. Spirit baptism) with conversion and regeneration. However, through an examination of key passages in Luke-Acts, Menzies argues that Luke has a unique contribution to make to a holistic biblical theology of the Spirit. Luke's understanding of baptism in the Holy Spirit is different from that of Paul. It is missiological rather than soteriological in nature. The Spirit of Pentecost is, in reality, the Spirit for others - the Spirit that compels and empowers the church to bring the 'good news' of Jesus to a lost and dying world. It is this Lukan, missiological perspective that shapes a Pentecostal understanding of baptism in the Holy Spirit. Menzies concludes that the clarity and vigor of Luke's message is lost when his narrative is read through Pauline lenses. Luke has a distinctive voice and it is a voice the church needs to hear.


1948 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 233-240
Author(s):  
G. Johnson

In its classical expression Christianity means a new life which God makes available for all who become apprentices of His Son Jesus Christ. Now sinful men cannot unaided appropriate the blessings of that life. Besides the message of the Prodigal who “ came to himself” the Gospel exhibits in the Cross divine love that has entered the far country and suffers the ordeal inevitably imposed there by human sin. Really to hear the Gospel is to respond in penitent love to the God who was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself. But how shall men hear unless there be preachers? The Gospel by God's gracious provision is brought to each new generation by those who enter into the apostolic tradition; apostolic, because in history we depend upon those who were the first eye-witnesses of Jesus and His resurrection. Nevertheless the apostles preached under the authority of the Holy Spirit who testifies to Christ and proceeds from the eternal life of the Father and the Son (see John 14.26; 15.26 f.). Paul the apostle preached in the power of the Spirit (Rom. 15.19; 1 Cor. 2.4); it was God who had given apostles to the Church, inspiring them with wisdom and knowledge (1 Cor. 12.8, 28). We find similar testimony in Eph. 3.5 (a revelation disclosed to the apostles and prophets by the Spirit); 1 Pet. 1.12, which links preaching and inspiration; and Acts where we read of men filled with the Spirit, like Stephen and Philip, going out as evangelists.


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