scholarly journals God’s Omnipotence: A Literary Investigation

2021 ◽  
Vol 103 ◽  
Author(s):  
Prof. Dr. Godfrey Harold
Keyword(s):  
Early Church ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Open Theism ◽  
Church Fathers ◽  
Time And Space ◽  
Divine Omnipotence ◽  
The World ◽  
Orthodox Theology

The omnipotence of God can be defined as the perfect ability of God to do all things that are consistent with the divine character. Open theists see God as one who is influenced as God interacts with human beings in time and space (temporally). Thus, for Open Theists, God is affected and influenced by the world. This paper revisits the historical, biblical and theological grounds for the doctrine of omnipotence with the aim of re-establishing the relevance of divine omnipotence. Using a literary investigation this article traces the developments of the doctrine of God’s power from the Early Church Fathers to the Reformers to establish whether the articulation of God’s power within Open Theism resonates with Orthodox Theology and Evangelicalism.

Human Life as a State of Mediocrity in John Locke

2021 ◽  
pp. 85-105
Author(s):  
Giuliana Di Biase
Keyword(s):  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
John Locke ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Human Condition ◽  
Early Church ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Church Fathers ◽  
Perfect Knowledge ◽  
Further Development ◽  
The Church

This chapter investigates the genesis and evolution of Locke’s idea of human life as a “state of mediocrity”. While this idea had ancient roots going back to the early Church fathers, it remained current in the seventeenth century where mediocrity was generally equated with a condition of partial ignorance and imperfection. Locke’s account of it is original; while life is a time of mediocrity, death opens the way to the extremes of eternal misery or eternal happiness. Initially, inspired by the Church fathers, Locke conceived of human life as a condition of intellectual mediocrity. Subsequently, and arguably prompted by his reading of the pessimistic outlooks of Nicole and Pascal, he redefined the state of mediocrity in more optimistic terms: humans are naturally suited to their mediocre state. A further development of his conception of mediocrity, again involving a partial rethinking of the human condition, can be found in the Essay, where Locke represents mediocrity as an imperfect state of insatiable desire. It is redeemed, however, by the ability of living human beings to attain perfect knowledge of morality.

Cosmic Liturgy: The Theological Dignity of Creation as a Basis of an Orthodox Ecotheology

2010 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 332-344
Author(s):  
Daniel Munteanu
Keyword(s):  
Holy Spirit ◽  
Ecological Crisis ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Material World ◽  
New Creation ◽  
The World ◽  
The Holy Spirit ◽  
Orthodox Theology

AbstractOne of the most important contributions of Orthodox theology to ecotheology consists in its understanding of matter as an expression of the divine rationality. The logoi of the world are connected with the divine Logos and have an inner aspiration towards communion with God. Maximus Confessor’s view of the material world as potential church leads to a cosmic ecclesiology with direct significance for the overcoming of our contemporary ecological crisis. His theology of creatio originalis and of the new creation as transfigurated universe allows us to speak about the theological dignity of matter as the ‘home of God’, as well as a field of dialogue between creator and human beings. The Orthodox spirituality, as spirituality of theosis, of the transfiguration of matter through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is deeply ecological and, at the same time a source for a culture of healing communication, dialogue, love and respect of the ecosystems as expression of God’s rationality.

scholarly journals God, Doctrine Immutability, unchangeableness, simplicity, Orthodox, evangelical, open theism

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Prof. Dr Godfrey Harold
Keyword(s):  
Process Theology ◽  
Early Church ◽  
Open Theism ◽  
Church Fathers ◽  
The Past

In recent years the doctrine of the immutability of God has come under attack within Evangelicalism from the adherents of process theology and open theism, who claim that the doctrine of immutability is based on an Aristotelian philosophy concerning God. This article engages a literary investigation to prove that the doctrine of God's immutability as understood within Evangelicalism finds its tradition within Christian orthodoxy. In an endeavour to take the attribute of God's immutability seriously, an investigation from early Church Fathers to later Reformers is undertaken to argue that the Evangelical understanding of the doctrine of immutability is orthodox, namely that God is both independent and self-sufficient and hence immutable in respect of his supreme existence. Therefore, the doctrine of immutability brings hope and comfort to Christians as it did in the past.

scholarly journals The The Understanding of the Image of God in the Early and Medieval Church History

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (6) ◽  
pp. 5-11
Author(s):  
Franklin Hutabarat ◽  
Reymand Hutabarat ◽  
Deanna Beryl Majilang
Keyword(s):  
Church History ◽  
Image Of God ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Early Church ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Church Fathers ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Medieval Church ◽  
God's Image ◽  
The Image Of God

It is only in the Bible whereby precise details in regards to humanity's origin from the conservative Christian point of view, are recorded. The Bible clearly states that in God's image, man was made (Gen 1:27). This statement reflects the belief that the essence of human beings was created in the likeness of God, and demonstrated that man did not merely turn out to be in God's image but was carefully crafted to be so. However, despite the exalted position of man among creatures, theologians still have questions and debates about the image of God is, and what does it consists of. Many scholars have wrestled with the precise sense of the image of God from the time of the Early Church until the Medieval Era. This research uses qualitative method, whereby the early works of the fathers of the medieval church are analyzed. The research is carried out on a descriptive basis. It is the aim of this research to offer a structural and systematic understanding of the image of God, based on the perception of the early church and medieval church fathers. As a result, a conclusion is formed.

scholarly journals Odpoczynek Boga (Rdz 2,1-3) w interpretacji Ojców Kościoła

Vox Patrum ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 62 ◽  
pp. 81-92
Author(s):  
Bogdan Czyżewski
Keyword(s):  
Early Church ◽  
Biblical Text ◽  
Church Fathers ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
The World ◽  
The Church

The theme of this paper is the exegesis of Gen 2:1-3 in selected writings of the Church Fathers and early Christian writers. The Early Church authors pon­dered over the passage in question, seeking to find the meaning of God’s resting on the seventh day from all his work of creation of the world and man. In their statements, early Christian writers clearly stated that the Biblical text should be read spiritually while treated as a metaphor. For God does not need rest, but man. It is for man that the Creator made the Sabbath day, and made it holy, and since the Resurrection of Christ, Sunday has been a holy day designated for rest and celebration. Concurrently, it was the announcement of the eighth day, or eternity, in which a man, free from all the trouble and bodily decay, will forever rest in God and live a true union with Him.

scholarly journals Jesus the Divine Physician

2018 ◽  
Vol 85 (1) ◽  
pp. 18-23
Author(s):  
Fr. James McTavish
Keyword(s):  
Morbidity And Mortality ◽  
Early Church ◽  
Church Fathers ◽  
Ongoing Task ◽  
The World ◽  
The Dead ◽  
The Church

During his earthly life, Jesus was very active in his ministry of healing. He cured the blind, opened the ears of the deaf, and brought the dead back to life. The early Church Fathers gave our Lord the title of “the Divine Physician.” However, Jesus did not cure all disease and sickness once and for all. Instead he asked us to have faith, to renounce sin, with its concomitant morbidity and mortality, and to believe in him. Jesus came to give us a life that will never end, not even with death. The Church and her members have the ongoing task of continuing his healing work in the world of today.

scholarly journals Searching for real holism

2012 ◽  
Vol 18 (5) ◽  
pp. 369-371 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julian C. Hughes
Keyword(s):  
Real Time ◽  
Medical Practice ◽  
Clinical Encounter ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Time And Space ◽  
Work Of Art ◽  
Works Of Art ◽  
The World ◽  
Shared Understandings

SummaryRobin Downie provides useful reminders of the broad basis of medical practice. This should encourage the sort of ‘engaged attention’ that he describes – the sort of attention needed to appreciate works of art. But what else is going on in a clinical encounter (as in a work of art)? This commentary suggests that real communication is to be understood in dramaturgical terms as occurring between actors in real time and space. It involves shared understandings, which require empathy but which depend on something ineffable to do with our standing as human beings in the world.

Sixteenth- and Seventeenth-Century Reception of Aquinas in the East

2021 ◽  
pp. 190-204
Author(s):  
Klaus-Peter Todt
Keyword(s):  
Catholic Church ◽  
Roman Catholic ◽  
Thomas Aquinas ◽  
Early Church ◽  
Roman Catholic Church ◽  
Church Fathers ◽  
Counter Reformation ◽  
Orthodox Theology ◽  
Almost All ◽  
The Church

The influence of scholastic theology in general and of Thomas Aquinas in particular on Orthodox theology in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries should not be overestimated. In particular, the Orthodox theologians who had studied in Italy were familiar with the work of Thomas Aquinas. This may have contributed to their inclination to consider transubstantiation an authentic element of Orthodox theology. But is certainly not correct to speak of a ‘Babylonian captivity’ of Orthodox theology in this period. Orthodox theologians were not alienated from the doctrine of the early church synods and the church fathers through occidental influence. Almost all authors treated here quote far more frequently from the works of Greek church fathers than from works by scholastic or counter-reformation theologians of the Roman Catholic Church. Even when they admired Thomas Aquinas they did not allow themselves to be won over to approving specifically Roman Catholic doctrines.

Byzantine philosophy

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Phil Linos Benakis
Keyword(s):  
Fifteenth Century ◽  
Arithmetic Geometry ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Church Fathers ◽  
The West ◽  
Institutional Practice ◽  
Theological Schools ◽  
The World ◽  
Political Conditions ◽  
The Church

In Byzantium from the ninth century through to the fifteenth century, philosophy as a discipline remained the science of fundamental truths concerning human beings and the world. Philosophy, the ‘wisdom from without’, was invariably contrasted with the ‘philosophy from within’, namely theology. The view that philosophy is ‘the handmaiden of theology’, which the Greek Church Fathers derived from Philo and the Alexandrian school of theology, was not the dominant position in Byzantium as it was in the West; philosophy, and logic in particular, was never treated as a mere background to, or tool of, theology. By the same token, theology in Byzantium never developed into a systematic method of dialectical inquiry into Christian truths, or a science. Thus the initial distinction between philosophy and theology remained intact. In terms of institutional practice, theological schools and studies did not exist in Byzantium and the main purpose of higher studies was to train state functionaries. This instruction, based on philosophy and the quadrivium, was mainly private, but it received support from the emperor and the church and we do hear of occasional interference by the secular or ecclesiastical authorities, perhaps because of professional or personal rivalries among the philosophy teachers. Furthermore, Byzantium had no independent universities or centers of study instituted by monastic orders as there were in the West, where social and political conditions were different. Philosophy in Byzantium also steered clear of involvement in the theological controversies that arose from time to time. The prevalent model of the thinker in Byzantium was a sort of encyclopedic teacher of philosophy, an erudite scholar who kept in touch with the sciences of the quadrivium (arithmetic, geometry, astronomy and music) and other disciplines and set the philosophical tone of the scientific curricula. The development of philosophy in Byzantium was thus very different from that of Western scholasticism.

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