Christopher Asprey
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199584703
- eISBN:
- 9780191723209
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199584703.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology
This book provides a detailed examination of Karl Barth's theology during the time he was professor at the University of Göttingen (1921–6). The analysis draws on a variety of posthumously published ...
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This book provides a detailed examination of Karl Barth's theology during the time he was professor at the University of Göttingen (1921–6). The analysis draws on a variety of posthumously published works by Barth (especially his academic lecture courses in dogmatics, exegesis, and historical theology), as well as on better known texts from the period, providing comparisons and contrasts with some of Barth's major contemporaries. A major task of the book is to examine in detail the Unterricht in der christlichen Religion (Göttingen Dogmatics), the only full dogmatics cycle Barth completed during his lifetime. A picture emerges of Barth's concerns during this period that is different from many other established accounts: rather than being ‘occasionalist’ or dualist, Barth's theology in the 1920s was characterised by an orientation towards the eschatological encounter between God and humankind. Barth's intention in the Göttingen Dogmatics was to introduce his students to their responsibility before the Word of God, all other theological topics then flowing towards or from the ‘dialogical’ moment of encounter between this Word and human beings. This reading is borne out by in-depth analyses of some of the major themes in the dogmatics: revelation, incarnation, resurrection, pneumatology, moral, and sacramental theology. While Barth's focus on the eschatological presence of God explains the freshness and immediacy of his writing in the 1920s, it is also shown at a number of points how this perspective generates various dilemmas in his theology, which remain unresolved during this period.Less
This book provides a detailed examination of Karl Barth's theology during the time he was professor at the University of Göttingen (1921–6). The analysis draws on a variety of posthumously published works by Barth (especially his academic lecture courses in dogmatics, exegesis, and historical theology), as well as on better known texts from the period, providing comparisons and contrasts with some of Barth's major contemporaries. A major task of the book is to examine in detail the Unterricht in der christlichen Religion (Göttingen Dogmatics), the only full dogmatics cycle Barth completed during his lifetime. A picture emerges of Barth's concerns during this period that is different from many other established accounts: rather than being ‘occasionalist’ or dualist, Barth's theology in the 1920s was characterised by an orientation towards the eschatological encounter between God and humankind. Barth's intention in the Göttingen Dogmatics was to introduce his students to their responsibility before the Word of God, all other theological topics then flowing towards or from the ‘dialogical’ moment of encounter between this Word and human beings. This reading is borne out by in-depth analyses of some of the major themes in the dogmatics: revelation, incarnation, resurrection, pneumatology, moral, and sacramental theology. While Barth's focus on the eschatological presence of God explains the freshness and immediacy of his writing in the 1920s, it is also shown at a number of points how this perspective generates various dilemmas in his theology, which remain unresolved during this period.
J. Warren Smith
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- January 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195369939
- eISBN:
- 9780199893362
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195369939.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology
Though understandably overshadowed by Augustine’s preeminence in the West, Ambrose is a doctor of the Catholic Church and an important patristic authority for the Middle Ages and Reformation, ...
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Though understandably overshadowed by Augustine’s preeminence in the West, Ambrose is a doctor of the Catholic Church and an important patristic authority for the Middle Ages and Reformation, especially in moral theology. Christian Grace and Pagan Virtue argues that Ambrose of Milan’s theological commitments, particularly his understanding of the Christian’s participation in God’s saving economy through baptism, are foundational for his virtue theory laid out in his catechetical and other pastoral writings. While he holds a high regard for classical and Hellenistic views of virtue, Ambrose insists that the Christian is able to attain the highest ideal of virtue taught by Plato, Aristotle, and the Stoics. This is possible because the Christian has received the transformative grace of baptism that allows the Christian to participate in the new creation inaugurated by Christ’s incarnation, death, and resurrection. This book explores Ambrose’s understanding of this grace and how it frees the Christian to live the virtuous life. The argument is laid out in two parts. In Part I, the book examines Ambrose’s understanding of human nature and the effects of sin upon that nature. Central to this Part is the question of Ambrose’s understanding of the right relationship of soul and body as presented in Ambrose’s repeated appeal to Paul’s words, “Who will deliver me from this body of death?” (Rom. 7:24). Part II lays out Ambrose’s account of baptism as the sacrament of justification and regeneration (sacramental and proleptic participation in the renewal of human nature in the resurrection). Ultimately, Ambrose’s account of the efficacy of baptism rests upon his Christology and pneumatology. The final chapters explain how Ambrose’s accounts of Christ and the Holy Spirit are foundational to his view of the grace that liberates the soul from the corruption of concupiscence.Less
Though understandably overshadowed by Augustine’s preeminence in the West, Ambrose is a doctor of the Catholic Church and an important patristic authority for the Middle Ages and Reformation, especially in moral theology. Christian Grace and Pagan Virtue argues that Ambrose of Milan’s theological commitments, particularly his understanding of the Christian’s participation in God’s saving economy through baptism, are foundational for his virtue theory laid out in his catechetical and other pastoral writings. While he holds a high regard for classical and Hellenistic views of virtue, Ambrose insists that the Christian is able to attain the highest ideal of virtue taught by Plato, Aristotle, and the Stoics. This is possible because the Christian has received the transformative grace of baptism that allows the Christian to participate in the new creation inaugurated by Christ’s incarnation, death, and resurrection. This book explores Ambrose’s understanding of this grace and how it frees the Christian to live the virtuous life. The argument is laid out in two parts. In Part I, the book examines Ambrose’s understanding of human nature and the effects of sin upon that nature. Central to this Part is the question of Ambrose’s understanding of the right relationship of soul and body as presented in Ambrose’s repeated appeal to Paul’s words, “Who will deliver me from this body of death?” (Rom. 7:24). Part II lays out Ambrose’s account of baptism as the sacrament of justification and regeneration (sacramental and proleptic participation in the renewal of human nature in the resurrection). Ultimately, Ambrose’s account of the efficacy of baptism rests upon his Christology and pneumatology. The final chapters explain how Ambrose’s accounts of Christ and the Holy Spirit are foundational to his view of the grace that liberates the soul from the corruption of concupiscence.
Tom Greggs
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- September 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199560486
- eISBN:
- 9780191721533
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199560486.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, History of Christianity, Theology
This book explores the dynamics of the Spirit and Son in the economy of salvation. It offers an interpretation of Barth and Origen around this theme, bringing them into a formative dialogue for a ...
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This book explores the dynamics of the Spirit and Son in the economy of salvation. It offers an interpretation of Barth and Origen around this theme, bringing them into a formative dialogue for a constructive theology of universal salvation. Examining Barth's doctrine of election and Origen's understanding of apokatastasis, the book proposes that a proper understanding of the eternal salvific plan of God in the person of Jesus Christ points towards universal salvation. However, salvation is not achieved through a general principle or rule; it is achieved through the very particularity of the Son in whom all humanity is saved. Further place for human particularity is established through the economy of the Spirit. Origen and Barth's economic pneumatologies indicate the reverse dynamic to that of their interpretation of the Son's economy: while the particularity of the Son has universal effects for all particulars, the universality of the Spirit particularizes that universal in individuals and communities in the present. However, this is in a manner which avoids a binary separation of Christians (as the saved) from all other humans (as the damned); instead, Christians are led into the ever greater depths of God, in a manner which allows God's Spirit to be present in diverse ways with humans and human communities in their temporal particularities. This dynamic of Spirit and Son in salvation allows for the place of faith, ongoing history, and community within a soteriological schema which offers a universal hope of salvation in Christ.Less
This book explores the dynamics of the Spirit and Son in the economy of salvation. It offers an interpretation of Barth and Origen around this theme, bringing them into a formative dialogue for a constructive theology of universal salvation. Examining Barth's doctrine of election and Origen's understanding of apokatastasis, the book proposes that a proper understanding of the eternal salvific plan of God in the person of Jesus Christ points towards universal salvation. However, salvation is not achieved through a general principle or rule; it is achieved through the very particularity of the Son in whom all humanity is saved. Further place for human particularity is established through the economy of the Spirit. Origen and Barth's economic pneumatologies indicate the reverse dynamic to that of their interpretation of the Son's economy: while the particularity of the Son has universal effects for all particulars, the universality of the Spirit particularizes that universal in individuals and communities in the present. However, this is in a manner which avoids a binary separation of Christians (as the saved) from all other humans (as the damned); instead, Christians are led into the ever greater depths of God, in a manner which allows God's Spirit to be present in diverse ways with humans and human communities in their temporal particularities. This dynamic of Spirit and Son in salvation allows for the place of faith, ongoing history, and community within a soteriological schema which offers a universal hope of salvation in Christ.
Elizabeth Teresa Groppe
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- July 2005
- ISBN:
- 9780195166422
- eISBN:
- 9780199835638
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195166426.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology
French Dominican Yves Congar is widely recognized as the most important Roman Catholic ecclesiologist of the twentieth century. He was a leader in the ecumenical movement in Europe and one of the ...
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French Dominican Yves Congar is widely recognized as the most important Roman Catholic ecclesiologist of the twentieth century. He was a leader in the ecumenical movement in Europe and one of the most influential theological advisors at the Second Vatican Council. In this book, Groppe analyzes Congar’s theology of the Holy Spirit. She systematizes his pneumatology and identifies its primary contribution. Congar, she argues, advanced Roman Catholic pneumatology through his elaboration of a theology of the Holy Spirit that is at once a theological anthropology and a theology of the church. The early twentieth-century Roman Catholic pneumatology that Congar inherited consisted primarily of a spiritual anthropology—a theology of the Spirit’s indwelling of the human person—while giving little or no attention to the theology of the Holy Spirit within the discipline of ecclesiology. Congar saw this divorce of spiritual anthropology and ecclesiology as a betrayal of Christianity’s biblical and patristic heritage and of his Thomistic tradition. His own theology reintegrates a theology of the Spirit’s indwelling of the human person with an account of the Spirit as co-institutor and life principle of the church, and his approach has significant implications for contemporary discussions in the areas of ecclesiology, theological anthropology, sacramental theology, ecumenism, and spirituality. The book includes extensive notes and bibliography and is important both as an introduction to Congar and a contribution to a contemporary theology of the Holy Spirit.Less
French Dominican Yves Congar is widely recognized as the most important Roman Catholic ecclesiologist of the twentieth century. He was a leader in the ecumenical movement in Europe and one of the most influential theological advisors at the Second Vatican Council. In this book, Groppe analyzes Congar’s theology of the Holy Spirit. She systematizes his pneumatology and identifies its primary contribution. Congar, she argues, advanced Roman Catholic pneumatology through his elaboration of a theology of the Holy Spirit that is at once a theological anthropology and a theology of the church. The early twentieth-century Roman Catholic pneumatology that Congar inherited consisted primarily of a spiritual anthropology—a theology of the Spirit’s indwelling of the human person—while giving little or no attention to the theology of the Holy Spirit within the discipline of ecclesiology. Congar saw this divorce of spiritual anthropology and ecclesiology as a betrayal of Christianity’s biblical and patristic heritage and of his Thomistic tradition. His own theology reintegrates a theology of the Spirit’s indwelling of the human person with an account of the Spirit as co-institutor and life principle of the church, and his approach has significant implications for contemporary discussions in the areas of ecclesiology, theological anthropology, sacramental theology, ecumenism, and spirituality. The book includes extensive notes and bibliography and is important both as an introduction to Congar and a contribution to a contemporary theology of the Holy Spirit.
Daniel A. Keating
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- January 2005
- ISBN:
- 9780199267132
- eISBN:
- 9780191602092
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199267138.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Early Christian Studies
Presents a comprehensive account of sanctification and divinization in Cyril as set forth in his New Testament biblical commentaries. By establishing the importance of pneumatology in Cyril’s ...
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Presents a comprehensive account of sanctification and divinization in Cyril as set forth in his New Testament biblical commentaries. By establishing the importance of pneumatology in Cyril’s narrative of divine life and by showing the requirement for an ethical aspect of divinization grounded in the example of Christ himself, this study brings a corrective to certain readings of Cyril that tend to exaggerate the ‘somatic’ or ‘physicalistic’ character of his understanding of divinization, by arguing that Cyril correlates the somatic and pneumatic means of our union with Christ, and impressively integrates the ontological and ethical aspects of our sanctification and divinization. The final chapter offers brief sketches of Cyril in comparison with Theodore of Mopsuestia, Augustine, and Leo the Great, with the aim of gaining further clarity to the Christological debates of the fifth century, and a better grasp of the theological similarities and differences between the East and West.Less
Presents a comprehensive account of sanctification and divinization in Cyril as set forth in his New Testament biblical commentaries. By establishing the importance of pneumatology in Cyril’s narrative of divine life and by showing the requirement for an ethical aspect of divinization grounded in the example of Christ himself, this study brings a corrective to certain readings of Cyril that tend to exaggerate the ‘somatic’ or ‘physicalistic’ character of his understanding of divinization, by arguing that Cyril correlates the somatic and pneumatic means of our union with Christ, and impressively integrates the ontological and ethical aspects of our sanctification and divinization. The final chapter offers brief sketches of Cyril in comparison with Theodore of Mopsuestia, Augustine, and Leo the Great, with the aim of gaining further clarity to the Christological debates of the fifth century, and a better grasp of the theological similarities and differences between the East and West.
Luigi Gioia
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199553464
- eISBN:
- 9780191720796
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199553464.003.0008
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology, Early Christian Studies
A comparison is made between the understanding of God's inner‐Trinitarian life presupposed by Christology, soteriology, doctrine of revelation and of the Holy Spirit and the polemical anti‐‘Arian’ ...
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A comparison is made between the understanding of God's inner‐Trinitarian life presupposed by Christology, soteriology, doctrine of revelation and of the Holy Spirit and the polemical anti‐‘Arian’ approach to the same topic expounded in books 5 to 7. The abstract, ontological bent to the doctrine of the Trinity usually ascribed to Augustine, is thus confuted and a proposal is put forward for a more adequate description of the understanding of the unity and the consubstantiality of the Trinity presupposed by Augustine's Christology and pneumatology.Less
A comparison is made between the understanding of God's inner‐Trinitarian life presupposed by Christology, soteriology, doctrine of revelation and of the Holy Spirit and the polemical anti‐‘Arian’ approach to the same topic expounded in books 5 to 7. The abstract, ontological bent to the doctrine of the Trinity usually ascribed to Augustine, is thus confuted and a proposal is put forward for a more adequate description of the understanding of the unity and the consubstantiality of the Trinity presupposed by Augustine's Christology and pneumatology.
Denis Edwards
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199216451
- eISBN:
- 9780191712173
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199216451.003.0017
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology, Religion and Society
Two issues have dominated the discussion of Catholic ecumenical receptivity: first is the general need for western receptivity to the East with regard to a proper balance between pneumatology and ...
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Two issues have dominated the discussion of Catholic ecumenical receptivity: first is the general need for western receptivity to the East with regard to a proper balance between pneumatology and Christology; second is the particular, strategically important issue of Petrine ministry. This chapter argues that the pneumatological theology of Walter Kasper illuminates both issues. It traces his Spirit theology from his Christology to his Trinitarian theology and his view of the church, then presents an example of this pneumatology at work in ecumenical theology — the critical issue of the Petrine ministry.Less
Two issues have dominated the discussion of Catholic ecumenical receptivity: first is the general need for western receptivity to the East with regard to a proper balance between pneumatology and Christology; second is the particular, strategically important issue of Petrine ministry. This chapter argues that the pneumatological theology of Walter Kasper illuminates both issues. It traces his Spirit theology from his Christology to his Trinitarian theology and his view of the church, then presents an example of this pneumatology at work in ecumenical theology — the critical issue of the Petrine ministry.
Tom Greggs
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- September 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199560486
- eISBN:
- 9780191721533
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199560486.003.0007
- Subject:
- Religion, History of Christianity, Theology
The logic of universalism could at a superficial level lead one to ask why there is any need for faith. This chapter proposes a way through this seeming contradiction by considering the problem from ...
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The logic of universalism could at a superficial level lead one to ask why there is any need for faith. This chapter proposes a way through this seeming contradiction by considering the problem from the perspective of pneumatology. This helps to avoid speaking of salvation in the simple binary opposition of saved-damned. The Spirit allows for the continued particularity of the Christian and the non-Christian while retaining the possibility of universal salvation. Through the establishment of the church and the Christian by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, the Christian and the non-Christian are enabled to be united in Christ precisely as Christian and non-Christian. The Spirit allows for human and Christian particularity without limiting God's work of salvation. The Spirit ever deepens God's love for humanity in the church and the individual lives of Christians without in any way detracting from the love of God for all creation.Less
The logic of universalism could at a superficial level lead one to ask why there is any need for faith. This chapter proposes a way through this seeming contradiction by considering the problem from the perspective of pneumatology. This helps to avoid speaking of salvation in the simple binary opposition of saved-damned. The Spirit allows for the continued particularity of the Christian and the non-Christian while retaining the possibility of universal salvation. Through the establishment of the church and the Christian by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, the Christian and the non-Christian are enabled to be united in Christ precisely as Christian and non-Christian. The Spirit allows for human and Christian particularity without limiting God's work of salvation. The Spirit ever deepens God's love for humanity in the church and the individual lives of Christians without in any way detracting from the love of God for all creation.
Christopher Asprey
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199584703
- eISBN:
- 9780191723209
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199584703.003.0007
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology
This chapter examines Barth's pneumatology in Göttingen from three angles: his opposition to the doctrine of the Spirit in neo-Protestant theology, his Reformed doctrine of the Christian life, and ...
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This chapter examines Barth's pneumatology in Göttingen from three angles: his opposition to the doctrine of the Spirit in neo-Protestant theology, his Reformed doctrine of the Christian life, and sacramental theology. It argues that Barth's opposition to ‘religion’ in modern Protestantism is not based on any dualistic principle, but on his conviction that human beings must relate freely to God. His Reformed instincts lead him to describe the Christian life using the category of obedience, as well as faith; yet he is restricted by the concern that this might result in a form of subjectivism. He attempts to develop a doctrine of baptism that will cover this eventuality, by grounding the Christian subject in an event of grace. However, this will soon be abandoned, for it is only a temporary solution which cannot resolve a dilemma that really stems from a gap in his christology.Less
This chapter examines Barth's pneumatology in Göttingen from three angles: his opposition to the doctrine of the Spirit in neo-Protestant theology, his Reformed doctrine of the Christian life, and sacramental theology. It argues that Barth's opposition to ‘religion’ in modern Protestantism is not based on any dualistic principle, but on his conviction that human beings must relate freely to God. His Reformed instincts lead him to describe the Christian life using the category of obedience, as well as faith; yet he is restricted by the concern that this might result in a form of subjectivism. He attempts to develop a doctrine of baptism that will cover this eventuality, by grounding the Christian subject in an event of grace. However, this will soon be abandoned, for it is only a temporary solution which cannot resolve a dilemma that really stems from a gap in his christology.
Gordon Campbell, Thomas N. Corns, John K. Hale, and Fiona J. Tweedie
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199296491
- eISBN:
- 9780191711923
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199296491.003.0005
- Subject:
- Literature, Milton Studies
This chapter sets Milton's systematic theology in the context of the pertinent Protestant tradition in the early modern period. It appraises the stability of Milton's views, considers his doctrine of ...
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This chapter sets Milton's systematic theology in the context of the pertinent Protestant tradition in the early modern period. It appraises the stability of Milton's views, considers his doctrine of the godhead, his Christology, his pneumatology, his views on creation, and his soteriology. It concludes with an account of his arguments about mortalism and polygamy.Less
This chapter sets Milton's systematic theology in the context of the pertinent Protestant tradition in the early modern period. It appraises the stability of Milton's views, considers his doctrine of the godhead, his Christology, his pneumatology, his views on creation, and his soteriology. It concludes with an account of his arguments about mortalism and polygamy.
Tom Greggs
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- September 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199560486
- eISBN:
- 9780191721533
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199560486.003.0005
- Subject:
- Religion, History of Christianity, Theology
This chapter is concerned with the economy of the Holy Spirit. It seeks to redress the accusation (connected to the accusation of universalism) of Christomonism in Barth. It argues that for Barth's ...
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This chapter is concerned with the economy of the Holy Spirit. It seeks to redress the accusation (connected to the accusation of universalism) of Christomonism in Barth. It argues that for Barth's theology the economy of the Holy Spirit is the operation of God which allows for the place of faith and Christian existence within a universalist soteriology based strongly on the objective work of Christ: the Spirit allows this objective reality to reach the community and the individual. The chapter discusses the temporal ‘remit’ of the Spirit; the role of the Spirit in the reception of revelation; the operation of the Spirit in establishing Christian particularity and identity; Barth's concept of correspondence (Entsprechung); the Spirit's work in establishing human identity and particularity; and the role of the Spirit in eschatology.Less
This chapter is concerned with the economy of the Holy Spirit. It seeks to redress the accusation (connected to the accusation of universalism) of Christomonism in Barth. It argues that for Barth's theology the economy of the Holy Spirit is the operation of God which allows for the place of faith and Christian existence within a universalist soteriology based strongly on the objective work of Christ: the Spirit allows this objective reality to reach the community and the individual. The chapter discusses the temporal ‘remit’ of the Spirit; the role of the Spirit in the reception of revelation; the operation of the Spirit in establishing Christian particularity and identity; Barth's concept of correspondence (Entsprechung); the Spirit's work in establishing human identity and particularity; and the role of the Spirit in eschatology.
Lewis Ayres
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- July 2005
- ISBN:
- 9780198755067
- eISBN:
- 9780191602788
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198755066.003.0011
- Subject:
- Religion, Early Christian Studies
Begins with a discussion of Gregory Nazianzen’s preaching in Constantinople and the theology of the Theological Orations. Considers the imperial definition of Nicaea ‘orthodoxy’ in the early 380s. ...
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Begins with a discussion of Gregory Nazianzen’s preaching in Constantinople and the theology of the Theological Orations. Considers the imperial definition of Nicaea ‘orthodoxy’ in the early 380s. These definitions attempt to embody the pro-Nicene logic or grammar that had become the understood context for interpreting Nicaea. A discussion of the Council of Constantinople in 381 is followed by a discussion of Latin theology during the 365–400 period. In this discussion, the author focuses on Ambrose of Milan. Ends by arguing that the story of these controversies and of the non-Nicene theology should not be seen as ending in 381. By the early 380s the pro-Nicene ‘solution’ that endured had emerged, but argument and controversy continued.Less
Begins with a discussion of Gregory Nazianzen’s preaching in Constantinople and the theology of the Theological Orations. Considers the imperial definition of Nicaea ‘orthodoxy’ in the early 380s. These definitions attempt to embody the pro-Nicene logic or grammar that had become the understood context for interpreting Nicaea. A discussion of the Council of Constantinople in 381 is followed by a discussion of Latin theology during the 365–400 period. In this discussion, the author focuses on Ambrose of Milan. Ends by arguing that the story of these controversies and of the non-Nicene theology should not be seen as ending in 381. By the early 380s the pro-Nicene ‘solution’ that endured had emerged, but argument and controversy continued.
Gerald O'Collins
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780199246120
- eISBN:
- 9780191600531
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199246122.003.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology
Gerald O’Collins picks out and comments on twelve issues in current literature about the Trinity: the widespread desire to ‘rehabilitate’ the centrality of trinitarian faith; the biblical witness ...
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Gerald O’Collins picks out and comments on twelve issues in current literature about the Trinity: the widespread desire to ‘rehabilitate’ the centrality of trinitarian faith; the biblical witness that should make christology properly trinitarian; pneumatology as central to Pauline theology; the tripersonal God according to the Cappadocians and other patristic writers; debates on the procession of the Holy Spirit; current proposals for renaming the Trinity; the place of the Trinity in interreligious dialogue; trinitarian faith as the alternative to Western atheism and agnosticism; the identity of the economic and immanent Trinity; the irreducibly special elements in trinitarian actions; the viability of personal language for the Trinity; an integral approach (through study, worship, and practice) to the trinitarian mystery. Also recognizes further issues that call for attention: for instance, the distinct personal identity of the Holy Spirit, the significance for Christian faith of Jewish understanding of God, and the relevance of trinitarian faith for moral thinking and behaviour.Less
Gerald O’Collins picks out and comments on twelve issues in current literature about the Trinity: the widespread desire to ‘rehabilitate’ the centrality of trinitarian faith; the biblical witness that should make christology properly trinitarian; pneumatology as central to Pauline theology; the tripersonal God according to the Cappadocians and other patristic writers; debates on the procession of the Holy Spirit; current proposals for renaming the Trinity; the place of the Trinity in interreligious dialogue; trinitarian faith as the alternative to Western atheism and agnosticism; the identity of the economic and immanent Trinity; the irreducibly special elements in trinitarian actions; the viability of personal language for the Trinity; an integral approach (through study, worship, and practice) to the trinitarian mystery. Also recognizes further issues that call for attention: for instance, the distinct personal identity of the Holy Spirit, the significance for Christian faith of Jewish understanding of God, and the relevance of trinitarian faith for moral thinking and behaviour.
Lewis Ayres
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- July 2005
- ISBN:
- 9780198755067
- eISBN:
- 9780191602788
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198755066.003.0009
- Subject:
- Religion, Early Christian Studies
Focuses on Basil of Caesarea as both a key figure in the developments of these years and as a key example of wider theological shifts. Shows how Basil slowly developed towards his mature theological ...
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Focuses on Basil of Caesarea as both a key figure in the developments of these years and as a key example of wider theological shifts. Shows how Basil slowly developed towards his mature theological position, distinguishing between God’s unity at the level of ousia and the distinctions between the persons at the level of idiomata. Also considers developing the use of hypostasis, his pneumatological reserve and the continuing presence of older terminologies in his thought. Also argues that Basil is not guilty of the subordinationism that has frequently been seen in his formulations.Less
Focuses on Basil of Caesarea as both a key figure in the developments of these years and as a key example of wider theological shifts. Shows how Basil slowly developed towards his mature theological position, distinguishing between God’s unity at the level of ousia and the distinctions between the persons at the level of idiomata. Also considers developing the use of hypostasis, his pneumatological reserve and the continuing presence of older terminologies in his thought. Also argues that Basil is not guilty of the subordinationism that has frequently been seen in his formulations.
Bernard Cooke
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- January 2005
- ISBN:
- 9780195174519
- eISBN:
- 9780199835119
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195174518.003.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology
A paradigm shift has occurred in human knowing that places ‘power’ at the center of interpreting humans’ experience. This hermeneutic has found a distinctive expression in theological methodology ...
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A paradigm shift has occurred in human knowing that places ‘power’ at the center of interpreting humans’ experience. This hermeneutic has found a distinctive expression in theological methodology where it has coincided with the incorporation of historical consciousness and utilization of experience as a starting point. Within theology, this has produced renewed interest in pneumatology, the study of the Spirit of God. Since biblically the Spirit of God is identified as divine power, this volume relates the divine Spirit to various forms of power.Less
A paradigm shift has occurred in human knowing that places ‘power’ at the center of interpreting humans’ experience. This hermeneutic has found a distinctive expression in theological methodology where it has coincided with the incorporation of historical consciousness and utilization of experience as a starting point. Within theology, this has produced renewed interest in pneumatology, the study of the Spirit of God. Since biblically the Spirit of God is identified as divine power, this volume relates the divine Spirit to various forms of power.
Thomas L. Humphries, Jr.
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780199685035
- eISBN:
- 9780191765537
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199685035.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Early Christian Studies, Theology
This book is about the Holy Spirit, monks, and other Catholic theologians who lived around the Mediterranean in the 5th and 6th centuries. It makes three interconnected arguments. The first argument ...
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This book is about the Holy Spirit, monks, and other Catholic theologians who lived around the Mediterranean in the 5th and 6th centuries. It makes three interconnected arguments. The first argument concerns scholarly readings of antiquity: there are developments in 5th and 6th century Latin pneumatology which we have overlooked. Theologians like John Cassian and Gregory the Great were engaged in a significant discussion of how the Holy Spirit works within Christian ascetics to reform their inner lives. Other theologians, like Leo the Great, participate to a lesser extent in a similar project. They applied pneumatology to theological anthropology. This book labels that development “ascetic pneumatology,” and tracks some of the schools of thought about the Holy Spirit we find in late antiquity. The second argument concerns the reception of Augustine in the two centuries immediately after his death: different people read Augustine differently. Augustine’s theology was known and understood to varying degrees in various regions. The book demonstrates significant engagements with Augustine’s theology as it was relevant to Pelagianism (evidenced in Prosper of Aquitaine), as it was relevant to Gallic Arians (evidenced with the Lérinian theologians), and as it was relevant to African Arians and certain questions posed of Nestorianism (evidenced with Fulgentius of Ruspe). Instead of attempting to rank various theologians as better and worse “Augustinians,” this book argues that there were different kinds of “Augustinianisms” even in the years immediately after Augustine. The third argument concerns Gregory the Great and his sources. Once we see that ascetic pneumatology was a strain of thought in this era and see that there are different kinds of Augustinianisms, we can see that Gregory depends on both Augustine and Cassian. The final chapters argue that Gregory uses Cassian’s ascetic pneumatology, and this allows Gregory’s synthesis Cassian and Augustine to stand in greater relief than it has before. The study begins with Cassian, ends with Gregory, and is attentive to Augustine throughout.Less
This book is about the Holy Spirit, monks, and other Catholic theologians who lived around the Mediterranean in the 5th and 6th centuries. It makes three interconnected arguments. The first argument concerns scholarly readings of antiquity: there are developments in 5th and 6th century Latin pneumatology which we have overlooked. Theologians like John Cassian and Gregory the Great were engaged in a significant discussion of how the Holy Spirit works within Christian ascetics to reform their inner lives. Other theologians, like Leo the Great, participate to a lesser extent in a similar project. They applied pneumatology to theological anthropology. This book labels that development “ascetic pneumatology,” and tracks some of the schools of thought about the Holy Spirit we find in late antiquity. The second argument concerns the reception of Augustine in the two centuries immediately after his death: different people read Augustine differently. Augustine’s theology was known and understood to varying degrees in various regions. The book demonstrates significant engagements with Augustine’s theology as it was relevant to Pelagianism (evidenced in Prosper of Aquitaine), as it was relevant to Gallic Arians (evidenced with the Lérinian theologians), and as it was relevant to African Arians and certain questions posed of Nestorianism (evidenced with Fulgentius of Ruspe). Instead of attempting to rank various theologians as better and worse “Augustinians,” this book argues that there were different kinds of “Augustinianisms” even in the years immediately after Augustine. The third argument concerns Gregory the Great and his sources. Once we see that ascetic pneumatology was a strain of thought in this era and see that there are different kinds of Augustinianisms, we can see that Gregory depends on both Augustine and Cassian. The final chapters argue that Gregory uses Cassian’s ascetic pneumatology, and this allows Gregory’s synthesis Cassian and Augustine to stand in greater relief than it has before. The study begins with Cassian, ends with Gregory, and is attentive to Augustine throughout.
Philip Clayton and Steven Knapp
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199695270
- eISBN:
- 9780191731945
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199695270.003.0006
- Subject:
- Religion, Philosophy of Religion, Religion and Society
Although the previous chapter introduced a participatory theory of Jesus’ resurrection, which affirms that something really happened after Jesus death, it stops short of claiming that Jesus uniquely ...
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Although the previous chapter introduced a participatory theory of Jesus’ resurrection, which affirms that something really happened after Jesus death, it stops short of claiming that Jesus uniquely embodied the grace and compassion of God. This chapter explores the various accounts of the resurrection appearances, for example the claims that Jesus ascended bodily into heaven, that Jesus was personally but not physically present after his death, and that the disciples were deluded in thinking that Jesus was still present. The strongest view in the end is a Spirit-centered theory of Jesus’ resurrection, which affirms both Jesus’ personal resurrection and the emergence of the Spirit of Christ while distinguishing between them in certain respects. The result is a Spirit-centered or “pneumatological” version of the participatory theory. It is possible to speak of the ongoing reality and authority of Jesus’ self-surrendering obedience to God without falling back into the snares of the problem of evil.Less
Although the previous chapter introduced a participatory theory of Jesus’ resurrection, which affirms that something really happened after Jesus death, it stops short of claiming that Jesus uniquely embodied the grace and compassion of God. This chapter explores the various accounts of the resurrection appearances, for example the claims that Jesus ascended bodily into heaven, that Jesus was personally but not physically present after his death, and that the disciples were deluded in thinking that Jesus was still present. The strongest view in the end is a Spirit-centered theory of Jesus’ resurrection, which affirms both Jesus’ personal resurrection and the emergence of the Spirit of Christ while distinguishing between them in certain respects. The result is a Spirit-centered or “pneumatological” version of the participatory theory. It is possible to speak of the ongoing reality and authority of Jesus’ self-surrendering obedience to God without falling back into the snares of the problem of evil.
Gabriel Flynn
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199552870
- eISBN:
- 9780191731037
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199552870.003.0015
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology
This chapter assesses Congar's contribution to ressourcement in the context of that movement's complex relationship with the nouvelle théologie. By reflecting on his ecumenism and pneumatology, it ...
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This chapter assesses Congar's contribution to ressourcement in the context of that movement's complex relationship with the nouvelle théologie. By reflecting on his ecumenism and pneumatology, it shows that his contribution in these fields, effectively spanning his entire career, would not have been possible without a return to the sources. The essay traces the origins of the programme of reform and renewal that was at the heart of the ressourcement to certain elements in Roman Catholic Modernism. It locates Congar's transformative and original contribution to ecumenism and pneumatology in the return to the sources. In conclusion, this essay points to the continued relevance of ressourcement for academic theology and, perhaps more fundamentally, in the apostolic, pastoral life of the Christian churches.Less
This chapter assesses Congar's contribution to ressourcement in the context of that movement's complex relationship with the nouvelle théologie. By reflecting on his ecumenism and pneumatology, it shows that his contribution in these fields, effectively spanning his entire career, would not have been possible without a return to the sources. The essay traces the origins of the programme of reform and renewal that was at the heart of the ressourcement to certain elements in Roman Catholic Modernism. It locates Congar's transformative and original contribution to ecumenism and pneumatology in the return to the sources. In conclusion, this essay points to the continued relevance of ressourcement for academic theology and, perhaps more fundamentally, in the apostolic, pastoral life of the Christian churches.
Anthony Briggman
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199641536
- eISBN:
- 9780191738302
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199641536.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Early Christian Studies, Theology
Irenaeus' theology of the Holy Spirit is often regarded highly, but that regard is not universal, nor has an adequate volume of literature supported it. This study provides a detailed examination of ...
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Irenaeus' theology of the Holy Spirit is often regarded highly, but that regard is not universal, nor has an adequate volume of literature supported it. This study provides a detailed examination of certain principal, often distinctive, aspects of Irenaeus’ pneumatology. In contrast to those who have suggested Irenaeus held a weak conception of the person and work of the Holy Spirit, this work demonstrates that Irenaeus combined Second Temple Jewish traditions of the spirit with New Testament theology to produce the most complex Jewish-Christian pneumatology of the early church. In so doing, Irenaeus moved beyond his contemporaries by being the first author, following the New Testament writings, to construct a theological account in which binitarian logic did not diminish either the identity or activity of the Holy Spirit. That is to say, he was the first to support his Trinitarian convictions by means of Trinitarian logic.Less
Irenaeus' theology of the Holy Spirit is often regarded highly, but that regard is not universal, nor has an adequate volume of literature supported it. This study provides a detailed examination of certain principal, often distinctive, aspects of Irenaeus’ pneumatology. In contrast to those who have suggested Irenaeus held a weak conception of the person and work of the Holy Spirit, this work demonstrates that Irenaeus combined Second Temple Jewish traditions of the spirit with New Testament theology to produce the most complex Jewish-Christian pneumatology of the early church. In so doing, Irenaeus moved beyond his contemporaries by being the first author, following the New Testament writings, to construct a theological account in which binitarian logic did not diminish either the identity or activity of the Holy Spirit. That is to say, he was the first to support his Trinitarian convictions by means of Trinitarian logic.
Mark I. Wallace
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780823281329
- eISBN:
- 9780823284955
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fordham/9780823281329.003.0004
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology
This chapter begins with a visitation by a great blue heron to the author’s class taught in Swarthmore College’s Crum Woods. Is the Crum Woods holy ground? Some ecotheologians (John B. Cobb Jr., ...
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This chapter begins with a visitation by a great blue heron to the author’s class taught in Swarthmore College’s Crum Woods. Is the Crum Woods holy ground? Some ecotheologians (John B. Cobb Jr., Richard Bauckham) caution against this way of speaking, but this chapter argues that Christianity is a religion of double incarnation: in a twofold movement, God becomes flesh in both humankind (Jesus) and otherkind (Spirit), underscoring that corporeality and divinity are one. The chapter focuses on historical portraits of Jesus’ relationship to particular birds as totem-beings in his teaching ministry; Augustine’s repudiation of Neoplatonism and natalist celebration of the maternal, birdy Holy Spirit in the world; and Hildegard of Bingen’s avian pneumatology in which earth’s “vital greenness” is valorized for its curative powers in a manner similar to Jesus’ mudpie healing of the blind man in John 9. It concludes with a meditation on nature-worship in a Quaker meetinghouse in Monteverde, Costa Rica.Less
This chapter begins with a visitation by a great blue heron to the author’s class taught in Swarthmore College’s Crum Woods. Is the Crum Woods holy ground? Some ecotheologians (John B. Cobb Jr., Richard Bauckham) caution against this way of speaking, but this chapter argues that Christianity is a religion of double incarnation: in a twofold movement, God becomes flesh in both humankind (Jesus) and otherkind (Spirit), underscoring that corporeality and divinity are one. The chapter focuses on historical portraits of Jesus’ relationship to particular birds as totem-beings in his teaching ministry; Augustine’s repudiation of Neoplatonism and natalist celebration of the maternal, birdy Holy Spirit in the world; and Hildegard of Bingen’s avian pneumatology in which earth’s “vital greenness” is valorized for its curative powers in a manner similar to Jesus’ mudpie healing of the blind man in John 9. It concludes with a meditation on nature-worship in a Quaker meetinghouse in Monteverde, Costa Rica.
