tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-76332202108350051332024-03-12T17:50:22.818-07:00Eternal Truth; Fresh PerspectiveJameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11106829581971579567noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7633220210835005133.post-61626704889132995632018-08-22T02:40:00.001-07:002019-12-29T07:51:00.956-08:00Three Perspectives on Church History<div style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.75em;">
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The first perspective on Church history I wish to discuss is
the view that all Christians were pretty much in grave error for over a
millennium. I have in mind certain Protestant groups that are vitriolically
anti-Catholic (and anti-Orthodox if Orthodoxy is brought up). I also have in
mind hardcore liberal Christians who hold disdain for traditional Christian
ethics. It is a view that requires cynicism, as one has to be pretty cynical
about God’s revelation to the human race throughout history. Apparently, He
stopped making people into new creations in Christ for over 1,000 years. Of all
the people who spent their lives in fasting, prayer, and reading the
scriptures, none of them were sincere enough for God to enlighten them with
true Christianity- one’s specific Protestant doctrines which one believes are
absolutely necessary.<o:p></o:p></div>
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This historical narrative teaches that the original, true
faith that Christ taught was lost, but then reobtained by humanity centuries
later. One criticism I have is that if the true faith really was lost and then
found by someone after centuries, the event would be like Pentecost in the book
of Acts. That person would have been like the Holy Apostles, working miracles
and such. Yet none of the Reformers were holy people. Interesting thinkers,
yes, but is it not strange that they were not anointed with charismatic gifts?
When St. Peter walked the streets, people were healed when his shadow passed
over them. When St. Stephen was martyred, his face appeared to be like that of
an angel. People touched St. Paul with rags and then brought these rags to
heal the sick (relics). People prophesied and St. Paul mentions speaking
angelic tongues. And if these things are not incredible enough, the Book of
Acts records St. Philip being carried up into the heavens after evangelizing
the Ethiopian. Is not the Reformation, and the modern liberal reformation,
oddly dry compared to this? Certain people who took note of this started
another reformation for these charismatic gifts to manifest. For the most part,
the attempts of the Pentecostals have either been unimpressive, or the
spiritual power behind them gives one a disturbingly dark feeling.<o:p></o:p></div>
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One thing no one denies is that Medieval Catholicism had
serious errors in its doctrines and practices. No one today believes that the
blood in the Eucharist should be withheld from the laity, as was mandated then.
Hardly anyone today believes that the liturgy and the Scriptures must be in
Latin, as was mandated. I doubt anyone today seriously holds to the crazy
medieval doctrine of the treasury of merits- that Christ and the saints had amassed
a surplus of merits and the Pope could transmit these merits to people’s
spiritual accounts at his arbitration. For example, granting 10,000 years off
of purgatory for visiting a particular relic. The first perspective of Church
history responds to this by saying that no one in this time had the true
Christian faith, but it was found again by certain reformers.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The second perspective I want to mention acknowledges the
historical cynicism of the first perspective and approaches the historical
Christians with greater humility. Its response to historical problems is to
lower the bar of the definition of what acceptable Christian faith is. The
Christians of the past had problems with their beliefs and how they practiced
their faith, but we probably do too, and that’s ok. Different Christian
confessions, past and present, have their blind spots and strong points.
Catholics have consistency, Baptists are great at Bible studies, Anglicans have
some beautiful music, and so on. The sad part is that when it gets down to
important and specific doctrines and practices of the Christian faith, those
who adhere to the second perspective sort of consent that getting all these
important things right is probably impossible. It is a more humble cynicism
than that of the first perspective, but it is still sadly cynical.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The third option is to acknowledge the history of the
Orthodox Church. The true Faith is beautiful and has been beautifully
practiced in every generation. All the important specific doctrines and
practices are fully accessible now and have been fully accessible to the
people of the past as well. The bar is raised, and when one embraces the
Orthodox Faith, there is not a need for such historical cynicism. The reformers
and Catholic saints are mostly interesting thinkers, but the Orthodox saints in
every age were apostles to their generation, living the same incredible lives
as those of the first generation, and witnessing with the same power of the
Holy Spirit. For those who have trouble approaching Church history from a
non-Orthodox perspective, there is a way out.<span style="color: #eeeeee;">t.</span></div>
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Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11106829581971579567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7633220210835005133.post-40211483560536482482016-10-31T20:55:00.001-07:002016-11-03T12:31:28.986-07:00Orthodoxy and Protestantism: First ContactThis is my senior seminar essay. Footnotes are not in my current starter edition of Microsoft Word, so I do not have the citations at this time.<br />
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; margin: 0px;"><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Protestantism was bursting out of
the seams of the Roman Catholic Church wherever it had the opportunity in the
16<sup>th</sup> century. Yet, there was not a single reformation in the
Orthodox East resembling the reformations of the Lutherans, the Reformed, the
Radical Reformers, or the Anglicans. The reason for this is not entirely a
geographical or political coincidence. While geography and politics certainly
played a role, I will show how the differences between the Christian East and
West in matters of faith and practice greatly hindered the potential for
reformation in the Christian East.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>The
ideas coming out of Germany could not inspire the Greeks to reform to the
extent that they inspired Westerners such as the Scots. To show this, I will
primarily examine the correspondence between the Lutheran Tubingen Theologians
and Orthodox Patriarch Jeremias II of Constantinople from the years 1573-1579.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; margin: 0px;"><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>The relationship between Orthodoxy
and Lutheranism was present at the beginning. Luther, based on his knowledge of
Church history, expressed appreciation for the faith and practice of what he
called the “Greek Church” over and against certain aspects of Roman
Catholicism. The first real contact occurred when Patriarch Joasaph of Constantinople sent
the Serbian deacon Demetrios to investigate the Reformation in Germany.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Demetrios was taken in by Philip Melanchthon,
whom he greatly admired. <span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>In 1559,
Melanchthon wrote [his authorship is disputed] a Greek edition of the Augsburg
Confession called the Augustana Graeca. This document has a few alterations for
the intention of making it more understandable to the Eastern Orthodox. Melanchthon
sent Demetrios with the Augustana Graeca and a cordial letter to Patriarch
Joasaph. However, it appears these documents never arrived. Demetrios was
diverted in Wallachia, and died before reaching Constantinople.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; margin: 0px;"><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>In 1573, a group of theologians in Tubingen,
led by Martin Crusius and Jakob Andreae, set out to reestablish contact. The
opportunity arose when Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian II chose a devout Lutheran
as his ambassador at the imperial embassy in Constantinople. Ambassador David Ungnad
was a graduate of the University of Tubingen, and requested a court chaplain
from there.
Crusius was the classics professor at the university and was supposedly the
greatest classicist in Europe at the time. He was naturally excited at the
prospect of contact with the Greeks for academic purposes. Andreae
was the most highly renowned theologian at Tubingen, and he and Crusius had religious
interest in contacting the Eastern Orthodox.
They selected a promising graduate named Stephen Gerlach to be the embassy chaplain
for Ungnad.
Crusius often exercised his incredible linguistic talent by translating
Andreae’s sermons into Greek as he preached them on Sunday. They sent one of
these sermons with Gerlach, in addition to a letter from each of them to the
Patriarch. On
October 15, 1573, Gerlach ceremoniously delivered the letters from Andreae and
Crusius to Patriarch Jeremias II, initiating the first meeting between a
clerical representative of the Protestant Reformation and the Ecumenical
Patriarch of the Orthodox Church.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; margin: 0px;"><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Having established contact with the
Orthodox, the Lutherans followed up by sending the 1559 Augustana Graeca on
September 15, 1574, asking the Patriarch for a response.
Their motives of initiating a reformation in the East are expressed by Crusius,
who wrote, “If they wish to take thought for the eternal salvation of their
souls, they must join us and embrace our teaching, or else perish eternally!” Gerlarch received five more copies of the Augustana Graeca, which he
distributed to the theological advisors of the Patriarch. After receiving his
copy on May 24, 1575, Jeremias set to work on a careful point-by-point response,
which he completed on April 30, 1576, urging the Lutherans to convert to
Orthodoxy.
The Lutherans, realizing that uniting the Orthodox to their cause was unlikely,
shifted their efforts from conversion to apologetic defense.
The Lutherans replied to Jeremias’s response, as well as to two other letters
sent by him. In his third doctrinal response, Jeremias signals an end to the
correspondence with the words, “Therefore, going about your own ways, write no
longer concerning dogmas; but if you do, write only for friendship’s sake.
Farewell.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; margin: 0px;"><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Before discussing the lack of
potential for Reformation in the Christian East, it is appropriate to examine
the extent that the Protestant reformation did have impact. Several Orthodox,
such as the previously mentioned Demetrios, were greatly sympathetic to the
cause of the Reformation.
Michael Katakouzenos was a Greek prince who received one of the five copies of
the Augustana Graeca. He held the document in such high esteem that he had it
bound in red leather and translated into contemporary Greek.
Under the yoke of Turkish rule, most Greek theologians had to receive training
in the West by Protestants or Catholics. Ecumenical Patriarch Cyril
Lukaris published his <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Confession </i>in
1629, a work that expressed Calvinist teaching. His Protestant influenced work
was quickly rejected by several Church councils. To secure power for
himself, Peter the Great abolished the Russian patriarchate and established a
Holy Synod. He modelled this after the infrastructure of the Lutheran Church in
Germany rather than Orthodox precedent. Under Peter’s Synod, the
Orthodox Church in Russia experienced a temporary and partial Westernization in
art, music, and theology. Despite all this, it must generally be
said that, “The forces of Reform stopped when they reached the borders of
Russia and the Turkish Empire, so that the Orthodox Church has not undergone
either a Reformation or a Counter-Reformation.” None of the Western
influenced theologians became an Eastern Luther or Zwingli, and Peter the Great
did not come near to matching King Henry VIII’s legacy.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; margin: 0px;"><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>The first formal declaration of a
Catholic abuse in the Augsburg Confession is Article 22, which complains
against the restriction of the laity from the blood of Christ in the Eucharist.
The Patriarch’s response to this is the shortest of all the article responses,
reaching 44 words [English translation]. It gives a simple statement of
agreement with the Lutherans, with the clarification that the Orthodox use leavened
bread. This
contrasts greatly with the official Roman Catholic response in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Confutatio Pontificia</i>. The Catholics
zealously defend the practice of withholding the wine in a 1,258 word [English
translation] refutation of the article. Using Scripture and Tradition, they
argue that to offer the blood of Christ to the laity, rather than just the
clergy, is an “abuse and disobedience.” Even the Catholic
Church has ultimately found the practice of withholding the wine to be
undesirable, as Catholic laity now frequently receive wine at the Eucharist.
Many found the practice to be undesirable before the Catholic Church changed
its position, and the Reformation was a potential solution here. However, there
is no need for a solution if there is no problem. Luther himself highly praised
the Orthodox Church for its administering of both elements, saying the
practice,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; margin: 0px;">still continues among the
Greeks, whom even Rome itself dare not call heretics or schismatics because of
it. . . I now say that on this point the Greeks and Bohemians are not heretics
or schismatics but the most Christian people and the best followers of the
Gospel on earth.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; margin: 0px;">When considering
this quote, it is little wonder that no parallel to Luther rose up in the
Orthodox Church. Melanchthon also praises the Greeks, saying, “<span style="margin: 0px;">in the Greek churches this practice
[Communion in both kinds] still remains, as it also once prevailed in the Latin
Church, as Cyprian and Jerome attest.” </span>The desire for allowing both kinds is also expressed by the Anglicans on
article 30 of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Thirty-Nine Articles of
Religion</i>. On the point of the Eucharist, the Catholic Church had a weakness
against the Protestantism not shared by the Orthodox Church.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; margin: 0px;"><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>The second abuse declared in the
Augsburg Confession is the restrictions of the clergy from marriage. To this,
Jeremias replies, “We too permit those priests who are unable to remain
celibate to marry before ordination. God has ordained marriage, and we are not
ignorant that severe disorders take place among those in the clergy who have
been prevented from being married.”
One difference here is that the Orthodox restricted priest from marrying after
ordination, whereas the Lutherans encouraged former Catholic clergy to
disregard their vows of celibacy. The <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Confutatio
</i>reaffirms the Catholic position of celibate clergy. The
Anglicans also complain against the Catholics on this point in Article 32 of
their <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Articles</i>. This is a complaint
that the Orthodox Church was far less vulnerable to than the Catholics.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; margin: 0px;"><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>The third abuse listed in the
Augsburg Confession is the way in which the Catholics perform the mass. The
Lutheran theologians argue that using the vernacular teaches the common people
what they should know about Christ. It is also commanded by Paul in 1 Cor.
14:19. Jeremias makes no comment on this aspect of the complaint, for the
Orthodox Church has always encouraged, rather than restricted, the use of the
vernacular. The Divine Liturgy was performed in Greek for the Greeks, Arabic
for the Arabs, Slavonic for the Slavs, Georgian for the Georgians, et cetera.
There are examples of parishes in the West using Greek, but this is due to the
fact that these parishes are often composed of Greek-speaking immigrant
communities. On the other hand, the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Confutatio</i>
defends the use of Latin for the sake of unity. Some Catholics point to
examples of vernacular use in the Roman Catholic Church before the Protestant
Reformation, but this does not change the fact that, as a rule, Latin was used
at the expense of the vernacular. As the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Confutatio
</i>states, “First, it is displeasing that, in opposition to the usage of the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">entire </i>Roman Church, they perform
ecclesiastical rites not in the Roman, but in the German language...”
In Article 24 of their <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Articles</i>, the
Anglican Reformers express their shared concern with the Lutherans over the use
of language, “It is a thing plainly repugnant to the word of God and the custom
of the primitive Church, to have public prayer in the Church, or to minister
the sacraments in a tongue not understood by the people.” Like the issue of the
two substances, the Roman Catholic Church has, in practice, adopted the
position of the Protestants and Orthodox by using the vernacular during mass.
This is an issue that pressured Reformation in the Western Church and could not
be applied to the Church in the East.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; margin: 0px;"><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span></span></b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; margin: 0px;">The seventh and final complaint against the Catholic Church in Augsburg
Confession is the power of the Bishops. They criticize the Catholic Church for
having its clergy exercise religious matters with the authority of a position
of the State, saying, “the power of the Church and the civil power must not be
confounded.” Jeremias expresses agreement, saying, “there is not small
difference among the [civil and religious] commandments.”
It should be noted that Patriarch Jeremias himself was assigned by the Ottoman
Empire to be the ethnarch, a religious and civic representative of the
Christian Greeks. However, any secular powers of Orthodox bishops hardly
paralleled those of many Catholic bishops, who often ran theocracies and led
armies into battle. This is the fourth, and final, major criticism the
Lutherans weighed against the Catholic Church in which they did not find fault
in the Orthodox Church.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; margin: 0px;"><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>It has been shown that
several protested issues the reformers used against the Catholic Church could
not be equally applied as reasons to reform the Orthodox Church, but what about
where the Orthodox and Catholics agree against the Protestants? Even here,
while the Catholics and Orthodox have many external similarities, they often
have a different foundational reasoning for these similarities. The Protestant
Reformers shared with the Roman Catholics certain Western understandings of the
Christian faith, and were therefore able to fight on the same ideological battlefield.
However, the Tubingen theologians and Jeremias often spoke past each other when
they argued during the correspondence. As Jorgenson says it,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; margin: 0px;">Lack of previous contact
enhanced a myopic insensitivity to the church life and theological perspectives
of the other. The Greeks were profoundly unaware of the pervading spiritual and
theological restlessness which sparked the revolt against the medieval Roman
Church. The Lutherans, on their part, shared, in general, the unfamiliarity of
the Latin West with the theological, spiritual, and liturgical tradition of the
Greek Church.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin: 16px 0px;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; margin: 0px;">Certain Protestant positions could not be applied as easily on an Eastern
foundational understanding as they could on a Western one.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; margin: 0px;"><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>The responses to Article
III of the Augsburg Confession reveal a difference between the East and West.
Article III is a short relatively short statement concerning the nature and
mission of Christ. The Catholic <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Confutatio</i>
offers a short statement of agreement, saying, “In the third article there is
nothing to offend...” For some reason, Jeremias neither confirmed, nor
denied the Lutheran statement. Rather, he responded by restating the 12 Articles
of the Creed, and by discussing what Christ accomplished using reasoning
independent of what the Lutherans had stated. The Augustans Graeca put it this
way:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; margin: 0px;">So then one Christ, truly
God and truly man, born of the ever-virgin Mary, truly suffered, was crucified,
died, and was buried, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">in order to
reconcile the Father to us</i>, and to be a sacrifice, not only for the ancient
transgression and the calling to account of the human race, but also for all
things whichsoever are worthy of condemnation which are done by man in
transgressing the law.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin: 16px 0px;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; margin: 0px;">While Jeremias provides a far more exhaustive explanation of the work of
Christ, nowhere in his response to article III does he explain Christ’s work as
reconciling the Father to humanity as a sacrifice for transgressing the law.
Today, the Orthodox reject a penal substitution understanding that the
Lutherans would have had, and would say Christ worked to reconcile humanity to
the Father. In his response to the fifth article, Jeremias does present a penal
substitution metaphor, but, like Jesus’s parable of the vineyard workers, it is
narrowly applied for a specific purpose. Jeremias was likely
unprepared to understand the extent that the West had taken a judicial
understanding of salvation after Anselm.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin: 16px 0px;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; margin: 0px;"><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>In his response to the
third article, rather than explaining Christ’s salvific work in the Creed by a satisfaction
for transgression, Jeremias expands upon the incarnation and life of Christ:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; margin: 0px;">Humility is aroused by the
descent of God, the Logos, from the heavens; modesty, by the Incarnation;
poverty, fasting, and purity, in that He was like that; patience and
forbearance because He had all these, and finally endured the cross and death.
The Savior abolished every iniquity. By humility, He abolished pride from which
comes unbelief and blasphemy against God. By lowliness, He abolished ambition
from which are engendered madness, envy and murder. By poverty, He abolished
greed from which come stealing, deciet, lying, and treachery against God.”
(Mastrantonis 35)</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin: 16px 0px;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; margin: 0px;">This is only a section of Jeremias’s larger discussion on the work of
Christ. According to Jeremias, the salvific work of Christ was to fix human
nature by living and dying properly as a human. Through his incarnation, life,
death, and resurrection, the Logos overcame sin and death in the human person.
To clarify the distinction: the West has an emphasis on the death of Christ not
shared by the East, and the East has an emphasis on the incarnation of Christ
not shared by the West.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin: 16px 0px;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; margin: 0px;"><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>The concern in the West
was how to attain the merit of Christ by having His condemnation cancel out
one’s own condemnation. From this, the Catholics developed the idea of a
treasury of merit to which the Church had access. If a Christian does a certain
act of penance for a post-baptism sin, the Church can bestow merit on the
individual and release that person from penalty for sin. The Lutherans argued
that Christ’s merit is fully accessible by faith alone, “The Holy Scriptures
ascribe righteousness before God and everlasting salvation not to our virtues
and works, but alone to the superior merit of Christ, which we can acquire only
through faith.” Rather than attaining the merit of
Christ on account of His death, the concern in the East was how to grow in the
nature of the Second Adam on account of the incarnation. This renders the
Protestant Reformation as far less effective in addressing Eastern concerns
than Western concerns.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin: 16px 0px;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; margin: 0px;"><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>While arguing on the
topic of justification and good works, Jeremias emphasizes the link between salvation
and the incarnation, “the Logos of God, out of merciful compassion, has set us
free <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">by becoming man</i>.” This shows that when Jeremias speaks of “justification,” he hardly means
what the Lutherans do when they speak of it. As Jorgenson says, “The Orthodox
Christian has no way of relating immediately to the sharp cleavage between the
three levels of faith, to justification as a forensic non-imputation of sins,
and to the separateness between justification and sanctification.” On this topic, Jeremias and the Lutherans frequently spoke past each
other. For example, the Lutherans wrote, </span></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin: 16px 0px 16px 96px;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; margin: 0px;">it is a matter lacking merit
that our salvation be divided between us and Christ, as if we are able to
absolve our own sins together with God in such a manner that a part of the
achievement of the Mediator Christ would be attributed to us, also, and that it
might happen to be said that we would in some way also be saviors, which would
be an extreme absurdity.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin: 16px 0px;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; margin: 0px;">The book <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Orthodoxy and Catholicity </i>explains
the disconnect between this Western way of thinking and that of the Orthodox:</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin: 16px 0px 16px 96px;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; margin: 0px;">In Christ, our will is
active, but in a redeemed, new manner; it does not only “receive,” it acts, but
not in order to fulfil a “requirement” which would have been left unfulfilled
by God; our will acts in Christ in order to fulfil in itself the image of the
Creator which was obscured by the fall but which has been restored in Jesus- in
its former beauty.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin: 16px 0px;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; margin: 0px;">It is from this framework that Jeremias reasons for the necessity of human
effort in his third response. Man was made in the image of God, with the
potential for attaining His likeness, for Genesis never mentions the completion
of the likeness. By definition, Jeremias understands attaining the likeness of
God (deification) to be salvation. If, Jeremias argues, it were not necessary
for us to participate in attaining the likeness, then why did God not grant it
to us at creation as He granted the image? Jeremias argues that the attaining
the likeness of God demands our participation by its very nature. Both the Lutherans and Jeremias argue brilliantly, but they fail to
address each other’s arguments, as they were working from different theological
foundations. This shows one aspect of why the Protestant Reformation was not
compatible with the East: the Protestant ideas could only be constructed well
if they were built upon a Western foundation.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin: 16px 0px;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; margin: 0px;"><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>The Protestant
Reformation had less to complain about when it reached the Orthodox. The
Lutherans expressed great joy at this, saying, “We are very glad indeed (how
think you?) that between Your Holiness and us there is agreement on many of the
subjects in question.” Jeremias felt they had enough in
common that the Lutherans did not have many obstacles preventing conversion,
“since we have agreed on almost all of the main subjects, it is not necessary
for you to interpret and understand some of the passages of the Scripture in
any other way than that in which the luminaries of the Church and Ecumenical
Teachers have interpreted.” The fact that many Protestant
complaints against the Catholic Church could not apply as easily to the
Orthodox Church prevented the Orthodox from feeling the necessity of a
Protestant Reformation. While some of the Protestant arguments were aimed at
Orthodox positions, which were shared by the Catholics on a surface level, many
of these arguments missed the Orthodox theological foundations on which these
positions are built. These two things considered, the Protestant Reformation
did not stop at the Eastern borders by coincidence, but because it was less
applicable in matters of faith and Practice.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;"><br clear="all" style="mso-special-character: line-break; page-break-before: always;" />
</span><br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13px;">
</div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: 200%; margin: 16px 0px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; margin: 0px;">Works Cited</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin: 16px 0px;">
<i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; margin: 0px;">The Augsburg Confession</span></i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; margin: 0px;">. Champaign, Ill: Project Gutenberg, n.d. <i>eBook
Collection <span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>(EBSCOhost)</i>. Web.
5 May 2015.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin: 16px 0px;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; margin: 0px;">Jorgenson, Wayne James. "The Augustana Graeca and the Correspondence
Between the <span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Tuebingen Lutherans and
Patriarch Jeremias: Scripture and Tradition in Theological <span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Methodology.” ProQuest, UMI Dissertations
Publishing, 1979.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin: 16px 0px;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; margin: 0px;">Mastrantonis, George. <i>Augsburg and Constantinople: The
Correspondence between the <span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Tubingen
Theologians and Patriarch Jeremiah II of Constantinople on the Augsburg <span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Confession</i>. Brookline, MA: Holy Cross
Orthodox, 1982. Print.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin: 16px 0px;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; margin: 0px;">Meyendorff, John. <i>Orthodoxy and Catholicity</i>. New York: Sheed
& Ward, 1966. Print.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin: 16px 0px;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; margin: 0px;"><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Shaffern, Robert
W. <i>The Penitents' Treasury: Indulgences in Latin Christendom, 1175-<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>1375</i>. Scranton: U of Scranton, 2007.
Print.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin: 16px 0px;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; margin: 0px;">Reu, Johann Michael. <i>The Confutatio Pontificia</i>. Champaign,
IL: Project Gutenberg, n.d. <i>eBook <span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Collection
(EBSCOhost)</i>. Web. 5 May 2015.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin: 16px 0px;">
<i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; margin: 0px;">The Thirty Nine Articles of Religion</span></i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; margin: 0px;">. Dublin: Printed by Andrew Crooke, 1715. Web. <span style="margin: 0px;"> </span><http://www.cofec.org/The%2039%20Articles%20of%20Religion.pdf>.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin: 16px 0px;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; margin: 0px;">Ware, Timothy. <i>The Orthodox Church</i>. New York: Penguin, 1997.
Print.</span></div>
Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11106829581971579567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7633220210835005133.post-74590276150729320622016-07-12T07:37:00.000-07:002016-07-12T07:37:29.662-07:00"If His Grace Abandoned Me, I’d Be Just Another Bum"<div class="MsoNormal">
“My child, I’m just a human being. I pray to
Christ and he replies. If His grace abandoned me, I’d be just
another bum on the streets of Omonia” (Omonia Square in Athens, known
at that time for being populated by drug addicts, prostitutes, and thieves.) –
Elder Paisios<o:p></o:p></div>
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It is St. Paisios’s feast day again, and I was motivated to
do another blog post on him. I read the above quote while ago. I thought it was interesting at first, but
later I was struck by how profoundly true it is. St. Paisios had pretty much
zero success by the world’s standards. As a monk, he lived in voluntary poverty
and never had a family. He was never even ordained into the priesthood. I am
pretty sure he never went to college. He had missing teeth and eventually died
of a very painful disease. There are very few pictures and recordings of him
throughout his life. He hardly had any sort of official job, sometimes
supporting himself by gardening and selling carvings he made. So, on the surface
level, he basically amounted to a bum. Yet, thousands of people went to his funeral and he had the second fastest canonization to sainthood in the recent
history of the Orthodox Church.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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I have done some thinking on nostalgia recently. I think I
actually have an idea of what it is. You look back on your life and you see the
story of a human soul. It is incredibly beautiful seeing this human soul which
is you. It is truly precious. You might also feel sad. You look at your life
now and what you have accomplished. You wonder if the life you are living and
what you have accomplished is worthy of the value of your soul which you just
recognized. Your soul has gone through so much in life, but what for? There
might be a little despair in recognizing that the life you lived is not worthy
of the precious value of your soul.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Christ is the bridegroom to our souls. Christianity says
that at the end of time there will be a great wedding feast for Christ and His
Church. Then, we will truly live happily ever after. Without Christ, the soul is
in a dark place. With Christ, the beauty of the soul is fulfilled. I have found
a bit of a cure for nostalgia by reading the lives of people like St. Paisios.
Reading about people with such a close connection with Christ gives me a foretaste
of the wedding feast.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I remember visiting a wealthy family friend many years
ago. He had a stunning wife who had recently given birth to a beautiful baby.
He had a really nice house, a nice car, and an awesome gaming computer. He was
good looking and socially charismatic. I imagine he had a prestigious job as well. I thought, “Man, if I could just be like this guy, I
will have made it.” I believed that all these things would fulfill the value of
my soul. But now I know that even if I could have all of those things it would
be hopeless without Christ. Ironically, it is a would-be bum who has shown me this hope.<o:p></o:p></div>
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To those who do not know, I always recommend the book <i>The Gurus, the Young Man, and Elder Paisios</i>.<o:p></o:p></div>
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A blessed feast day to everyone!<o:p></o:p></div>
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Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11106829581971579567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7633220210835005133.post-12756609792929716842015-07-12T14:16:00.000-07:002016-09-21T15:10:52.056-07:00Book Review: The Gurus, The Young Man, And Elder Paisios<div class="MsoNormal">
I said
in my first blog article that, since investing myself in the Orthodox Church, I
have become as excited about reading as when I first invested in Christianity.
Those first readings, years ago, included the Scriptures, C.S. Lewis, and material
from my Catholic High School. By this time, I have read
several Orthodox books, and have recently finished what I consider the best of
them I have read next to Holy Scripture. I felt that this was something I
should share at some point, so this July 12, 2015, the first annual feast day
of the recently canonized Saint Paisios, I decided it is time to write a review
of <i>The Gurus, The Young Man, and Elder
Paisios</i>.<o:p></o:p></div>
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C.S.
Lewis pointed out that much of society is looking for the "new man." Many look
for it as the next stage of human evolution (like X-Men), or as a result of
technological advancement (such as the recent movie, <i>Chappie</i>). Christians claim the new man is already here; he came with Christ. This was the reason the Word took on human nature through the Incarnation,
in order to make a renewed humanity. There are already people who have been born and grown to maturity into
the nature of the Second Adam, walking among us about the Earth. As recorded in
Acts, the Apostles started to become like Christ. The woman with the blood
condition touched the hem of Christ’s cloak as He walked by, and received
healing. In a similar way, people touched Saint Paul with rags, and these rags
were brought to the sick in order to heal them. Even Saint Peter’s shadow
healed those whom he passed over. These saints exhibited an unearthly Christ-like love and unity with the Holy Spirit. Such people have advanced God’s Kingdom of
love, healing, truth, and communion with God throughout the centuries. While I
have been reading of the modern saints, such as St. John of San Francisco, or
St. Paisios, I recall the exclamations of the Roheryns when they hear the story
of the fellowship of the ring in <i>The Two
Towers</i>- something along the lines of, “We have heard about such things in tales of
old. They seemed so distant, and we wondered if they were even true. To hear
and see such happenings in our time is truly strange!”<o:p></o:p></div>
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The
book is a memoir by an author writing under a pseudonym. He is a Greek who
grew up with the view that the Church and Christianity were superstitious and
powerless. At the beginning of his story, he starts getting involved in
psychological and spiritual exercises such as yoga and hypnotism. Frightening
phenomenon start to occur and his life begins to fall apart in general. By a spontaneous
decision, he and his friend take a trip to Mount Athos, a monastic area that is
one of the holiest sites in Orthodox Christianity. There, he has a miraculous
encounter with Elder Paisios. On this mountain, much of the theology of Orthodoxy,
and true Christianity, comes to life through experience. Theology in Western
Christianity has been conceived as a sort of science. A western theologian is a
well-educated man who can argue about Scripture by using the arts of literary
criticism, history, philosophy, etc. The author of this book discusses the
scriptures and theological concepts as he encounters the Grace of the Holy
Spirit on Mount Athos, and in Saint Paisios, who lives true Christian theology
to its fullest. The miracles and supernatural experiences are not arbitrary phenomenon
separate from the theological concepts, but a natural manifestation of
theology. For a Scriptural example, the Lazarus incident was not just a random event to show the power of Christ, it was a foretaste of the Resurrection. The healings of Christ are a foretaste of the World to come, when Christ fully heals the cosmos. Theology must always be an encounter with God, and that is what I
found in this book. Having just graduated with a religion degree from Baylor
University, I have read the best of non-Orthodox Christian material, some of it being pretty good. But none of that comes near to what I read here. It
granted me confidence in Orthodoxy Christianity, as I found myself asking, “If this is not the truth of religion, then what could the truth possibly look like? How could it be more profound or reasonable than this?”<o:p></o:p></div>
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These
encounters with the saint and other things on the holy mountain force the young
man to recognize the value of the Christian
faith. Yet, his overly reserved and skeptical nature is strong enough to make
him want to give a fair chance to other spiritual teachers. Thanks to his
research, and even experiences in the occult, he knows that there are people other
than Christians who have spiritual power in the world. To find a possible alternative, he decides to go to
India to find the greatest spiritual gurus he can. He even ends up in something of a Satanic counterpart to Mount Athos, where he says everything he knew from witchcraft, paganism, yoga, hypnotism, and more is
culminated in its ultimate manifestation. The gurus he encounters do indeed
have spiritual abilities, but nothing to the extent that the Elder has (not much different from comparing the pagan priests and sorcerers to the Apostles). They also lack love (though they sometimes have politeness), whereas the Elder radiated Christ-like love that was immeasurable in magnitude and universal
in scope. The young man is in extreme danger, both physical and spiritual, and
manages to escape the spiritual centers of India by the skin of his chin, much
to the thanks of the prayers of his friend, the Elder. He then attempts, and
eventually succeeds in, living as a Christian.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The
author is quite the philosopher, and he records his thought process that he
had during his experiences, as well as reflections after the fact. I took great
pleasure in following his reasoning. This, combined with the incredible
experiences he records, make this book an essential read for any person who is at least open to the possibility of the Christian faith being true. The book also serves as a reminder for those trying to live as Christians. Paul said to "Imitate me as I imitate Christ." We are all called to be Saints, and this book provides great encouragement by giving a modern example.<br />
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Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11106829581971579567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7633220210835005133.post-18755640680067979872014-12-23T12:56:00.000-08:002017-02-06T08:33:20.876-08:00Interesting Things I've Learned in CollegeThere have been many moments during my studies where I've gone "Wow, that's really neat! People should know this!" Even though many of these are not officially connected to my career, it's nice to know a little bit more about the world. Here is a list of random things I learned that make me thankful for my college education. Some of you might be thinking, "I learned this stuff in middle school!" You know what? Give yourself a cookie. Hopefully, I will be able to update this post at graduation.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<i>Intro to Mass Communication</i></div>
<div>
One thing I learned in this course is that filmmakers try to use Freudian psychology to make you subconsciously think of adult subject material through the use of symbols. Many doubt that Freud's theories are accurate, but that doesn't stop producers from trying to use objects like fruit, flowers, and trees to bypass the superego and indulge the id. Notice anything peculiar in this scene from <i>Elf</i>?</div>
<div>
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5zcnUl9Qy0</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<i>Wildlife Ecology</i></div>
<div>
While there is nothing wrong with eating meat, this course taught me the problem of its over-consumption. In short, if we stop feeding so much to our livestock, we can feed the world. Energy is lost when it is transferred from plants to livestock, so it takes much more land to sustain the same amount of food if it is meat rather than produce. There is physically not enough land on planet Earth to support the world's human population on the meat-heavy American diet. The unnatural and insatiable demand for meat has led to the clearance of much natural land, resulting in decreased biodiversity. This means that the great variety of animal species found in God's creation is being destroyed and replaced with cattle. Also, the great variety of plant species is being destroyed and replaced with plants that cattle can eat. The virtue of temperance and the sin of gluttony are more than internally consequential.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<i>Descriptive Astronomy</i></div>
<div>
The Sun is not just a ball of burning gas, it's a battle ground between nuclear fusion and gravity. The gravity of the great amount of matter in a star causes so much pressure at the core that atoms can unite, and nuclear fusion occurs. Gravity pulls inward, while the nuclear reaction presses outward. When the star starts to run out of fuel [atoms], gravity wins out and the star collapses. There are several possibilities after this, such as a black hole. Or, the new element that the original nuclear reaction created might start another nuclear reaction and create a new outward force to balance out against gravity. Sometimes, the new nuclear reaction overpowers the force of gravity and the star explodes. If the balance is right, the star may continue the cycle of producing different elements. So stars can sort of be described as element factories. The universe actually started out with just Hydrogen, but this life cycle of stars has produced the periodic table of elements we have today.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Another cool thing I learned in this class: the effects of gravity travel the speed of light. So, if the Sun disappeared, the Earth would continue to orbit around where the Sun was for about 8 minutes.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<i>World Oceans</i></div>
<div>
When the professor stated that she was about to explain how the ocean's currents work, my ears pricked up. It was indeed interesting, and pretty simple as well. Imagine that you have 2 trays of water. If you move one tray faster than the other, that tray will spill more water. This is because matter at rest is prone to stay at rest, even if what's under it is moving. When the Earth rotates towards the East, the water trying to stay in place is pressured towards the West. The Earth's surface moves faster around the Equator than around the Poles, since more distance is covered with the same amount of rotation. Because of this, the water towards the equator has greater pressure to move West. On the Western end of the Atlantic Ocean, there is more pressure around the Equator than away from it, so water moves North and south from the Equator. On the Eastern end of the Atlantic Ocean, there is less pressure around the Equator, so water moves in from the North and South to fill in where the water is moving West. This creates what is called the Coriolis Effect. Here's an illustration: </div>
<div>
http://science.kennesaw.edu/~jdirnber/oceanography/LecuturesOceanogr/LecCurrents/0902.jpg</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<i>World History Since 1500</i></div>
<div>
One figure in history that I didn't know much about until college is Mao, the ruler of China for much of the 20th Century. He was considered the leader of the "Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution." The revolution seemed to benefit the poor initially with the distribution of resources. However, as usual with communist regimes, it did not take long for things to spiral out of control. One manifestation of this was the Red Guard, a group of politically active students who supported the revolution. When Mao showed support for them, many Red Guard movements popped up and caused chaos. Anything seen as a luxury was destroyed as bourgeois contamination. Some youths in the Red Guard also took advantage of the situation to attack the elders who formerly controlled them. Some people got the Red Guard to do dirty personal work for them, as long as the victims could be accused of anti-revolutionary activity. Eventually, revolutionary factions popped up around China and fought each other for power. Mao stated that this was a good thing, without picking a side. Thus, both factions declared their fight to be a legitimate cause of the revolution. All this chaos helped keep Mao in power, so he kept the chaos going. Anyone who criticized the Red Guard, or the factional fighting, was accused of criticizing the revolution. A criticism of the revolution was a criticism of Mao, a treason worthy of death. Many people did not really believe in the revolution, but everyone labeled it as their cause in order to justify their means of attaining and keeping power. Thus, Mao created a society that systematically condemned honesty and rewarded violent dishonesty. He was one bad dude.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<i>Archaeology & the Bible</i></div>
<div>
This was definitely one of my favorite classes. We started off by studying Egyptian records, which documented their own contact with Semitic peoples, and went on to study the remains of ancient Israel. Some interesting examples are from the reign of King Hezekiah. Archaeologists have discovered coins with his insignia, which is a winged scarab beetle. They also found an ancient wonder: a great underground tunnel which was to provide Jerusalem with water during the anticipated Assyrian siege under Sennacherib. Hezekiah's tunnel is actually referenced in the Bible (2 Kings 20:20), so it's a neat connection between the textual and physical records.</div>
Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11106829581971579567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7633220210835005133.post-75497914596045429562014-06-21T19:32:00.000-07:002019-01-24T12:36:58.347-08:00The Dark HorseAs many of my friends know, there have been some interesting developments in my faith life recently, and some of you might be curious to know how things are working out. In short, after years as a Baptist, I decided to join the Anglican Church. I am now finding in the Orthodox Church what I was looking for in Anglicanism, and fully intend on joining it. Now for the long version...<br />
<br />
As a Baptist, I found a few positive things in my denomination which I could take comfort in. While learning about Church history, even from my Catholic high school, I learned that infant baptism was avoided during a certain period in the early church. Baptists distinguished themselves in history by championing freedom of conscience and not slaughtering other Christians during the Medieval period.<br />
<br />
However, there is one issue in particular which was difficult for me to reconcile with the Baptists. Baylor would often send out emails to Religion majors, offering internships and volunteer opportunities at Baptist churches. Whenever I would check out a church's statement of beliefs, it would nearly always include a doctrine of Biblical inerrrancy regarding not only theology, but history and science. It seems to me that some parts of Scripture are intended to be more like an icon than a photograph. As such, I saw a bleak future in attempting to be a Baptist minister. Statements I have heard about Scripture that I agree with are that it is truth with a capital T, and that it is inerrant in what it <i>teaches</i>.<br />
<br />
The church of my childhood is Anglican, I was already confirmed in it, and some of my favorite Christian thinkers are Anglican. After visiting my old church a few times, I found that I loved the liturgy. None of the beliefs I held would cause the Anglican Church to turn me away from ministry. Anglicanism also had a Church structure that I considered to have a historical legitimacy, while excluding certain Roman Catholic doctrines which I held to be later, illegitimate additions (I will probably elaborate on this in a future post). After a year or so of thought and prayer, I decided to turn Anglican.<br />
<br />
After seriously committing to the Anglican Church, it did not take long for me to encounter the heavy liberalism. On an official level, the Episcopalian Church is pro choice, denies that homosexual acts are sinful, and embraces ordination of women. While attending a few services composed mostly of people who embraced these views, I rejected that this is how the Church is supposed to look. I hate making statements without backing them up with reasoning, but I want to keep things somewhat concise in this post. In short, these stances destroyed the historical legitimacy I had given the Anglican Church credit for. As the title of this blog suggests, I don't believe in fresh truth. I also reject doctrines 13 and 17 of the Anglican "Articles of Religion," meaning I could not even appeal to old Anglicanism for relief.<br />
<br />
I have often been curious about the Orthodox Church, but mostly uninformed about it. A few months ago, I went to an interdenominational debate, and was surprisingly drawn to what the Orthodox priest said. The more I researched them, the more I liked them. In short, they have a historical legitimacy that Protestants lack, and lack many of the Roman Catholic doctrines that I believe to be illegitimate additions. I find all of their doctrines reasonable and pleasant to meditate on. I have learned Church history from my Catholic High School, as well as my Baptist University. Learning about Church history from an Eastern perspective makes me consider my former education to be seriously lacking. I also haven't felt this excited about reading since I first started reading the gospels.<br />
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Something that gave me great distress as a Protestant is that any Protestant needs to pretty much accept that he or she is wrong in some important area of doctrine. I could never even fully agree with the denominations I was part of. In a temporal sense, I was left to my own devices to discover truth. Considering all of the Christians who have a range of disagreeing doctrines and have a greater spiritual and intellectual life than myself, it seemed impossible that I could find the full truth as to what God intends for Christians to believe, and how He intends for me to live as a Christian. This led to some of the most deeply felt prayers in my life, as I asked God to guide me in the truth, whatever it was. This was a great concern because I believed that if there is a true set of doctrines that God intends for Christians to live by, then it must be somehow accessible. If it is accessible, then it is my duty to access it. I was in a dilemma, since I do not accept Papal authority, and since Protestantism makes the true holistic set of doctrines inaccessible by its divisive nature. The idea that I might actually be in a Church which contains entirely correct doctrines and functions properly at a basic level is very exciting as I look to Orthodoxy.<br />
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To provide an image for the aspect of my life that I just discussed, it's as if I was hiking up a misty mountain (bear with me, I've been watching Lord of the Rings). I knew I was on the right mountain, but had trouble reaching the peak due to hindered visibility. On occasion, it appeared that I may have reached the peak, but thanks to the mist, I could not see if there wasn't a higher point. After much travel, I finally see a clearing and breach the firmament above the mist. I see what appears to be the peak before me, and pick up my pace. I reach it, stepping on the very highest point. I look around in every direction and see nothing other than this peak breaching through the mist and clouds.Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11106829581971579567noreply@blogger.com2