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A
Aquinas, Thomas
(1225-1274) [1]
Distinguished medieval theologian and philosopher
Born in the town of Aquino (Italy), about 80 miles southeast of Rome,
Aquinas had a large physique, which earned him the nickname “dumb ox.” His
combination of theological learning and Christian devotion, however, later
earned him the label “angelic doctor.” Educated at the Universities of
Naples, Paris, and Cologne, he belonged to the Dominican order of Preachers.
He taught in Paris, Rome, and elsewhere, and provided the Dominicans with
both theological and organizational leadership. The traditional theologians
of his day so distrusted his use of Aristotelian philosophy that some of his
teachings were condemned by the church for about fifty years. But his cause
soon became that of the whole Dominican order, with the result that they
adopted his theology (known as “Thomism”), whereas the Franciscans followed
instead the teachings of Bonaventure and Duns Scotus.
Athanasius (c.
295-373) [1]
Bishop of Alexandria (Egypt)
Athanasius was born in Alexandria and was trained there as a theologian. He
moved up rapidly as reader, deacon, and theological adviser for Bishop
Alexander, accompanying him in 325 to the Council of Nicaea (near
Constantinople, now Istanbul in modern Turkey). Athanasius succeeded
Alexander as bishop upon Alexander’s death in 328. As Arianism’s greatest
opponent, Athanasius emphasized redemption and the necessity of the
Incarnation of the Word (Christ) for man’s salvation (Oration on the
Incarnation of the Word). He taught that it was necessary for the Word to be
as eternal as God if he was to form the divine image in man. In addition to
contributing to the defeat of Arianism, Athanasius helped shape the
Christian monasticism. He brought monasticism out of isolation in Egypt with
his book, The Life of Antony. Athanasius knew the desert hermit monk
personally and through his writing made the pattern of Antony’s life the
ideal in the East. The Life of Antony also had an impact on many in the
West.
Athenagoras
(second century) [1]
Christian philosopher from Athens who allegedly became a Christian while
reading the Scriptures in order to argue against them
Athenagoras wrote an Apology (177) defending Christians to the Roman
emperors Marcus Aurelius (ruled 161-180) and Commodus (ruled 180-192). In it
he refuted three charges brought against Christians: that Christians were
atheists, that they practiced incestuous immorality, and that they ate human
flesh as a part of their ritual.
Athenagoras also wrote a pamphlet, On the Resurrection of the Body. His
first argument for bodily resurrection was that if one believed God created
all that is, then there was no reason to think that God could not reunite
body and soul. His second argument was that God created man, body and soul,
or a purpose; that purpose could be fulfilled only if body and soul were
made to exist together after death.
Augustine of Hippo,
(354-430) [1]
Greatest of the Latin church fathers.
Augustine was bishop of Hippo Regius, a town on the North African coast in
the roman province of Numidia. His impact is still felt both in western
churches and in western culture. More is known about Augustine than any
other figure in the early church because of his Confessions (397-401) and
Retractions (426-427). He was born in the small town of Tagaste in Numidia,
the son of a pagan father, Patricius, and a Christian mother, Monica. With
great personal sacrifice both parents sought the best Roman education for
their gifted son as a key to his advancement from their small African town.
Augustine studied first at Madaura and then received training in rhetoric at
Carthage (375), which prepared him to “dress his words in style.”
At Carthage Augustine abandoned the faith of his mother and followed immoral
practices of his fellow students. In 372 he took a mistress who remained
with him for about thirteen years and bore him a son, Adeodatus (who died
around 390). Reading Cicero’s Hortensius (now lost), Augustine was stirred
to a religious quest for wisdom through philosophy. His quest took him to
the Manichaen sect with which he remained as a “hearer” for nine years.
During Augustine’s brief stay in Rome he turned to the writings of the
Skeptics (Academics) who said that knowledge was not possible.
Augustine attended the preaching of Bishop Ambrose in order to hear his
eloquence and Ambrose’s allegorical preaching began to remove the problems
raised by the Manachaeans. At that time Augustine was in the midst of a
moral struggle: he had sent his mistress back to Africa and was waiting for
his mother to arrange a proper marriage to a wealthy family. In a sudden
moral conversion he abandoned his teaching position and all desire for an
advantageous marriage. He withdrew with some close friends, relatives, and
his mother to a friend’s villa at Cassiciacum to pursue truth. Augustine
received baptism from Ambrose on Easter of 387, and in 388 returned to North
Africa after the death of his mother, Monica.
The measure of Augustine’s importance goes beyond the rare title, “Doctor of
the Church,” given to him in the Middle Ages. He was the first to give a
self-examination before God in the form of his Confessions and thus give the
church a biblical understanding of a man’s life under the grace of God. He
was the first to give a biblical view of history, time, and the state in his
City of God. He established the doctrine of the church in his anti-Donatist
writings, a view that prevailed in the church for centuries. He gave the
Western church a clear statement concerning the person of Christ, which was
later established as doctrine by Leo. He made the grace of God in the gospel
the theme of theology in the West. |
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B
Barth, Karl
(1886-1968) [1]
Swiss theologian; one of the most influential Protestant leaders of the
twentieth century.
Barth was born in Basel and was the son of Fritz and Anna Sartorius Barth.
His father was a pastor and professor of New Testament and church history in
a school related to the Swiss Reformed Church. In 1913 Barth married Nelly
Hoffmann, and they eventually had five sons, one of whom, Markus, became
internationally known for biblical and theological scholarship. Barth
received his early schooling in Bern, where he showed an interest in
military affairs, history, and drama. Following European custom, he studied
at several universities: Bern, Berlin, Tubingen, and Marburg. [After
starting at Berlin] to honor his father’s wishes, Barth then went to
Tubingen to study with a conservative New Testament theologian, Adolf
Schlatter. Finally, in 1908, Barth went to Marburg.
Barth was ordained in the Swiss Reformed Church in 1909. He served one
pastorate for two years in Geneva, and a second for ten years in the small
town of Safenwil (canton Aargau). In August 1914 the Western world was on
the edge of total war, with Barth’s respected teachers supporting their
nation’s military aims. Barth saw this as a failure of German liberal
theology to answer crucial modern questions. Turning to a fresh study of the
Bible, Barth and Thurneysen [his close friend] found a whole new world. That
new world was the “word of God” within the Bible that explains how God,
solely in grace, seeks to redeem humankind.
Barth gradually refined his thought, developing a total theological system.
In it he emphasized God’s holiness, his incomprehensibility to the human
mind, and his sovereign grace. Barth’s early expressions of his “new
orthodoxy” were strongly influenced by Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard
(1813-1855) and Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoyevski (1821-1881), as well as
by a rediscovery of the Reformation emphasis on God’s grace.
Barth’s greatest influence was theological, with its emphasis on God’s
sovereignty placing him firmly in the Reformed (Calvinistic) tradition. He
differed radically from the mainstream of continental European theology,
rejecting both its subjective emphasis on religious experience and the
prevalent idea that Christian doctrine is subject to, or limited by its
historical origins.
Three major themes characterize Barthian theology. First, Barth saw no
justification for the idea of “natural theology”. To Barth, people are
innately sinful and unable to receive or comprehend God’s message apart from
his redeeming grace. People will come to God only through faint in God’s
self-revelation. A second focus of Barth’s theology was the way God makes
his revelation known. Because Barth accepted certain higher critical views
of Scripture, he refused to equate the words of the Bible and God’s inspired
Word. Inspiration, for Barth, had more to do with the Bible reader than with
either the Bible itself or its writers. The words of the Bible convey the
Word of God as the Holy Spirit speaks through them to the reader. Perhaps
more than any other aspect of Barth’s theology, his doctrine of Scripture
created serious misgivings among many evangelical theologians. Third,
following Calvin, Barth insisted that true knowledge of God comes in
obedience to God. Barth’s approach to theology was Christ centered. Jesus’
devotion to doing God’s will and his call to discipleship provided the model
of obedient service.
Brunner, Heinrich
(1889-1966) [1]
Swiss Reformed theologian: often considered with Karl Barth as a leader of
the movement known as “neo-orthodoxy” or “dialectical theology”
Bruner was reared in the Reformed tradition by devout parents. In his youth
he encountered the religious socialist movement, which gave him one set of
roots for a dialectical method in theology. Trained in liberal theology in
the Universities of Zurich and Berlin, Brunner was ordained in 1912. After
an eight-year pastorate in Obstalden (Switzerland), interrupted by a year
study at New York’s Union Theological Seminary and a term of teaching In
England, he taught systematic and practical theology at the University of
Zurich (1924-1953). During his long career he lectured frequently in
America.
In the 1920’s Brunner’s thinking paralleled that of a small but influential
group of theologians including Karl Barth, Friedrich Gogarten, and Rudolph
Bultmann. Their reevaluation of nineteenth-century liberal theology led them
to develop a dialectical form of doctrine. For Brunner, theology was the
task of interpreting the “personal correspondence” between God and humankind
revealed in the Bible.
To Brunner, human beings are responsible creatures. Although made by God to
respond to him in faith and love, they actually rebel against God because of
sin. In revelation God personally makes himself known to his creation. What
distinguishes the Christian, according to Brunner, is not mere knowledge of
God (making God an object instead of the subject of revelation) nor
absorption into union with God, but communion with God. Although Brunner was
never as popular a theologian a Karl Barth, his writings were actually
better known.
Bushnell, Horace
(1802-1876) [1]
American religious writer who became an important link between the orthodox
Christianity of the Puritans and the liberal Christianity of
twentieth-century modernism
Bushnell, a Connecticut resident all his life, attended Yale College and
studied law before a conversion experience led him to enter Yale Divinity
School. He accepted the pastorate of the North Congregational church in
Hartford in 1833, where he remained until ill health forced him to retire in
1859.
Bushnell’s place in American theological history is marked out by his four
most controversial books; Christian Nurture, Dissertation on Language
(prefaced to God in Christ), Nature and the Supernatural, and Vicarious
Sacrifice. Bushnell’s guides in theology were the German theologian
Friedrich Schleiermacher and the English poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge. [His]
extensive moderation of traditional Calvinism met the desires of many of his
contemporaries for a new religious orientation. [He] did not completely
forsake his theological heritage, but he made the way easier for others who
later would. |
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C
Calvin, John
(1509-1564) [1]
French Protestant reformer; generally regarded as second in importance only
to Martin Luther as a key figure in the Protestant Reformation
Calvin has been called “the organizer of Protestantism” because in his
pastoral work of organizing evangelical churches in Strassburg and Geneva
[Switzerland], he developed an adaptable model of church government. In the
sixteenth century new social institutions emerged to replace the
deteriorating ones that had once held medieval civilization together; many
of the new institutions were influenced by Calvin’s model.
Calvin was born in northwestern France, twenty-five years after the birth of
Martin Luther. His actual name, Jean Cauvin, became “Calvin” years later
when as a scholar he adopted the Latin form (Calvinus). His birthplace,
Noyon, was an old and important center of the Roman Catholic Church in
northern Europe. From a middle-class status Calvin’s father, Gerard, after
serving the church in various offices, had risen to become the bishop’s
secretary. As a result, young Calvin was closely tied to church affairs from
the beginning.
To enable his son to advance to a position of ecclesiastical importance,
Calvin’s father saw to it that he received the best possible education. At
age fourteen Calvin was enrolled in the University of Paris, the
intellectual center of Western Europe. Although Calvin pursued a career in
theology, for several reasons his life took an unexpected turn. First, the
new learning of the Renaissance (humanism) was waging a successful battle
against scholasticism, the old Catholic theology of the late Middle Ages.
Second, a strong movement for reform in the church had been flourishing in
Paris not far from the university. Third, Luther’s writings and ideas had
circulated in Paris for some time, causing a moderate stir. Finally,
Calvin’s father had a falling-out with the church officials in Noyon,
including the bishop. Thus in 1528, just as Calvin had completed his Master
of Arts degree, his father sent word for him to leave theology and study
law. After about three years of study he earned a doctorate in law and his
law license.
Little is known about Calvin’s conversion except that it occurred between
1532 and early 1534, when his first religious work was published. When the
French king, Francis I (reigned 1515-1547), decided that persecution was the
solution to the Protestant problem, Calvin realized it was no longer safe to
live in Paris or anywhere else in France. For the rest of his life,
therefore, he was a refugee.
In Basel (Switzerland) early in 1536 Calvin published the first edition of
his Institutes of the Christian Religion. The work, which underwent several
revisions before its final exhaustive edition in 1559, was without question
one of the most influential handbooks on theology ever written. Its
publication marked Calvin as a leading mind of Protestantism and kept him
from pursuing the quiet scholarly life he had hoped for. As he described it,
“God thrust me into the fray.”
In spite of his powerful influence on European affairs, Calvin has rarely
been treated sympathetically by historians. Except among his followers, he
has been portrayed as a cold, unfeeling, and calculating man, who imposed
his stern will on a helpless or cowed people. He is seen as the proponent of
an austere and joyless religion of fear and constraint, and of a vengeful
and arbitrary omnipotent God who treats human beings as puppets, demanding
of them servile obedience, yet severely punishing the slightest deviation
from his strict moral code. Such a legalistic and negativistic religion,
popularly attributed to Calvin, is a ridiculous caricature that recent
scholarship has only begun to correct.
Calvin regarded himself as primarily a pastor and theologian. Spending
almost all of his productive years as a refugee and a foreigner in the
Genevan republic, he was accorded citizenship only five years before his
death, and then only after he appeared to be dying. Because his opinions
were highly regarded, his political views were influential, but he never
held political office. His cultural impact was not that of an autocrat, but
of a persuasive thinker who sought to apply biblical principles to every
area of life. In contrast to the caricature, then, there is probably more
truth to the conviction of the nineteenth-century French historian Joseph
Renen (who was no Reformed enthusiast) that Calvin was “the most Christian
man of his time.”
Clement of Alexandria,
(c. 155-220) [1]
First Christian writer to show extensive knowledge of pagan and Christian
writings
Titus Flavius Clement was probably born in Athens of pagan parents and
became a Christian through his study of philosophy. After traveling to the
centers of learning in the Greek-speaking East, he joined Pantaenus’s school
in Alexandria. Pantaenus impressed Clement by his ability to interpret the
Scripture. The school which began with Pantaenus in 180 later became the
official church catechetical school of Alexandria under Origen. Clement
succeeded Pantaenus as head of the school circa 190.
During his years as a teacher in Alexandria (190-202) Clement wrote most of
his works. In them he followed Philo who had used Greek philosophy to
interpret the Old Testament. Clement adopted Philo’s allegorical method of
interpreting Scripture, often quoting Philo at length and using his thought.
Although the status of Clement as a church father was later called into
question, he was the forerunner and teacher of Origen, who exerted a primary
influence upon the theology of the East. Clement fled Alexandria during the
persecution under Roman emperor Septimius Severus about 202 and died in Asia
Minor.
Cyril of Jerusalem,
(c.310-386) [1]
Early Church father: bishop of Jerusalem
When the emperor Constantine’s Church of the Resurrection was dedicated in
Jerusalem (335), Cyril was present as a deacon to witness the event. The
Arian controversy, the fourth-century heretical teaching that Christ was
less than God, continued even after [the Council of] Nicaea, and Cyril’s
career was caught up in both the theology and the politics of that dispute.
In 343 Cyril was ordained priest by Maximus, the aging bishop of Jerusalem,
who had been persuaded earlier to join the Arian faction. Maximus later
recanted his Arian views and supported the orthodox champion Athanasius, who
insisted on Christ’s full divinity. For unrelated reasons, Cyril repudiated
his ordination. Acacius, Arian metropolitan (ranking bishop) of Caesarea,
consecrated Cyril bishop of Jerusalem in 348, following Maximus’s death.
During his early years as bishop, although he was orthodox in his views,
Cyril lived in peace with the Arian bishops and emperors. However, he was
exiled three times, (357, 360, and 367) for conflicts with the ruling
emperors. The Synod of Jerusalem (381-382) praised him as one “who had
fought a good fight” against the Arians. He placed emphasis on Christ’s
death and resurrection as the foundation of the Christian faith. He also
advocated the veneration of relics and the “holy places,” and he was one of
the first to teach that the bread and wine during Holy Communion changed
into the actual “body and blood” of Christ (a doctrine called
trans-substantiation). |
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G
Gregory of Nazianzus, (c. 330-389)
[1]
Cappadocian monk whose eloquent preaching and scholarly writing earned him
the title “the theologian”
Gregory was born at Arianzus near Nazianzus. His father, bishop of Nazianzus,
gave young Gregory a serious religious education. Gregory’s mother, Nonna,
who had guided her husband’s conversion, also had a great spiritual impact
on her son.
Gregory studied at Caesarea, Caesarea Philippi, Alexandria, and Athens.
During that period of time he cultivated a close friendship with Basil,
another student from Cappadocia. After teaching rhetoric in Athens for a
time. Gregory returned to Nazianzus in about 359. Though he wanted to become
a religious hermit, Gregory was persuaded by his father to accept ordination
as a church leader. Afterwards he repudiated that action and entered
monastic life with Basil.
During the next twenty years Gregory’s ascetic life was interrupted
intermittently with active church ministry. At the Council of Constantinople
(381), his theological disputations won him the bishopric of Constantinople.
Gregory refused the appointment.
Theologically, Gregory appears to have been strongly influenced by the early
third-century theologian Origen. Gregory defended the Nicene council’s view
of the Trinity and argued against the Apollinarian view that Christ’s
humanity was passive. He condemned the emperor Julian, who tried to exclude
Christians from higher learning and study of the classics.
Gregory of Nyssa
(330—c. 395) [1]
Cappadocian rhetorician and theologian; Bishop of Nyssa
Gregory, born at Caesarea in Cappadocia, was the younger brother of Basil
and Macrina (a sister), whom he called his “teachers.” He with Basil and
Gregory Nazianzus composed the “three Cappadocians” who powerfully
influenced the fourth-century Eastern church.
Gregory received a diverse classical education. Under the direction of his
domineering brother, he briefly served as a reader in church, but later
chose to teach rhetoric instead. Gregory of Nazianzus urged him to return to
Christian ministry. Basil, after asking Gregory to help him in his Caesarea
diocese, finally forced the vacant bishopric of Nyssa upon him (371).
Gregory’s enthusiastic anti-Arian stance drew opposition, and he was soon
ousted from that position by the emperor Valens (about 376). Following
Valens’s death (378) Gregory was recalled and commissioned to assist
churches in Arabia and Palestine. In the Council of Constantinople (381) he
defended the Nicene Creed.
Although often eclipsed by Basil’s brilliant career, Gregory was a
theological prodigy. He elaborated doctrines of resurrection, divine grace,
and Christology. He produced treaties on ascetic piety and mystic communion
with God. Some scholars believe that his early work On Virginity indicated
that he was married. |
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H
Herbert,
Edward, (1582-1648)
[1]
British historian and philosopher
Lord Herbert of Cherbury was the brother of the poet George Herbert and a
follower of John Donne. He is known as the father of English
deism.
Dismissing any claim to an infallible church, an authorative priesthood, or
a special revelation, Herbert based his thinking on certain eternal and
universal truths, “common notions” recognizable by all men, thanks to their
God-given faculties. These truths provide the essence of “natural religion”
and of “natural law,” and by them all religions and all alls should be
judged.
In religion, he lists five such “common notions”: (1) there is one supreme
God, (2) who ought to be worshiped; (3) virtue and piety are the principal
parts of worship, so (4) we should repent for our sins; and (5) God
administers rewards and punishments in both this world and the next.
Measured by this yardstick, Christianity seemed to Herbert to stand up best,
but its “superfluous” supernatural elements should be discarded.
Eighteenth-century deism followed the direction he began. |
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I
Irenaeus,
(fl. c. 175-195) [1]
Bishop of Lyons in southern France; one of the most important Christian
writers of the second century
Irenaeus grew up in Asia Minor under the preaching of the apostolic father
Polycarp and moved to southern France, becoming “elder” (presbyter) in
Lyons. When the aging bishop was martyred, Irenaeus succeeded him as bishop
in the West. In his primary work, Against Heresies, Irenaeus gave his
theology as statements of the Christian faith to refute the heresies of
Valentinus (the Gnostic) and Marcion. For Irenaeus the authority of “the
faith” is established through the direct line of elders in the church back
to the apostles. He was the first to state four Gospels as canon. To these
he also added a list of apostolic writings, quoting all as “Scripture” along
with the Old Testament.
Irenaeus was more Pauline than the apostolic fathers. He was also more
biblical and less philosophical than the Greek church fathers who came
later. Although a contemporary with the apologists and their work, Irenaeus
was the first to write as a theologian for the church. |
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J
Jerome,
(c. 345-c. 419) [1]
Latin Bible translator; biblical scholar
Born into wealth near Aquileia (Adriatic Sea’s northernmost point), Jerome
spent his youth acquiring broad education in Rome. No descriptions of his
conversion remain, but at about age twenty he underwent baptism. Soon
thereafter, Jerome embarked on a twenty-year period of travel, a pilgrimage
traversing the empire. But in 375, very discontented, Jerome moved to
Antioch, in Syria, where in a conscience-stricken dream he faced vivid
accusations of following, not Christ, but Cicero. As he pictured it later,
he felt his Christian commitment underwent basic transformation through this
incident.
Shortly after the dream, Jerome removed to the desert around Chalcis (east
of Antioch). Here he began intense study of Scripture—mixed with learning
Hebrew and Greek—and tried to find himself as a Christian. Jerome’s
wandering concluded in the years 382 to 385, his pilgrimage’s happiest and
most fruitful segment. Once again in Rome, and serving as Pope Damasus’s
personal secretary, Jerome pursued his chief interests: thoroughgoing study
of Scripture and active promotion of monastic asceticism. Yet this time
ended abruptly due to Damascus’s death and persecutory attacks stirred up by
Jerome’s acerbic personality. He settled finally in 386 in Bethlehem.. Here
he spent his last thirty-five years engaged deeply in the biblical
scholarship and Bible translation his gifted mind so acquisitively pursued.
Jerome’s many works may be grouped under six headings: translations of the
Bible, commentaries on Scripture, translations of others’ works, historical
treatises, theological essays, letters and miscellaneous works. It is the
translation labors and exegetical works that are the most valuable of
Jerome’s profuse efforts. Indisputably, over the centuries, the most
influential of all versions of Scripture has been its Latin rendering. Since
it is Jerome’s Latin version that the Roman Church used almost exclusively
throughout its history until modern times, Jerome’s translation work was
clearly one of Christianity’s watershed events.
Justin Martyr
(c. 100-165) [1]
Early Christian writer and martyr
Of Greek parents, Justin was born in Palestine near the modern city of
Nablus in Samaria. He went to Ephesus and studied the philosophies of the
time, especially Platonism. Although deeply impressed by the death of
Christian martyrs, he was actually converted (as he himself related) by a
humble old Christian. For a while he taught Christian philosophy at Ephesus,
but left in 135 and went to Rome, where he taught and wrote until he was
martyred under Marcus Aurelius.
He believed, as did Philo the Jew, that the pagan philosophers had studied
and learned from the Old Testament. To him Christianity was Platonism and
Stoicism corrected and completed by the Bible and by the Logos that
enlightens everyone. He opposed the early Christian heresies of Gnostic
origin, in particular Docetism, by standing for the historicity of Jesus. To
Justin the culminating act of God was the Incarnation—when God became man.
He remained within the early Palestinian tradition by his stress on the
church as the true Israel and by his doctrine of the Millennium. |
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K
Kierkegaard, Sǿren Aabye
(1813-1855)
Danish Christian philosopher and author
Within the fourteen large volumes
that make up Kierkegaard’s collected published writings (Danish edition) can
be fond works that fall under the categories of literature, philosophy, and
theology, plus a large volume of writings that are sermonic or devotional in
form, but which the author calls “discourses,” since he was not ordained to
preach. His authorship culminated in an open attack on the state
church in Denmark, waged in the newspapers and pamphlets.
Kierkegaard
was reared in the wealthy home of Michael Pedersen Kierkegaard, who was a
devout but strict father, laced with a strong pietistic influence.
Kierkegaard was an extremely reflective person who from an early age
struggled with feelings of guilt and depression. The causes for this
seemed to stem in large measure from his relationship with his father, who
also struggled with guilt and what was termed “melancholy.”
As a young
man Kierkegaard became engaged to Regina Olsen and then broke the engagement
partly because he felt he was unfit for marriage. This experience
marked the beginning of his “authorship,” much of which concerned the
necessity of “dying to self”—acquiring a willingness to sacrifice any
earthly good if necessary—in order to achieve a genuine “God-relationship.”
Kierkegaard’s authorship is an attempt to help the individual acquire the
inward personal concern or “subjectivity” he believed was essential to
becoming a true Christian. He saw Christianity as the final and most
adequate answer to the question, How should I exist? Basically,
he believed there were three major ways of answering this question.
The first stage he termed the aesthetic stage; this is the life view in
which a person is urged to enjoy life by developing his natural drives and
abilities. The second stage is the ethical life—a life of duty and
commitment, which is symbolized by marriage. The final and highest
stage is the religious, which involves a recognition that man is unable to
become a whole person on his own and must seek the help of God.
Kierkegaard
stressed that Christianity sees the Incarnation as an actual historical
event; thus a Christian acquires salvation not through trying to live a
moral life (as many liberal theologians who were Kierkegaard’s
contemporaries said) but through faith in the Jesus of history.
Kierkegaard believed that God’s loving self-sacrifice in Christ could not be
understood by finite, sinful human beings. He thus opposed any
attempts to philosophically understand the incarnation or scientifically
“prove” the truth of Christianity.
A
significant feature of Kierkegaard’s authorship is his attempt to utilize
“indirect communication.” He believed that moral and religious truth
could only be acquired by an individual through personal appropriation,
unlike mathematical and scientific truth, which can be directly and
“objectively” given one person to another.
Kierkegaard
saw his task as that of “reintroducing Christianity into Christendom: by
helping his contemporaries see that being a Christian requires a radical,
courageous decision to follow Christ. |
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L
Luther, Martin
(1483-1546) [1]
Father of the German Reformation
Born at Eisleben in Thuringe, Saxony, Luther attended school at Namsfield,
at Magdeburg under the Brethren of the Common Life, and at Eisleben. He then
went to university at Erfurt (1501), where he came under Nominalist
influence and learned Greek, graduating B.A. in 1502) and M.A. in 1505. He
had intended to study law, but due to a narrow escape from death by
lightning, he changed his mind and in spite of his father’s objections
became an Augustinian monk in 1506.
In the Erfurt monastery he did further theological study, was made a priest
in 1507, and with his transfer to Wittenberg in 1508 read for the B.D.
(1509) and began to teach moral theology, the Sentences of Peter Lombard,
and the holy Scriptures. A visit to Rome on Augustinian business (1510-1511)
opened his eyes to the corruption prevalent among the higher clergy.
Returning to Wittenberg he took the degree of D.Th. in 1512 and was
appointed to the chair of biblical studies, which he occupied for the rest
of his life. He also became sub-prior of the Wittenberg house.
Outwardly Luther was building up a successful monastic and academic career
but inwardly he was troubled by a conviction of sin that his diligence in
monastery life could not relieve. His biblical reading, especially in
preparation for his classes on the Psalms (1513-1515), Romans (1515-1516),
and Galatians (1517) proved to be the decisive factor. It was probably
during this period, perhaps in 1514, that he had the famous Tower experience
when he came to realize that God’s righteousness in Romans 1 is not the
justice that we have to fear but the positive righteousness that God gives
believers in Christ — it is a righteousness they receive by personally
trusting in Christ.
In 1517 Luther was aroused when just across the border from Saxony John
Tetzel preached an indulgence in which crude theology was accompanied by the
crassest materialism. In protest Luther rapidly drew up ninety-five theses
for debate, which he posted on the door of the Castle church on October 31,
1517. When translated and widely circulated, these theses brought an
explosion of anti-church feeling that wrecked the indulgence. Given
practical application in this way, Luther’s theology could no longer go
unnoticed, and he came at once under ecclesiastical pressures ranging from
attempts at intimidation to promised favors for compliance.
Luther refused to be silenced. He won over too many Augustinians at the
Heidelberg disputation in 1518. Pressed by Eck at the Leipzig disputation in
1519, he caimed the supremacy of the authority of Scripture over all
ecclesiastical authority. When Charles V, the newly elected emperor, stepped
up the pressure, Luther responded in 1520 with three powerful works that
have come to be called his primary treatises. In the Address to the German
Nobility he appealed to the princes to throw off papal oppression. In the
Babylonian Captivity he attacked the current sacramental system. In the
Freedom of a Christian Man he expounded the complementary theses that the
Christian is both a free lord subject to none and also a servant subject to
all.
By the middle of 1520 papal patience was at an end, an a bull was drawn up
ordering Luther’s recantation and the burning of his works. Protected by the
elector Frederick, Luther denounced the bull, and the theology faculty
solemnly burned a copy at a ceremony on December 10, 1520. Early in 1521 a
stronger bull of excommunication was prepared that, if carried out, would
have deprived Luther of civil rights and protection. Before it execution
Charles V agreed to give Luther the chance to recant at the diet to be held
at Worms. Here Luther made his resounding confession before the emperor,
princes, and other rulers: “My conscience is captive to the Word of God…Here
I stand, I can do no other.”
The situation after Worms seemed hardly favorable for positive reform. A
majority at the diet decided to apply the papal bull. In order to shield
Luther against violence, Frederick arranged his “kidnapping” on the way home
and hid him in the safe castle of the Wartburg under the guise of George the
Knight. Able to return from the Wartburg in 1522, Luther turned his
attention to the sphere of worship. The main step here, as in relation to
Scripture, was to make the services understandable by putting them in the
native.
During his time in the Wartburg Luther had given much thought to the
question of celibacy. Even earlier he had come to think that the only
lifelong vow a Christian ought to take is that of baptism, i.e., of general
discipleship. While in the Wartburg he wrote On Monastic Vows. His reforming
work when he came back to Wittenberg included the dissolution of monasteries
and the ending of clerical celibacy. Luther himself married the former nun
Katherine of Bora, and they had a happy life with six children.
From the publication of his 95 Theses Luther was engaged in unending debate
with the Roman Church. In addition, he soon found himself in disagreement
with other reforming groups. Since he was plain, outspoken, and pugnacious,
and came into collision with equally militant opponents, these controversies
often took on a bitter edge that brought personal alienation and greatly
hampered the general movement of reform.
Pressured by ill health and harassed constantly by political and theological
problems, Luther tended to display in his last years the less pleasant
aspects of his virtues. His courage increasingly appeared as pugnacity, his
bluntness as crudity, and his steadfastness as obstinacy. Instead of
mellowing with the years, his opposition to the papists, the radicals, and
other reformers became even more bitter. Nevertheless, he continued to work
for military peace in the empire—and it is a tribute to his underlying
desire for peace and reconciliation that the aim of his final journey was to
bring together the quarreling rulers of Anhaldt.
Luther did a work that probably no one else in his highly gifted age could
have done. He did it because he had the required combination of learning,
insight, character, and faith. When under God the hour struck in1517, the
man for the hour was there. The Reformation that had been arrested so long
could no longer be delayed. |
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O
Origen (Origenes
Adamantius) (c. 185- c.254) [1]
Alexandrian Theologian
Born of a Christian family (most likely in Alexandria), the oldest of seven
children, Origen was initially trained in both secular and religious
literature by his father Leonides (who is exceedingly proud of his son’s
learning). The burden of caring for his family fell upon Origen at the age
of seventeen, so he began to teach. His classes became so popular that he
had to divide them, leaving the beginners to an assistant, reserving the
more advanced for himself. Origin lived in extreme austerity. He was bold in
his admiration for martyrs, and many of his students suffered in the
persecutions. Despite his lack of care for his own life, he was spared
because many pagan philosophers and Christian heretics came to him for
instruction.
His range of learning was vast. In addition to his father’s instruction,
Origen also studied under Ammonius Saccas and Clement of Alexandria. For the
sake of biblical exegesis, he learned Hebrew. His knowledge of the
philosophies of the day, especially Platonism, was profound. While living in
Alexandria, he began to write and compile books. So famous did he become
that Mamaea, the mother of Emperor Alexander Severus, summoned him to
Antioch to instruct her. On his way to Greece, he was ordained as a priest
by the bishop of Caesarea. That Action was uncanonical and was protested by
his own bishop of Alexandria. As a result, he never returned to Egypt but
settled down in Caesarea, where he taught for the remainder of his life. |
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S
Semler, Johan
((1725-1791) [1]
German theologian and church historian
Born in Thuringen, Semler in his early years was strongly influenced by his
father’s Pietism. Later, while attending the University of Halle
(1743-1750), he was attracted to the rationalism of J. S. Baumgarten. After
teaching at Coberg and Altdorf, he returned to Halle as professor of
theology (1753-1791) and soon became one of the most popular theologians in
Germany.
Semler was a prolific writer. Most of his 171 publications are on
ecclesiastical history and history of the canon. Although his views pointed
in the direction of naturalism, Semler steadfastly opposed the conclusions
of naturalism. He highly valued the marks of piety—such as prayer, singing
of hymns, and Christian morality—that were promoted by the church. Thus,
while one’s private beliefs must be free from coercion, public dogma must be
preserved from its influences and strictly regulated by the state. |
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T
Tertullian (c.
160-225) [1]
African Latin theologian and moralist
Besides what is known about Tertullian through his lifelong residency in
Carthage, personal facts about him can be traced only in outline. He enjoyed
a superior education, including literary, rhetorical, and legal training,
and instruction in Greek and Latin. Very probably he practiced law at some
point. Sometime in his late thirties, Tertullian was converted to belief in
Christ. He was married to a Christian wife, and after her death he remained
a widower. In succeeding years, he served the church at Carthage as a gifted
teacher.
Out of his intense Christian commitment, Tertullian’s experiences with the
Carthage church prompted much dissatisfaction over perceived laxities.
Consequently, about 206, he joined the Montanists, a separatist yet largely
unheretical Christian sect. Eventually he led a segment of this group called
the Tertullianists. Except for separatist ideas on Church life, Tertullian
remained doctrinally orthodox until his death. The Tertullianists rejoined
the church at Carthage several decades later.
Soon after conversion, Tertullian began the large output of Christian
writings occupying his last twenty-five years. Sizable portions of this
production, thirty-one Latin works, are yet extant; and these may be divided
by three types of content: apologetic, dogmatic, and moral. While the moral
essays exhibit a rigorist outlook, Tertullian’s essentially mainstream
posture changed little in the apologetic and dogmatic treatises. Most of
Tertullian’s dogmatic works are acutely polemical in nature.
Tertullian’s works were influenced, on the one hand, by Stoicism and Roman
legalism, and on the other, a highly impetuous, obdurate personality. Yet,
overall, even the Montanists writings were respectful reflections of the
scriptural teachings Tertullian honored as divine revelation. Literally, his
special attainment was a pungent, aphoristic style, and a confrontational
force unequalled by any other early Christian authority. Theologically,
Tertullian’s teachings place him among the great early Christian fathers,
positioning him as founder of Latin Christian doctrine and proponent of much
in orthodox Western Church dogmas as a whole. |
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