Tammy’s Reviews > Historical Theology: An Introduction to the History of Christian Thought > Status Update

Paul received teaching from Jesus in his training to be an apostle, and he passed it onto the second century patristics through those he taught. Consensus came from the four Gospels. There is great consistency between them, based on the writer's perspective. Matthew has 90% of Mark and Luke has 53% of Mark. Mark has an older style and a Jewish tone and language. It is probably the oldest (Peter's testimony).

Case Study 1.1 The Bible and Tradition - The Arians and Pelagians cited Scripture to support their ideas, so in defining doctrine, how we interpret Scripture makes the difference. Who decides the correct interpretation? A little bit of error is destructive. The patristics held to the tradition passed down from the apostles through the bishops and priests (1 Cor 15:1-4).

The Council of Carthage (418 AD) adopted Augustine’s position. This is the last key thing settled by the patristics and, with the fall of the Roman empire, different issues came to the front. The next topic is case study!!! Yeah. I hope I can catch up this week!!! This is fascinating.

Augustine described grace as unmerited favor from God. His position was known as salvation by grace while the Pelagian position was salvation by merit (in the Reformation that would be works). God plays an active role in our salvation, an ongoing effort to save us from ourselves. The Pelagians saw God as hands off: he set it all in motion and let humans earn salvation (it sounds like Islam).

Human will is so bent that we are not able to improve ourselves. We are so fallen in nature, marked at birth, that we are hopeless without divine grace. Unfortunately, modern liberal Christians have rejected the ideas of Augustine except they think humans are good and need no self-improvement. All are born with this nature, all are fallen, all are helpless like the heroin addict trying to go cold turkey.

The Greeks never had a controversy over grace but the Latins did because of the immorality in Rome. British ascetic Pelagius was horrified at what he saw in Rome (like other monastic visitors). He preached that because of OT Law and the example of Jesus we must embark on a self-improvement campaign in a way that ignores divine grace. It’s like the Victorians. Augustine rejected this because God’s grace is vital.

If it turns out that a priest or bishop had been committing grievous sins, are the sacraments they had administered legitimate. The consensus was that the legitimacy of the sacraments are based on the holiness of Jesus, not the holiness of its ministers. The consensus rejected the Donatists because we are to encourage and support the weak. With the church settled, grace came next.

The persecution of the church before Constantine raised a question about church. Is the body purely saints or a mixture of saints and sinners? It came up because a group of North Africans (Donatists) did not believe in accepting those who buckled under the pressure of persecution. They did not welcome them back (Hello? PETER). Not accepting sinners means that the sacraments could be in question.

After the two natures of Christ was worked out, the Trinity came next. Sometimes there was a class between East (Greek) and West (Latin). The Greeks (Cappadoccian fathers) had a 3 persons, 1 God point of view (analysis?) while the Latins (Augustine of Hippo) had a 1 God, 3 persons view (synthesis?). This is why some things in the creed have brackets. After the Trinity was addressed, the doctrine of church came next.