In Chapter 5, the great churchman informs us that Water is in fact an apt designation for the Divinity, better than any of the other elements. Water possess the unique properties of being more moveable than earth (though less movable than air) whil Continue Reading...
Augustine and Science Science in the modern sense did not exist for Augustine, or indeed for any of his contemporaries, nor were the events of the material universe and the physical-temporal bodies located within it of any great importance to him. N Continue Reading...
" When these words of mine were repeated in Pelagius' presence at Rome by a certain brother of mine (an Episcopal colleague), he could not bear them and contradicted him so excitedly that they nearly came to a quarrel. Now what, indeed, does God comm Continue Reading...
It was not simply that his body did not obey his will and that he possessed a stronger spiritual and a physical will after his conversion, but that before his conversion his will was not fully sincere internally. He had not yet accepted God's grace, Continue Reading...
Augustine contributed greatly to Christianity. He was a man who held beliefs that transcended his turbulent beginnings and manifested into insightful philosophy. Such philosophy became deeply embedded in Christianity and would lend the way for furthe Continue Reading...
Anselm also added the passion of repentance and the exhilaration of praise to the bare texts, involving the supplicant in an intensity of feeling and a deepening of understanding. In the intensity of sorrow for sin, he is the heir of Augustine of Hi Continue Reading...
In Book Eleven, Augustine contemplates the possibilities that lay in wait upon his death, possibilities that surely would have come to fruition if he had not converted to Christianity, being damnation and eternal punishment at the hands of Satan an Continue Reading...
The windows for example would depict a large image of a saint, with smaller images from his or her life at the bottom. In this way, the windows could be seen as a conduit of the divine light bathing the congregation within. More complex themes were Continue Reading...
Saint Paul The man we know as St. Paul was Paul of Tarsus. He is not a saint that everyone has felt comfortable. Many find him harsh, difficult and uncompromising. This is true not only, now but was so in the case of his early associates and later w Continue Reading...
Philosophy In his discourse, The Republic, Plato describes the "ideal state" as composed of three social classes: the merchant class, military class, and philosopher-kings. The merchant class maintains and provides service to the society by safeguar Continue Reading...
Montanism / Theology Like many early heresies, Montanism has not left behind much in the way of written testimony: only one Montanist writer, Tertullian, has works that survive, and it is primarily in his work that the statements of the Montanist mo Continue Reading...
Not only does the self not exist in the Buddhist tradition, but the delusion of the self is the foundation of "all of the evil in the world" (Ibid). Because the self does not exist in a real way, the will does not function as an expression of the se Continue Reading...
Introduction Western scholars came up with the term mysticism to describe a special religious phenomenological concept. The term is general utilized today based on a very broad assumption that things found in every religion e.g. the rituals, the prac Continue Reading...
This essence is based on his belief that free will an the freedom of choice which is the exercise of free will are rooted in "uprightness": If freedom-of-choice had not been given to rational nature in order for it to keep uprightness-of-will for t Continue Reading...
Sanctification The process of sanctification can also be termed loosely of becoming like God, as we were all created to be like him and in sanctification we are restored to the full human potential designed by god. This has three parts or levels and Continue Reading...
" Therefore, Spero says, there is the fifth requirement, calling the reader to keep the commandments and statutes. Spero explains: "where the reverence and love are weak, the actual observance of the commandments, with its evocation of the Presence o Continue Reading...
Book Chapter: A Theology of Communion for the Contemporary Catholic Parish Introduction The study of ecclesiology is the study of how the Christian church, the ever-expanding body of believers, has evolved over time to respond to new political and s Continue Reading...
Formation of Doctrine in the Early Christian Church Christianity was an extremely dynamic religion during its early days of existence. "In a dramatic turn of events, Christianity had gone from being persecuted to the favored religion of the Empire" Continue Reading...
Augustine, Anselm and Aquinas Question #1 from "Augustine Confessions 2nd edition. Translated by F.J Sheed: Please explain Augustine's theory that evil is the privation of good, and argue for its relevance to at least one other main theme in the co Continue Reading...
Confessions of Augustine, The Life of Saint Teresa of Avila by Herself, "On the Oration and Dignity of Man," Petrarch's poetry, and Shakespeare's drama "King Lear" are both products of societies in which the dominant religious ethos was Christian ra Continue Reading...
Doctrine of the Holy Trinity The basis of the doctrine of trinity is based on the "God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy spirit" epithet among the Christians. God is abundantly regarded as pure spirit who cannot be seen by the eyes of every p Continue Reading...
high degree of misinformation I had received from traditional teachings about the church and the beginning of Christianity. Moreover, I was struck by the notion that most other people in the Western world receive this same degree of intentional misi Continue Reading...
Human beings understand that their free will is not threatened by the future of the stars. Faith is a choice that need not be influenced by the fact that the sun will one day burn away. Nor is faith influenced by the ineffability of divine foreknowl Continue Reading...
Man? Giovanni Pico della Mirandola asks the question as to what is man's highest calling. He finds it in the deepest of religious beliefs and offers rational spirituality as the way to perfection. He believed that man was the greatest of God's crea Continue Reading...
However, although Machiavelli held firm in his belief that the Church should not have the same governing functions as the State, he provided the example of Pope Julius in demonstrating how, if a religious leader holds firm to his beliefs and manner Continue Reading...
Calvinism in the South Calvinism Calvinism is an interconnection of beliefs and influences adopted by many denominations, and creeds (Bowen 2014). It was first known as the reformed theology, produced by the Protestant Movement started by Martin Lu Continue Reading...
260). This cosmological discussion is one reason Origen is said to have "created, indeed embodied, the first model of a scientific theology;" his approach to the notion of metempsychosis, like nearly all of his theological work, is rooted in a stead Continue Reading...
It is my opinion that Calvin was not a Protestant, but only a Reformer. The Catholic doctrine of justification by faith is really a works-based recognition that somehow the individual is going to do enough to get himself to heaven. Calvin did littl Continue Reading...
Faith, Tradition, And Scripture Lewis played an integral part in spreading the Christian faith in the 20th century. His numerous works have explored the ideas of Faith, Tradition, and Scripture and helped identify what it means to be a Christian. An Continue Reading...
Introduction Historically, Biblical theology and philosophy had so many things in common and thus complemented each other. Philosophers and theologians even considered themselves mortal enemies in certain cases. Most Christianity doctrines have criti Continue Reading...
Brown’s Cult of Saints The Author’s Argument The argument that Peter Brown makes in The Cult of the Saints: Its Rise and Function in Latin Christianity is that the “cult of saints” was essentially promoted by the cultural lead Continue Reading...
Jesus' Teachings, Prayer, & Christian Life "He (Jesus) Took the Bread. Giving Thanks Broke it. And gave it to his Disciples, saying, 'This is my Body, which is given to you.'" At Elevation time, during Catholic Mass, the pr Continue Reading...
" Paul is explicit: any deviation from not even the divine law but merely the natural law will result in expulsion from Paradise -- just as happened to the first man and woman when they violated the only law that God gave them. Or we may look at Pa Continue Reading...
" (Kysar 27) Scholars at times forget that the bible is not only a work of theology but also a work of literature. Barnes also believes in this interpretation and its New Testament expression of the Trinity, "I am thinking, in particular, of the piv Continue Reading...
Sons of God" in Genesis 6 are human, by using the following verses as background on the subject: Deuteronomy 9:18, Joshua 7:6, Psalm 112, Genesis 4:26, Numbers 13:33, Job 1:6, 2:1. The Sons of God referred to so briefly in Genesis 6 are indeed human Continue Reading...
Lord's Prayer as the Model for Christian Prayer The Lord's Prayer is the principal Christian prayer that Jesus Christ taught his followers, saying, "Pray then in this way." The prayer appears in Matthew 6: 9-13 and Luke 11: 2-4, and summarizes Jesu Continue Reading...
