Evening Prayer

Greg Allison’s Historical Theology: Part Four: Doctrines of Christ and the Holy Spirit: Prof. Allison outlines Anselm and Aquinas’ Christology, an inheritance of earlier creedal positions. Anselm in his Cur Deus Homo deals with Christ in his human and divine natures, one Person, the Theanthropic-Man who alone could provide a sufficient satisfaction for human sin, the divine affront to Divine Honor and Dignity. Aquinas deals with the communicatio idiomatum in the classical sense (377-378). This much, the Trinitarian and Christological faith might not be constructible from reading the modern Princeton Theological Journal. Edward Cairns’s Christianity Through the Centuries: Medieval Sunset and Modern Sunrise, 1305-1517. 25. The Papacy Faces External Opposition. Mystics, reformers and reforming councils were efforts at internal reform. However, in time, the Renaissance, nationalism, an expanding geographical world, humanism, new Greek manuscripts, nominalism, strong central governments, and the printing press were operating as the sun set on the theocratic, theocentric medieval period with the sunrise (or sun setting) of anthropocentric developments, variously (283-284). Millard Erickson’s “Christian Theology:” 14. God’s Nearness and Distance: Immanence and Transcendence—immanence, transcendence. Pp.301-320. Dr. Erickson makes a workable start on the Biblical evidence for both, arguing for balance and the dangers of overemphasizing one. He will go on to deal with modern views (302). As usual, ne’ry a Confession or Prayer Book is to be seen, as he reads the scriptures alone, without the church, and all-by-himself. Justo Gonzalez’s “History of Christianity: Early Church to the Dawn of the Reformation:” 23. Jerome (348-420). On Prof. Gonzalez’s telling, Jerome was not keenly insightful, was joyless, austere, pugnacious, proud, bitter, obsessed with sex, obsessed with classical authors, and lived in the company of rich Christian women. Serving as a Secretary for Bishop Damascus, he began his textual work. Traveling here-and-there, he settled in around Jerusalem/Bethlehem to begin his textual work and translation of the Bible from Hebrew and Greek into Latin. Not missing a beat, he continued to “crab” (our word) with others, including Augustine (233). At least one fruit was the Vulgate for Latin-speakers, even if the fruit tree appeared to have been a bit fruitless.