In this article I have been presenting Byzantine theological ideas about the Incarnation of God in the Person of Jesus, the Christ. The question whether the Incarnation would have taken place had there not been a fall, never stood at … Continue reading
Category Archives: Learning Our Faith from the Church Fathers
Byzantine theology did not produce any significant elaboration of the Pauline doctrine of justification expressed in Romans and Galatians (You will recall that the Protestant Reformation drew heavily upon this notion of justification and advanced an understanding of redemption that … Continue reading
The definition developed by the Council of Chalcedon proclaimed that Christ is consubstantial (i.e., having the same substance or essential nature), not only with His Father, but also “with us.” Though fully man, Christ does not possess a human hypostasis … Continue reading
As I have attempted to illustrate in this article, the Church struggled greatly to come to any real and clear understanding of Who Jesus is. Of course it is really beyond human understanding of how God could be both God … Continue reading
The full dimension of the problem of how to express Who Jesus is, was never directly discussed by Byzantine theologians but there are indications which can help us to understand their position. First their interpretation of such passages as Luke … Continue reading
As my readers may have guessed, this article has been dealing with the mystery of Jesus, the Christ. It has highlighted the great struggle the Fathers of the Church went through in trying to find the right words to express … Continue reading
As I have shared with you, it is our belief that it was through a Hypostatic Union that God, in the Person of Jesus Christ, is both God and Man. The hypostatic union implies that the Logos made humanity His … Continue reading
In this article before Christmas, I shared with my readers the debate that the Church Fathers had about finding just the right words to express Who Jesus is. The words they chose are Greek philosophical terms that have a very … Continue reading
In the last issue I began to share the thoughts of the Cappadocian Fathers. This fundamental position has two important implications. First, there is no absolute symmetry between divinity and humanity in Christ because the unique hypostasis is only divine … Continue reading
I have been focusing, in this article, on the Church’s understanding of Who Jesus is. The idea of Jesus being completely and fully both God and man is a very difficult idea to express. It took years for the Fathers … Continue reading