tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18902745.post115256385043658595..comments2024-03-24T15:19:06.377-04:00Comments on The Continuum: Fourth Sunday after TrinityFr. Robert Harthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05892141425033196616noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18902745.post-1153011606072440892006-07-15T21:00:00.000-04:002006-07-15T21:00:00.000-04:00Theosis, or Deification, requires a blog artilce a...Theosis, or Deification, requires a blog artilce all to itself, which I may not do until after Sunday, being, as I am, busy with the Church. <BR/><BR/>About reason, let us remember that the "three legged stool" is "Scripture, Right Reason and Tradition." All other versions, including the shorter version that drops "Right" from "Reason," are simply wrong. "Tradition" cannot be replaced by "experience," for example. Now, what is <I>Right</I> Reason, as opposed simply to reason? First of all, the Church <I>as the Church</I> is said in scripture to have the mind of Christ. Furthermore, <I>Right</I> Reason cannot be devoid of logic or sanity. Neither can it stray from the mind of Christ (Tradition) and teach heresy.Fr. Robert Harthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05892141425033196616noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18902745.post-1152600387261430702006-07-11T02:46:00.000-04:002006-07-11T02:46:00.000-04:00Proponents of liberal theological attitudes someti...Proponents of liberal theological attitudes sometimes speak as if they have the monopoly on reason. "Scripture, tradition and reason" they cry, and then use what they consider to be "reason" to undermine scripture and tradition. The orthodox must therefore reclaim reason, as the means by which we apply scripture and tradition to contemporary problems as they arise, and by which we determine what is, and is not, consonant with scripture and tradition. This site is fast becoming an aid to the reclamation of godly reason. Can't wait for Trinity V.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18902745.post-1152588606525686962006-07-10T23:30:00.000-04:002006-07-10T23:30:00.000-04:00That was fast!The Western Church, both RC and Prot...That was fast!<BR/><BR/>The Western Church, both RC and Protestant, has concentrated so hard on sin and forgiveness, on justification, on satisfaction in the Atonement, and on similar issues, that I'm not even aware of a Latin term to correspond with theosis. There is a less-well-formulated expression of it in the works of some of the Mystics, but they are seldom considered in the teaching of dogmatic theology. I could recommend Gustav Aulen's <I>Christus Victor</I> for an overview by a Western (Lutheran, actually) theologian giving an overview of the issues.<BR/><BR/>The Christian East, on the other hand, stresses theosis and give only scant consideration to the favored issues of the West. One more argument for unity. the Church needs balance.<BR/><BR/>edAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18902745.post-1152587666839244632006-07-10T23:14:00.000-04:002006-07-10T23:14:00.000-04:00ed/poetreader,''Regarding theosis, as I understand...ed/poetreader,<BR/><BR/>''Regarding theosis, as I understand it, it is not 'becoming like God' -- that, after all is what the Serpent offered as temptation -- but rather a restoration of the imago dei, becoming again the reflection of His nature that we were designed to be. And it is unimaginable mercy that He has made this restoration possible but the Cross and Resurrection.''<BR/><BR/>You have expressed extremely well my understanding thus far. Thank you! <BR/><BR/>And yet.. to this layman this seems a concept largely missing in (overall) Christian teachings these days...? Or have I been missing something?Continuing Homehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08241314825274530020noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18902745.post-1152587186299955102006-07-10T23:06:00.000-04:002006-07-10T23:06:00.000-04:00Fr. Hart,I was anxiously awaiting for your remarks...Fr. Hart,<BR/><BR/>I was anxiously awaiting for your remarks on this pericope, and I did not wait in vain. The same thoughts apply in poetry. Raw emotion doesn't make a good poem. Poetry certainly flows with emotion, but if there is no content to be carried in that river, the poem is vain, containing no nourishment for the mind, for the soul, or, in truth, for the emotions. Thought without emotion tends toward an ugly drabness, while emotion without thought is wild and dangerous.<BR/><BR/>Continuing home:<BR/><BR/>Regarding theosis, as I understand it, it is not 'becoming like God' -- that, after all is what the Serpent offered as temptation -- but rather a restoration of the imago dei, becoming again the reflection of His nature that we were designed to be. And it is unimaginable mercy that He has made this restoration possible but the Cross and Resurrection.<BR/><BR/>edAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18902745.post-1152584443251560392006-07-10T22:20:00.000-04:002006-07-10T22:20:00.000-04:00"But, in fact, he is in a state of concentration. ..."But, in fact, he is in a state of concentration. Deep feeling should come across; but it cannot come across by abandoning oneself to waves of emotion."<BR/><BR/>Amazing! I am not about to compare myself to one who "plays classical music on the piano" (as a piper I have not yet achieved the classical music of the Highland Bagpipe, of which few outside the genre have even ever heard) -- but this was a critical element my formative piping teacher stressed, and in competition I always did well in expression. (In competition piping the *only* variable is timing; volume/notes/gracenotes&runs are all rigidly fixed.)<BR/><BR/>But I have a larger question here, one that has been on me for some time. You wrote: "The merciful person is becoming ever more and more like our Father in heaven, and like our Master, our Teacher, Jesus Christ."<BR/><BR/>Over the past couple years or so I've had on-again/off-again discussions with a Greek Orthodox friend. And through him I have learned the concept of "theosis" (English "deification"?). On initial statement I rejected it outright, "we become like God." <BR/><BR/>I have learned since that that is not the case; it's more an effort to draw nearer to God -- in my mind exemplified by two things: the book (title) "The Imitation of Christ", and the image of one of the Ghosts in Lewis' "The Great Divorce" where one of the Ghosts is being asked to start on the hard journey (across the painfully sharp grass) toward the Sunrise.<BR/><BR/>You have touched upon it in my mind here: "The merciful person is becoming ever more and more like our Father in heaven, and like our Master, our Teacher, Jesus Christ."<BR/><BR/>As I have put it all together, what seems logical (to this engineer), is that our duty in this life is to *attune* ourselves to God -- not to merely to meet certain pass/fail requirements of the law; we attune ourselves to Heaven, or we do not. And if we are not attuned, we cannot endure it...?<BR/><BR/>I also realize there is little of mercy in this image I have athered from my Orthodox friend. Can you elaborate -- publicly or privately?Continuing Homehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08241314825274530020noreply@blogger.com