Monday, May 31, 2010

May reading list

24. The Professional (ua), by Robert B. Parker
25. A Twisted Faith (hc), by Gregg Olsen
26. Archangel:Legion (ua), by Scott Roche
27. Giving Church Another Chance (hc), by Todd Hunter
28. The Scarpetta Factor (ua), by Patricia Cornwell

Friday, May 28, 2010

Scot McKnight on Living the Bible

God did not give the Bible so we could master him or it; God gave the Bible so we could live it, so we could be mastered by it. The moment we think we have mastered it, we have failed to be readers of the Bible."

Saturday, May 22, 2010

More from Blaise Pascal

From Penses #131:

"There are in faith two equally constant truths. One is that man in the state of his creation, or in the state of grace, is exalted above the whole of nature, made like unto God and sharing in his divinity. The other is that in the state of corruption and sin he has fallen from that first state and has become like the beasts. The two propositions are equally firm and certain ... whence it is clearly evident that man thhrough grace is made like unto God and shares his divinity, and without grace he is treated like the beasts of the field."

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

St. Hilary on the Trinity

from a treatise:
---------------------------
Our Lord commanded us to baptize in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. In baptism, then, we profess faith in the Creator, in the only begotten Son, and in the gift which is the Spirit.

There is one creator of all things, for in God there is one Father from whom all things have their being. And there is one only-begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ; through him all things exist. And there is one Sprit, the gift who is in all.

So all follow their due order, according to the proper operation of each: One power, which brings all things into being; One son, through whom all things come to be; and one gift of perfect hope.

Nothing is wanting to this flawless union. In Trinity, there is infinity of endless being, perfect reflection of the divine image, and mutual enjoyment of the gift.

Monday, May 10, 2010

Defending the Trinity

Many of the great heresies that have faced the church have come from different understandings (misunderstandings) of the doctrine of the Trinity. Wayne Grudem's Systematic Theology lists the three core components of the trinitarian belief. They are in tension, they don't "make sense" to our human mind, but deviating from any of these three core components leads us astray:

1. God exists eternally as three persons.
2. Each person is fully God.
3. There is one God.

Sunday, May 02, 2010

From St. Maximus of Turin

From a sermon:

Christ is risen.

He has burst open the gates of Hell and let the dead go free. He has renewed the earth through the members of his Body, born again and baptized, and has made it blossom afresh with man brought back to life. His Holy Spirit has unlocked the doors of Heaven, which stand wide open to receive those who rise up from earth. Because of Christ’s resurrection, the thief ascends to Paradise, the bodies of the blessed enter the holy city, and the bodies of the dead are restored to the company of the living.

Christ is risen.

His rising brings life to the dead, forgiveness to sinners, and Glory to the saints.