Friday, February 6, 2009

Quick thoughts...

In an effort to blog more consistently, I'm trying to be content with posts that, while not as in-depth as I might prefer (I adhere to the old English major rule of thumb that says, "Never use one word when ten will do"), still provide food for thought.

In this case, as part of an impressive series they've been doing all year on church history, Fred Sanders and the fine folks at Scriptorium Daily remind us that today is the 1,116th anniversary of the death of Photius of Constantinople.

I've enjoyed this series immensely--these are very lucid, thought-provoking vignettes of some of the heroes and high points (and not-so-much) of Christ's bride the church. They also strike an all-too-needed balance between respect for tradition and the authority of Scripture.

Case in point from Sanders' post on the Council of Trent:

"John Calvin, for his part, took the only consistent stance possible, and argued that he and his people did not leave the Roman church: that church left the Bible, and the Reformed were standing right there where the Bible had always been, waving goodbye to the Romans and their deviations. Calvin’s response to the Council of Trent was to say that it wasn’t really an ecumenical council, it was an Italian council, since the Protestants and the Eastern churches weren’t invited. He also argued at great length that the great tradition was in essence on the side of sola scriptura and sola fide, citing church fathers voluminously to argue that Rome had deviated from that line only relatively recently. Calvin, in other words, would prefer the diagram that shows one central stream with a small spur, but the central stream would be labeled “Biblical Christianity,” with a little Catholic spur deviating from it and heading off in its own direction as the Roman Catholic denomination. There’s something to be said for that account. But at the very least, the vigor, clarity, and consolidation of Tridentine Catholicism gives it a recognizable profile that is distinguishable from the great Christian tradition at large."

And, again, from his post on Photius:

"Speaking for myself, I affirm the theology of the Filioque but don’t think the phrase belongs in the Nicene creed. I’m also skeptical when Eastern theologians tell me that the Filioque is to blame for everything wrong with the West, or when Western theologians tell me anti-filioquism is the source of all the East’s problems. And finally, the way forward is bound to be greater concentration on how we ought to draw conclusions from the clear revelation of Scripture."

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