Augustine on Empire

No, I am not using the word "empire" because it is an easy way to garner attention!  Rather, in my reading for the book I am writing on Augustine, I found the following quote in an essay by Michael Hanby, "Democracy and Its Demons," in Augustine and Politics (edited by John Doody, Kevin L. Hughes, and Kim Paffenroth).

And speaking of Michael Hanby, if one has not read his essay from First Things (February 2015), it is excellent.

Anyway, Augustine writes:

"I would therefore have our adversaries consider the possibility that to rejoice in the extent of empire is not a characteristic of good men." (Augustine's City of God IV.15).

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Written by Brad Green Brad Green

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Published: 25 November 2016 25 November 2016

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Trouble with Pelagians

I am currently reading B.B. Warfield's essay, "Augustine and the Pelagian Controversy."  It is a goldmine.  At one point he is discussing how a recently-elected pope, one Zosimus, may have been a bit soft on Pelagianism.  Pelagius and one of his followers, Coelestius, had been condemned, but Zosimus was letting them off the hook.  A number of African bishops gathered and pronounced that Pelagius and Coelestius should continue to be considered out of bounds theologically.  They were to be considered out of bounds until they could affirm the following:

"we are aided by the grace of God, through Christ, not only to know, but to do what is right, in each single act, so that without grace we are unable to have, think, speak, or do anything pertaining to piety."

B.B. Warfield, "Augustine and the Pelagian Controversy," in Studies in Tertullian and Augustine, 303.

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Written by Brad Green Brad Green

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Published: 01 November 2016 01 November 2016

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Gilson, Bonaventure, and the Fall

It is always interesting to watch contemporary theologians speak to the issue of the Fall.  If one is trying to keep in step with the zeitgeist, it is certainly easier to evade, obfuscate, etc.  For to affirm a real space-time fall means you are saying something about the very heart of reality and history.  You are not just shadow-boxing.  You are putting yourself out there.  You are saying there was an era of history before sin entered the world.  You are saying there was an era where man was not sinful, and that now he is.  You are saying that there was a major shift in the very nature of the created order, brought about by real, historical human disobedience.  You are saying that death entered into a world which up until that time had not known death.  And if you tease that out, well, you have put yourself on the wrong side of history.

So, it was interesting as I read Etienne Gilson on Bonaventure on this issue.  

". . . for the absurdity [i.e., that God created things in the way we currently find them--broken, sinful, etc.] instantly becomes apparent of supposing that a perfect God created man in the state of wretchedness in which he now is." (p. 435)

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Written by Brad Green Brad Green

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Published: 07 October 2016 07 October 2016

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Bonaventure, Van Til, and Idealism

Another brief thought on Bonaventure and Van Til and the nature of knowledge.  In the quote from the last post, notice what Gilson says: "things are true in so far as they are conformed to the thought God has of them,  . . ."

I supposed someone could say, "Then is God the ultimate Idealist?"  Interesting thought.  It does seem that (if we are to trust Gilson's summary of Bonaventure at this point) that something is what it is, because of what God "thinks" of it.  Now, God has created all things.  But we could still say that reality is what it is because God--in his thoughts--constitutes all things.  

I have tried long and hard to understand how someone could really be, philosophically, an "Idealist."  Does anyone really think that reality is what it is because the human person "constitutes" reality?  I doubt it.  But God is different, of course and indeed!!!

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Written by Brad Green Brad Green

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Published: 07 October 2016 07 October 2016

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