The struggle for free speech in our universities

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This draws on an article with the above title from The Bulletin, produced by Affinity’s Social Issues Team.

In February 2021, the Dean of Students at Chicago University wrote to new students.  The letter included the following:

‘Once here you will discover that one of the University of Chicago’s defining characteristics is our commitment to freedom of inquiry and expression. Members of our community are encouraged to speak, write, listen, challenge, and learn, without fear of censorship.

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Was Jesus destitute?

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It is often assumed (especially around Christmas-time – cue smelly stable) that Jesus was born and raised in poverty, and that his ministry focussed very much on the economically disadvantaged.

Ian Paul draws our attention to this homily:

‘This Christmas why not ask the gift to love the poor more deeply, with an abiding and deep affection? For poverty and neediness are an intrinsic aspect of the Infancy narratives. The first Christmas was anything but charming or sentimental.

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Hebrews 13:10 – ‘We have an altar’

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Heb 13:10-11 We have an altar that those who serve in the tabernacle have no right to eat from.  For the bodies of those animals whose blood the high priest brings into the sanctuary as an offering for sin are burned outside the camp.

The main contours of the author’s argument are clear enough: the readers are not to get ‘carried away’ by ‘strange teachings’, such as those involving ritual meals.  We are nourished spiritually by God’s grace, not by the foods we eat or abstain from. …

Liturgical worship in Eastern Orthodoxy

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Everyone agrees that the worship of God’s people in Old Testament times was liturgical in nature.

As the Orthodox Study Bible indicates:

‘Immediately after the giving of the Ten Commandments (Ex 20:1–17), instructions for building the altar were set forth (Ex 20:24–26). Then comes instruction concerning keeping the Sabbath (Ex 23:10–13), the annual feasts (Ex 23:14–19), and the various offerings and furnishings in the sanctuary (Ex 25:1–40). Following this, chapters 26—30 deal with such matters as the design of the tabernacle, the altar, and the outer court, the priests’ vestments and their consecration, and instructions for daily offerings.’

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Eastern Orthodoxy – an evangelical appraisal

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I found a thoughtful evangelical appraisal of Eastern Orthodoxy in a rather unexpected source: Answers in Genesis.  Abating Trent Hyatt’s advocacy of a more literal interpretation of the early chapters of Genesis than I can cope with, the discussion was, as far as I could tell, fair and courteous.

What follows is loosely based on that article.

1. Authority.  The Orthodox regard the Bible as the inspired Word of God.  Like the Roman Catholics, they recognise a more extensive canon compared with Protestants.…

Icons

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I want to try to understand something of the nature and significance of icons in Eastern Orthodoxy.

A. I begin this discussion with some key facts based on the relevant entry in the Dictionary of the Christian Church (F.L. Cross & E.A. Livingstone, eds. 3rd Edition, 1997)

  1. Icons are pictures, representing the Lord, the Virgin Mary, or another saint, which have been used and venerated in the Eastern Church since around the 5th century.
  2. They ‘venerated’ (not worshipped), with all the marks of such veneration common in the East – kisses, prostrations, incense, etc.
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Genesis 18 – Abraham’s three visitors

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Gen 18:1 The LORD appeared to Abraham by the oaks of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance to his tent during the hottest time of the day. 18:2 Abraham looked up and saw three men standing across from him. When he saw them he ran from the entrance of the tent to meet them and bowed low to the ground.

Who were these ‘three men’?

Some writers, both ancient and modern, have seen the three persons of the Trinity here.…

Orthodoxy on the fall, depravity and free will

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The Orthodox view is expressed in this note in The Orthodox Study Bible:

‘Mankind’s strong propensity to commit sin reveals that in the Fall, the image of God in man (Gn 1:26, 27) is also fallen. However, the ancient Fathers emphasize that the divine image in man has not been totally corrupted or obliterated. Human nature remains inherently good after the Fall; mankind is not totally depraved. People are still capable of doing good, although bondage to death and the influences of the devil can dull their perception of what is good and lead them into all kinds of evil.’

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Why are Matthew’s and Luke’s birth narratives so different?

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The most celebrated critical commentary on the birth narratives is that of Raymond Brown – The Birth of the Messiah.

In discussing the birth narratives as history, Brown cites two sets of problems:

1. The problem of corroborating witnesses

Regarding the main body of the Gospel narratives, there is no shortage of witnesses whose reminiscences could be harvested.  And there was a tradition that had been passed down from this first witnesses.  See Acts 1:22; 1 Cor 15:3 etc.…

Deification

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‘Deification’ (Gk. ‘theosis‘) is a term widely used in Eastern Orthodox theology for the process by which God’s grace transforms believers into his likeness.  It involves belief that grace reverses the effects of the Fall, and confers on the believer the ‘divine’ attributes of incorruptibility and immortality.  But

‘its central tenet is that God through the Incarnation of his Son has called men to share the Divine life in the Son.’ (Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, art.

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