Eastern Orthodoxy – a brief history

Walking With Giants Posted on by

The Eastern Orthodox Church is also known as the Orthodox Church.

Foundations were laid in the pre-Chalcedonian period (up to 451) with the writings of Athanasius, Chrysostom, Cyril of Alexandria, and the Cappadocian Fathers (Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian, Gregory of Nyssa).  The theology of these teachers found expression in the ecumenical councils of Nicaea (325), Constantinople (381) and Ephesus (431).

The early Byzantine period (451–843) included what was, for the Orthodox, the last ecumenical council (Nicaea, 787). …

Orthodoxy and Protestantism – key differences

Walking With Giants Posted on by

What are the key theological differences between Eastern Orthodoxy and Protestantism?

1. Celebrating the Unknowable

Orthodox theology resists what it sees as the unduly rational approach of the West.  John of Damascus (655–749) wrote,

‘It is plain, then, that there is a God. But what he is in his essence and nature is absolutely incomprehensible and unknowable.… All that is comprehensible about him is his incomprehensibility.’

This reflects an ‘apophatic’ theology, which tries to describe God in terms of what he is not.  …

The assumption of Mary

Walking With Giants Posted on by

It is a pity that Protestants, generally, do not honour Mary as they ought to.  The most obvious reason for this is that they are nervous about honouring her too much (or in inappropriate ways), as the Roman Catholic Church does.

So what should we make of the doctrine of the assumption of Mary?

Some notes from this article, by Andrew Goddard:

The belief that Mary was taken up, body and soul, to be with Christ in heaven, has its roots in legends that began to circulate in the church during the first several centuries of its existence.…

Matthew 22:14 – “Many are called, but few are chosen”

Walking With Giants Posted on by

Matthew 22:14 – “Many are called, but few are chosen”

Two (not necessarily contradictory) aspects of this saying – the numerical and the theological – warrant consideration.

1. Numerical

For Enoch Powell, Jesus’ words ‘few are chosen’ mean ‘that his salvation will not be for all, not even for the majority,’ insisting that ‘ignorance, incapacity, perversity, the sheer human propensity to error are sufficient to ensure a high failure rate.’  But, as the contributor to Hard Sayings of the Bible (presumably F.F.…

The role of imagination in preaching

Walking With Giants Posted on by

On the Preparation and Delivery of Sermons, by John A. Broadus (4th ed., Vernon L. Stanfield, editor), chapter 25.

Here is a precis.

The preacher may have the highest intellectual and moral attainments; but these are insufficient without a sanctified imagination.

The imagination sees.  It brings history, facts, people, to life.  It takes the accumulated effects of experience, observation and knowledge and from them forges something new.

What is the role of imagination in preaching?…

Classification of sermons 5 – Broadus

Walking With Giants Posted on by

On the Preparation and Delivery of Sermons, by John A. Broadus (4th ed., Vernon L. Stanfield, editor), chapters 10-12.

What follows is a precis, with a few original examples included in italics.

1. Classification by homiletical structure

(a) The textual sermon

The divisions come from the text itself.

Example: 2 Corinthians 8:9, “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through his poverty might be rich.”…

Classification of sermons 3 – Shedd

Walking With Giants Posted on by

According to Shedd (Homiletics and Pastoral Theology), there are just three basic types of sermon.

1. The topical sermon.  The sermon has one definite subject, which can be expressed in a single statement or proposition.

Shedd cites a sermon by Robert South (see here), on Number 32:23 – ‘Be sure your sin will find you out.’  In Shedd’s summary:

The proposition of the sermon is this: “Concealment of sin is no security to the sinner.”

…

Classification of sermons 4 – Robinson

Walking With Giants Posted on by

In Biblical Preaching: The Development and Delivery of Expository Messages (3rd ed.), Haddon Robinson outlines the main forms, or shapes, that sermons can take.

Here’s a precis.

1. Deductive arrangements

The main idea is stated at the outset, and the body of the sermon explains, illustrates and applies that idea.

(a) An idea explained.  For example, Alexander MacLaren preached a sermon on Colossians 1:15-18 on the supremacy of Christ, explaining from his text that Christ is so because he is ‘the image of the invisible God; because he is ‘the firstborn of all creation’; and because he is ‘the head of the body’.…

How God works suffering for our good

Walking With Giants Posted on by

Most Christians know Paul’s reassuring words from Romans 8:28 – ‘We know that all things work together for good for those who love God.’

But how does this actually work?

Based on the writing of Thomas Watson (The Divine Cordial) Tim Challies outlines 10 ways in which God works suffering for the good of his people.

Here is my own precis.

1. Suffering is our teacher.  It reminds us of our sin, immaturity and dependence.  It is in the crucible of suffering that many parts of God’s written word – especially the Psalms, come alive and apply themselves to our souls.…

Mark 6:3 – a scandalous birth?

Walking With Giants Posted on by

Mark 6:3 Isn’t this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon? And aren’t his sisters here with us?” And so they took offense at him.

The reference to Jesus as ‘Mary’s son’ is unusual, and invites attention.

A son would usually be identified in connection with his father, not his mother (although see Judg 11:1–2; 1 Kgs 17:17; Lk 7:12; Acts 16:1; 23:16; Gal 4:21–31).  This would be the case even if the father were dead, as may be the case with Jesus, given the silence of the Gospels after the birth narratives in that regard.…