James, son of Joseph, Brother of Jesus. When this inscription was found on an ossuary not long ago, Christians rallied. “Look,” they said. “Proof that Jesus existed.”
Jesus, son Of Joseph. When this inscription was found on an ossuary not long ago, Christians rallied. “Ridiculous,” they said. “A Hoax for sure.”
While the first ossuary is still under critical review even in the courts, since the news of the “Lost Tomb of Jesus” surfaced, I have been amazed at how quickly the James osssuary is now dismissed. Especially since it was featured in the movie last night, it has been demonized. How quickly we forget that Christians were the ones who first made a big deal out of the James ossuary.
I hope that this make Christians much less quick to hang their faith before the world on the results of archaeological finds. When the church says we believe because of this or that, we are only a fake or a fraud away from embarrassment. And it would be fine if the embarrassment was only brought upon us, but it is also brought upon Christ since we bear his name before the world.
Biblical archeology is interesting and it is fine to be discussed in the family of faith. It can at times bring joy to the faith that the Spirit works.
But we should not try to witness to our world through such means. For it is only the Word and not other things which can work true faith. And as mentioned above, archeology, especially recent archeology, is a shaky foundation for any faith, especially the new faith of converts.
Let us witness with the Word, and not with archeology.
I agree that witnessing should certainly be through the Word. I would add that archeology, and scientific discussion can help to “till the ground” so to speak.
When you say “witness with the Word,” may I assume you are saying the second person of the Trinity and the Gospel message he proclaimed, not strictly focussing it on only a written text?
Christopher (John)
As usual, good question, Chris. I was thinking of:
Romans 10:17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
But this is always an interesting question. What is the word of God? Is it the bible or is it Jesus? Most Lutherans would say the bible, but I know several Lutheran that indeed say the answer is just Jesus, as would be the orthodox answer I suppose. And even in this text, does the word of Christ mean some written record of Jesus’ words or the man and message himself.
So what is the relation between the revealed Word and the incarnate Word…are they different?
I have some thoughts, but I want to here more from you, Chris.
Phil,
Well, this isn’t an easy question. This past Sunday, the Second Sunday of Lent, the Orthodox commemorate our father among the saints, Gregory of Palamas, Archbishop of Thessalonica. Gregory was most famous for defending and articulating the Church’s apophatic theology where we can never know God in essence, but only encounter Him through His energies. The Word, as printed in Scripture, is revealed to us and thus we encounter and experience Him in that way, but my point was that there is a tendency to conflate Word of God (scripture) with Word of God (incarnate second person of the Trinity). Scripture is a revelation to us through which we can encounter the living and incarnate Word, but only through the energies bestowed upon us through the Spirit. And Scripture is just one means of encountering God, though not in essence. We must never, ever, deny the encounter that prayer brings. Also, the liturgy, the sacraments, everything. The Word of God is present there through His energies and we can partake of them since He is merciful. That is the difference. The Word of God (i.e. Christ) is an essence, the Word of God (i.e. Scriptures) is an energy, a revelation from the Godhead.
Hope this helps.
As usual, your comments sent me to the dictionary, Chris. I think by apophatic theology you mean something like what Luther talked about when he would talk about the hidden God, the fact that we can only know the revealed God, primarily in his son, Jesus. But I must admit the talk of essence and energies is foreign to me and a little disturbing. It seems to remove God even farther from us than need be due to Christ’s incarnation. After all whoever has seen the Son has seen the Father. Jesus is the essence of the Father, and we can know him, right?
Phil,
I understand your apprehension, but this is the teaching of the Church. Yes, Christ was incarnate and was, in essence, true God and true man. this is not in dispute. The kenosis or emptying (I think some use condescension) of God into humanity is the only time where humanity partook directly of the essence of God which happens again each time at the Eucharist. OF course, Adam and Eve both walked with God in essence in the garden before the fall.
Apophatic means that God is so transcendent that we, as created beings, cannot partake directly because we are not, in essence, God. Thus we partake of his energies through prayer, fasting, charity, etc. Because it is His energies, which include, but not limited to, His mercy, grace, etc. These energies are not God, but eminate from Him and thus it is how we experience God through the creation of his hands. The distinction between energies and essence does not mean we cannot know God, because God is a revealing God. Every Sunday Orthros (Matins) we chant: “God is the Lord who has REVEALED Himself to us. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.” But we cannot partake of his nature since we are created, but of his energies. Theosis is direct communion with the grace, mercies, etc of God and being transformed by them that we, in the words of Sts. Irenaeus and Athanasius “man becomes God” which is an echo of the second epistle of St. Peter 2:14 (check the reference).
Above all, Phil, apophatic theology is meant to communicate how dependent we Orthodox are upon God, how much we are removed from him and how great His love is towards us in that He has given his gifts (i.e. energies) toward us that we may become Christ-like even here on earth. Apophatic theology is humility before God and it also requires us to become extremely hesitant when doing theology. Since God is a revealing God and wishes that we join ourselves to Him (what other religion preaches that?) we cannot take broad leaps into theological categories and logically classifying God since how can the transcendent one be categorized. This is what Western Christianity has done since the 11th century with the beginnings of scholasticism. So when we hear the Word, we are hearing God and experiencing God. That is why, to me, it is very disconcerting when many speak of the Word only as a text. It is an energy that reveals the essence of the One True God.
Hope that is something for you. Any other questions? 🙂
Palo, I read this on a EO site, do you agree with this?
So, the holy God and sinful humanity are reconciled in principle, in the one sinless man, Jesus Christ. (See Jesus’s prayer as recorded in John 17.)
This reconciliation is made actual through the struggle (podvig in Russian) to conform to the image of Christ.
Phil,
Before I respond, I’d like to know what EO site you got this from and from whom the quote comes? It sounds like Florovsky or Lossky (I’m reading both right now). I’m not sure what it is that you want me to agree/disagree with.
Is reconciliation Christ’s work or our struggle?
Phil,
Reconciliation is both Christ’s work and our struggle. Eastern Theology operates on a holistic approach, which is best summarized by a “both…and” approach. Whereas Western Christianity, by contrast, has adopted an “either..or” approach and is known for categorizing and dissecting the faith so that it conforms neatly to logical patterns.
While you try to justify this choice of the east by appealing to mystery as opposed to rational clarity, the choice made is that of leaving behind the gospel. I hate to think that Christ endured the cross for only a little help to humanity, and not to reconcile them to God.
Galatians 1:6-8 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel- 7 not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed.
And this is the gospel.
2 Corinthians 5:18-19 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.
Reconciliation is his work, not ours. Let not mystery lead to misunderstanding, and ultimately loss of Christ.
Phil,
Suggesting that in any way that I have abandoned Christ and HIs Gospel or left it behind or whatever is frankly insulting. And please don’t try to parse this any other way.
Reconciliation is not simply God giving us a little nudge into the right direction. Only a fool would argue otherwise. I have never, never, ever read an account of any saint, eastern or western who attributed any of their work to themselves. In fact, most of these saints would say they have done NO good work at all, that they kept sinning and were the worst of sinners! One of my favorite accounts of the desert father is a young abbess named Sara who struggeled all the time against the temptations towards lust and fornication. The devil himself tried and nothing happened, but the struggle went unabated for 17 years and when Satan appeared himself to lure her into a self-congratulatory pat-on-the-back she responds, “It is not I who have defeated you, but my Lord Christ.” Anyone who attributes to themselves their good works is a fool, but we are still made for good works. How often I find that Lutherans love to quote Ephesians 2:8-9 and simply gloss over verse 10. Or how about the omission of Philippians 2:12b where St. Paul calls upon us to work out our salvation with fear and trembling? REading this, one should in no way assume God doesn’t love us, butthe question becomes do we love Him?
Christ’s victory on the cross was not simply a “not guilty” verdict. This juridical language, though scriptural, should not be regarded as a pars pro toto understanding of the Passion and Resurrection. Because what happens after the “not guilty” verdict? Do we go on sinning? Of course, St. Paul says, “NO WAY.” Christ’s cross gives us Life, itself!
The third Sunday of LEnt in the Holy Orthodox Church is the Adoration of the Precious and Life-Giving Cross. Above anything else, Christ’s work on the cross and the cross itself give life to us, who had lost it because of sin. REad our hymnography for that day (or any Sunday for that matter; and also for the Exaltation of the Cross on September 14) and you will find that the what our work is is nothing except our sin. But we are made alive in Christ, we are reborn, regenerated and we do good works and reconcile not to win points, but to show God living in us, to become like Christ, to conform to His image. We are still required to do those commandments, which God gave Moses. “If ye love me, keep my commandments.” REconciliation works both ways.
If we say we have no responsibility, then we have accused God of a double fault, that he has not known what he created and that he created in ignorance. Now you tell me whose position ignores the Gospel!
If you wish to inquire further please email me privately. For the rest of Lenten fast, I will be staying off the boards.
Let me close with the Paschal Troparion which we sing ad nauseam (in a good way) for the forty day feast of our Lord’s Resurrection. “Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by His death and bestowing life upon those in the tomb.” It sounds much better when chanted in troparic tone 5.