Hot answers tagged church-history
11
The evidence for Paul being married is fairly scant.
He writes in 1 Corinthians 9:5:
"Don't we have the right to take a believing wife along with us, as do the other apostles and the Lord's brothers and Cephas?"
The implication could be made that Paul was complaining about leaving some wife behind.
In Galatians 1:14, Paul says:
"I was advancing ...
7
Here's the List of Popes from newadvent.org, which I assume is the same list found in many US Catholic-approved Bibles, with the exception of the Papal "oppositions" listed here:
1. St. Peter (32-67)
2. St. Linus (67-76)
3. St. Anacletus (Cletus) (76-88)
4. St. Clement I (88-97)
5. St. Evaristus (97-105)
6. St. Alexander I (105-115)
7. St. Sixtus I ...
6
Yes, this is one of many allegorical meanings attributed to the unicorn. Sometimes it seems that just about every possible meaning is attached to every possible creature, in the medieval mind. The unicorn's main associations are:
power, as with any horned creature.
purity: the horn was believed to have the power to magically purify water, counteract ...
6
Origin of the phrase
There are actually a number of texts that are labeled the "Nicene Creed". The text produced by the 325 council does not include information about the kingdom at all. Eusebius of Caesarea, who attended the council, wrote back to his congregation about the deliberations. He reports an initial version of the creed that was used as a ...
5
I'm not sure which specific councils you're referring to, but for the sake of this answer I'll assume it's the first four ecumenical councils. The Apocryphal writings were not the primary focus of these councils; doctrinal concerns were (the Trinitarian and Christological heresies). Here is a brief summary of these councils:
Nicaea I (325 CE): Summoned ...
4
That is a very good question! Like you, those of us in the historic peace churches do not believe that Jesus' death can or should be avenged by violence. After all, it was Jesus himself who said that vengeance belonged to him alone.
And if we were to avenge his death, who is guilty? Rather, who is not guilty? If we really believe that Jesus died for our ...
4
Nnowhere in scripture, or any Christian theology that I know of, are Christians commanded to avenge Christ's killing. In fact there is good evidence to say that God opposes it: "'Vengence is mine', sayeth the Lord". So any Christians who are taking revenge on any group because they believe them to be responsible for Jesus' death are not acting according to ...
4
Early church is not a technical term, so it can be used fairly loosely, but generally follows the history and writings of church leaders which are divided by time period into the Ante-Nicene era (prior to the council of Nicaea in 325AD) and the Nicene/Post-Nicene era, up to the scholasticism of the Middle Ages.
There is no period of the church which is ...
4
I had not previously heard that there was a debate going on about whether the Apostle Paul was married. I found an excellent resource here at Denny Burk's Blog about the subject.
Mr. Burk seems to indicate that the Greek word (agamos) that Paul uses in his writings and the way in which he addresses those that are married, unmarried and virgins seems to ...
3
It is not clear that Mary made the decision entirely by herself; at the time, she was in France with her husband King Francis II, and they were both young (in August of 1560, she was 17 and he was 16). Mary's regent, her mother Mary of Guise, had only just died, and their court was dominated by the "Guise faction". The official reply to Parliament was in the ...
3
The “Zwickau prophets,” i.e., Nicholas Storch, Thomas Drechsel, and Mark Stübner, etc., claimed to be prophets of God and to have received revelations directly from God. They were leading an anti-Protestant, anti-Catholic, spiritualistic attempt at communism and anarchy based on a view of taking the millennium by force as prophets. Thomas Münzer (1490–1525) ...
3
The official name of the Knights Templar is "Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon". So the "Soldiers of Christ" you mention is probably just another name for the same group.
Wikipedia has an excellent article on the Knights Templar. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knights_Templar
A biblical reference to us being soldiers of Christ is ...
2
From Theopedia:
Typology is a method of biblical interpretation whereby an element
found in the Old Testament is seen to prefigure one found in the New
Testament. The initial one is called the type and the fulfillment is
designated the antitype. Either type or antitype may be a person,
thing, or event, but often the type is messianic and ...
2
Chesterton always is talking about German philosophers he despises mainly Nietzsche, even if he doesn't name them. He also routinely takes on his British contemporaries (and friends) spewing these same philosophies.
But you're right, he's not talking about George Bernard Shaw or H.G. Wells here. He's talking about what he saw in British Churches in the ...
2
It is a stretch to call the "retaliation" you mention a response to Jesus' murder. It is more accurately described as a response to differing belief systems, oppression of belief, etc. It is also widely accepted that early Christians were at least themselves convinced that Jesus physically resurrected, so it would take a lot more than psychology based ...
2
I have heard some people say that the following scripture suggests he was once married.
I say therefore to the unmarried and widows, It is good for them if they abide even as I. (1 Corinthians 7:8 KJV)
They say that because he mentioned widows, and then stated "even as I". However it's not terribly compelling evidence.
I think that generally ...
2
According to the Catholic Encyclopedia article on Origen and Origenism, the "sketchy" doctrines are:
Allegorism in the interpretation of Scripture
Origen believed that, being God-inspired and written by human hand, scripture must be interpreted in a manner than is worth of God. As such, some Biblical passages must be interpreted allegorically, lest we ...
2
Orgien's influence was primarily in inspiring the asectics and ultimately inspiring other Egyptians (most notably St. Antony) towards the monastic lifestyle. His emphasis on spiritual warfare and putting the flesh to death would find its natural expression in the monasteries.
Origen’s thinking not only had an impact on later exegetical and theological ...
2
No, it would not be justified.
If papal infallibility was not true and well-established, then defining infallibility ad-hoc in 1870 would have been mortally dangerous for the Church. At that point, there had been 255 popes over the course of about 1800 years. Note that ex-cathedra is not a label; it is basically a clear statement on a particular topic, ...
1
What you’re describing is the basic attitude of many Protestant churches and particularly the reformers and Puritans. However many of these would not think your ‘Word of Faith’ movement has a similar sincere attitude.
For example her is a quote from John Owen, a leading Calvinist in the 17th century.
Those who are called by the state of their flocks to ...
1
I'd never heard of it before, however a quick search on Wikipedia revealed the following about Origen:
During the fifth and sixth centuries, his orthodoxy was questioned,
largely because he believed in the pre-existence and transmigration of
souls, and apokatastasis, or universal reconciliation, ideas which
were discussed among some patristic ...
1
My opinion on the matter is based on 2 assumptions:
We are humans and we have a tendency to misunderstand events.
Knowledge of Jesus' death is very widespread.
With these two assumptions in mind, my opinion is almost guessable...
As a Christian I believe that Jesus died for my sins, because of my sins; if we were sinless, Jesus would have died for ...
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