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by Fr. Patrick Henry Reardon One of the major ideas---and perhaps the culminating idea---in the second chapter of Ephesians is the unity of gentiles with Jews to form a single people for God. These two, formerly estranged, have been united, Paul says, through the blood of Christ: “He himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation . . . that He might reconcile them both to God in one body … [Read more...]
by Fr. Patrick Henry Reardon The permanence of the soul, its continued life after death, was not in contention among the early Christians. Indeed, thanks in part to Plato, some form of belief in a spiritual afterlife was quite in fashion in the Greco-Roman culture where the Apostles proclaimed the Gospel. The Apostle Paul, for his part, certainly anticipated an afterlife immediately following death. This persuasion prompted him to "desire to … [Read more...]
by Fr. Patrick Henry Reardon Discussing the earliest theology of the Resurrection, we are restricted mainly to the sermons and discourses in the Acts of the Apostles. The theological horizon is broadened considerably, however, when we turn to the Church's first literary theologian, St. Paul. His epistles, composed over a dozen or so years and addressed to a variety of pastoral circumstances, demonstrate how the power and purpose of the … [Read more...]
By C.H. Dodd Charles Harold Dodd (April 7, 1884 - September 25, 1973) was a New Testament scholar. In 1930 he became Rylands Professor of Biblical Criticism and Exegesis in Manchester where he remained until 1935. He was elected to the Norris Hulse Chair of Divinity at Cambridge becoming the first non-Anglican Professor of Divinity at both Universities. In 1936 he was elected a fellow of Jesus College and became honorary fellow on his … [Read more...]
by Fr. John Romanides Both fundamentalist and non-fundamentalist biblical scholars, who have been victims of Augustinian and Carolingian presuppositions, become prone to misunderstandings of what they read in the Bible, especially when terms and symbols denoting glorifications which produce prophets are alluded to. A classical example is 1 Cor. 12:26. Here St. Paul does not write, "If one is honored," but "If one is glorified," i.e. has … [Read more...]
by Fr. John Romanides Our father in the faith, John Romanides (1927 – 2001), was a prominent 20th century Orthodox Christian priest, theologian, and writer. He argued for the existence of a “national, cultural and even linguistic unity between Eastern and Western Romans” that existed until the intrusion and takeover of the West Romans (the Roman Catholics) by the Franks and or Goths (German tribes). To paraphrase St Athanasius … [Read more...]
by St. John Chrysostom 1 Corinthians 4:6 Now these things, brethren, I have in a figure transferred to myself and Apollos for your sakes; that in us you might learn not to think of men above that which is written. So long as there was need of expressions as harsh as these, he refrained from drawing up the curtain, and went on arguing as if he were himself the person to whom they were addressed; in order that the dignity of the persons … [Read more...]
by St. John Chrysostom The following selected passages are from St John Chrysostom's final homily on St Paul's Epistle to the Romans. "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen." (Romans 16:24) See how we should begin and end everything? For with this St Paul laid the foundation of his Epistle, and with this he puts on the roof, at once praying for the mother of all good things for the Romans, and calling the whole of his … [Read more...]
He was a student of Rabbi Gamaliel, and converted by the direct revelation of Jesus Christ, on the road to Damascus. Paul's preaching often either converted his listeners or left them enraged, and they often had him stoned, beaten with rods, flogged, imprisoned and falsely accused. When he reached the end of his earthly journey, he was beheaded in Rome - according to Tradition, on the same day St. Peter was crucified. Now that's great preaching! … [Read more...]
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