St Andrews Patristic Symposium

I'd like to let you know about St Andrew's Patristic Symposium which is coming up in August and September. The last two years have focussed upon two of the Cappadocian Fathers, Basil the Great and Gregory Nazianzen, so naturally this year is looking at Gregory of Nyssa. Needless to say, I'm quite excited about this. I've had a paper proposal accepted for this and will be speaking on the theological foundations of Gregory's polemic against slavery, often considered the first outright Christian condemnation of the practice. Here's the flyer for more information. Hope to see you there.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

"How foolish you are!"

Image
This year I have been leading a Bible study at our church on Luke’s gospel. We’ve been slowly reading through the twenty-four chapters of this gospel and seeking to listen to God’s voice throughout this process. It’s been really beneficial to take our time and not rush the process through. As a long distance runner I know the benefit of the “long slow run” in my training. There’s also great benefit in a “long slow read” of Scripture as well.

It was particularly exciting and challenging to come to the climax of the narrative – the crucifixion, death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. Throughout the gospel we observed Luke’s particular emphasis on those who are on the fringe of society, Jesus’ fixated “journey to Jerusalem” (from 9:51 onwards), and the tension that builds between Jesus and the religious leaders of his time. None of that was particularly new to me, but the benefit of reading and absorbing this once again has not been futile. What has stood out, though, as we read through …
Read more

The story of my honeymoon... 10 years on

Image
It's been 10 years since the disastrous events of my honeymoon and in that time I've told this story plenty of times, but have never actually sat down to write it out. I thought that since it's now 10 years since my diagnosis I would take the time to write out what happened to my wife and I on what was supposed to be a celebration of our new marriage... So here goes... Megan and I were married on the 18th March, 2000 having been together since 1994. Megan was 15 when we started going out at The Salvation Army's Music Camp and I was 17. We've been together ever since. The weather on that mid-March Saturday was a scorching 35 degrees. The men in the bridal party had been out playing golf the day before and we all got sunburnt. So I was feeling a little tired as a result, and so the night before the wedding I had gone to bed early. I remember my sister-in-law, Kate, had made the boys lunch - lasagne... yum! But strangely, I didn't eat it all. Anyone who knows me…
Read more

Hook, line and sinker

Image
Arguably Gregory of Nyssa's most famous contribution to Christian theology, next to his involvement with the other Cappadocian Fathers in the solidification of the doctrine of the Trinity, is his famous "fish-hook" theory of the atonement. It goes a little something like this...

Humanity is enslaved to sin and the devil by their own free choice to turn away from the Good (i.e. God) and towards evil. God could free humanity arbitrarily, but this would deny his own justice, since it was the free choice of humanity to be enslaved. The slave-master (even if it is the devil) must receive a payment for the slave. 
What would he accept in exchange for the thing which he held but something... higher and better in the way of ransom. (Gregory of Nyssa, The Great Catechism, NPNF 5, 493).
Read more