John of Damascus argued against the faulty Muslim view of the Trinity and of Jesus Christ as the Son of God in his works The Exposition of the Orthodox Faith and the Heresy of the Ishmaelites. He argued that if Jesus were the Word and Son of God, then He was certainly the same as … Read more
A heresy is often defined as an aberration or rejection of doctrine of an established belief or custom. To better determine the origin of Islam and whether it began as a heresy of Christianity, it would be helpful to look back to the first Christian theologian who dealt with the rise of Islam, John of … Read more
The study of Nicene Christology overwhelmingly focuses on textual sources – tomes, homilies, epistles, and creedal formulations. Yet Patristic theological reflection was not confined to written and spoken words. Early Christians both inhabited and contributed to a world in which visual imagery was a crucial medium of communication. Much scholarship has focused on the communicative … Read more
Thesis statement: In clarifying the Incarnation after Nicaea, Gregory of Nazianzus’s defense of Mary as Theotokos also promoted extra-biblical teachings about the mother of Jesus that linger in Christian thought today. Nicaea’s creed proved insufficient to effectively squash Arian teachings. Between 325 and 381, scholars continued to clarify biblical Christology, declaring that, in his Incarnation, … Read more
Proverbs 8 was a key text in Pro-Arian arguments for the begetting of the Son in time, as seen even in the succinct example from Eusebius of Nicomedia’s “Letter to Paulinus of Tyre.” The refutation of such interpretations in Pro-Nicene argumentation reveals how Pro-Nicene theologians made their own use of Proverbs 8 by placing it … Read more
This paper examines the claim that Gregory of Nazianzus, a fourth-century Cappadocian Father notably influenced by Origen, supported the doctrine of apokatastasis, or universal salvation. A contingent of recent scholarship assumes Nazianzen likely supports apokatastasis by quoting works such as Or. 40.36 and Poemata De Seipso P.G. 37:1010 (Batiffol, Kelly, and von Balthasaar) or associating … Read more
In this paper, I argue that the primary purpose of the classical arguments in the Apologia of Aristides is not (as a number of apologetics texts assume) to prove the existence of God. The purpose is instead to demonstrate the nature of the deity that humanity should worship and then to show which people-group worships … Read more
Since the mid-twentieth century, especially through the influence of George Eldon Ladd, the term “historic premillennialism” has been used to describe a form of early Christian eschatology distinct from later forms of premillennialism, particularly “dispensational premillennialism.” In the last seventy-five years, however, scholarly engagement with pre-Nicene eschatology has acknowledged a much greater diversity of views … Read more
Well before its creedal formulation at Nicaea (325), a triadic “rule of faith” was integral to early Christian belief and practice, guiding biblical interpretation and shaping baptismal confession (Bokedal 2015). Yet the notion of the “rule” extended beyond these dimensions; it also referred to the underlying, all-encompassing reality to which they bore witness (Hagglund 1958). … Read more
Hebrews 7:1-3 stands as the cornerstone passage for understanding the preeminence and perpetuity of the priesthood of Christ, portraying Melchizedek as a type of Christ who surpasses all preceding priestly systems. Although many New Testament scholars have focused on biblical and theological motifs in Hebrews, Thomas Aquinas’ interpretation, rooted in his high Christology, often remains … Read more