Major Commentaries on Christian Thought - Research Paper Example

? Worksheet No.19 Augustine’s conversion came about as a culmination of his prayers to God. In his account about his own experiences he claimed that he traversed six stages in a man’s life from infancy to old age (at 43) before he had successfully achieved conversion. While in Thagaste he was trained by his tutor Maximus of Bodaro. When he traveled to Carthage in Rome, he came under the influence of many eminent personalities like Cisero. During his initial years in Carthage he was an avid follower of the Manichaeist movement and was significantly influenced by many Manichaeist leaders like Fortunatus, Cornelius, Alypius, Honoratus, Nebridious etc. The process of his conversion was not easy; he imbibed various religious philosophies and ultimately formed his own viewpoint about religion and theology. (Frend, 651-653; Ehrman, 80-81). 2. Donatism was a movement of the masses. It was formed by the union of a group of angry Carthaginian people and a set of uncompromising Numidian population. Donatus was the founder of the movement and he believed that as there was only one God, his Church was also one and it was characterized by purity. The movement gained considerable success and became a representative of the Christian and African religious ideals. North Africa under the Donatist movement gathered itself around its bishops and following the Cyprus and the Donatist ideals almost became a Christian society. (Frend, 653-656). 3. Tyconius’s Rules about exegesis significantly influenced the interpretation of the Scripture during his succeeding times. The philosophies of Bede and Beatus of Libana of the eighth century were both influenced by the ideals of Tyconius. Tyconius belonged to the Donatist Movement and his work exhibited the influence of the layman on the Christian Church’s theology. Maximian belonged to the family of Donatus. His philosophies represented a moderate standpoint inside the Church and were successful in gaining the support of about 100 bishops of Africa and Byzacena. (Frend, 657-658). 4. Augustine’s father, Patricius was of pagan origin, his mother Monica, belonged to Christianity. He was brought up on Christian ideals and his mother had a significant moral influence on his upbringing. His father stressed on his classical education and infused him with an ambition to have a public career. Augustine was tutored by Maximus of Badora. From Thagaste he moved to the school of Madaura situated on the northern part of Numidian high plains. In 371c he traveled to study at Carthage in Rome. In Carthage he pursued two philosophies: namely Manichaeism and another faith which advocated undivided wisdom through philosophy. Augustine returned to Thagaste in 375c. (Frend, 659-660). 5. The Manichaeist philosophy believed that Christianity combined reason and revelation in a truly spiritual process of worship. The Manichaeists advocated that it was not necessary to worship God at nay altar. Augustine was closely associated with this movement. His allies included Fortunatus, a byter of the press in Hippo, Cornelius an intellectual man, Alypius also a resident of Thagaste, Honoratus, and a pagan converted to Manicheism and Nebridios who followed Augustine through the movement to Platonist Christianity. Therefore the Manichaeists comprised a zestful intellectual society that valued Augustine for his good qualities. (Frend, 660-661). 6. Donatism was popular among the Christians in North Africa. The philosophy propagated theory of Christian martyrdom, which in the opinion of Augustine was no better than Paganism. Augustine searched for a synthesis between philosophy and the ideals of Christianity. He was prepared to reject the Old Testament as the word of God and accept a dualistic interpretation of the Christian religion. On the other hand the Donatists were in favor of imposing a ritualistic philosophy on their followers, which in turn was not acceptable to Augustine. (Frend, 661-662). 7. According to the opinion of Pelagius the Bible should be followed without questioning. He further believed that man had the power of discovering oneself and that moral reform was required to ring about a change in society. He believed that man’s sin affected other members of his race. In this respect Augustine was different as he advocated that man have to bear the effect of his own sin without influencing other members of the civilization. (Frend, 662-663). 8. Jerome was one of Pelagius’s adversaries. During Jerome’s stay in Rome around 382 – 385c Pelagius had quarreled with him regarding personal matters. Celestius was Pelagius’s disciple. He believed that the law and the Gospel were equally important in guiding the human race towards salvation. In January 417c Pope Innocent acted on the case of North Africa. He believed that it was important to bestow grace because the entire mankind relied on God. Innocent died on 12th March 417c. His successor was Pope Zosimus who hailed from Greece. He had the tendency of making wrong decisions that used to belittle his credit. In Carthage Pope Zosimus took advantage of the situation when Pelagius and his teachings were criticized in Carthage (Frend, 663-664). 9. At a judicial council at Hippo, Antoninus was threatened to be removed from Fussala. It was declared that he would be able to retain the position of Bishop if he carried out restitution for his act of robberies and the fraud caused against his congregation. Antoninus’s appeal was not only to Numidian council but also directed to Pope Boniface (418-422c). Antoninus declared that either he be allowed to rule from his position or not be recognized as Bishop at all. Sicca Venesia was a priest who had committed grave offences and had been deposed by his Bishop. The case was taken up in Rome during the time of Pope Zosimus. The Pope threatened to excommunicate Venesia’s Bishop. Therefore, even the Roman papacy was overruled by the North African council structure. (Frend, 665-666). Worksheet 20 1) The Pelagian controversy occurred in the 410-430s. In his reply to Ctesiphon, a supporter of Pelagius, Jerome a genealogy of Christian heresies is created by Jerome, which aimed to use divine glory in the uplift of human potential. Through a gruesome interpretation of scripture and, sophism and lies, Jerome claims that the Pelagians had risen and taken prisoners in the east theologically. Jerome says that female believers were prone. He points out a dual genealogy of heresy, where every heresiarch had been accompanied by a female (Cila, 201). 2) Pricillian was a preacher and ascetic leader in Spain, who was accused of heresy by fellow bishops shortly after being ordained as the bishop of Avila. He was executed on charges of sorcery by Imperial court. His name was associated with Manicheism and Gnosticism by many writers. Pricillian wrote a series of theological and exegetical treatises, discovered in the nineteenth century, and shed light on the universally condemned heretic of the late fourth century, which included treatises on Faith and Apocrypha, where he defended his ecclesiastical use of non-canonical texts as sources of Christian teaching and faith. The picture of a self consciously orthodox Christian who acknowledged the authority of the church and confessed a theologically correct creed defending the use of apocryphal writings significantly challenges the view of Eusebius and Asthanasius that apocrypha were produced by heretics to pervert scriptural truth. Priscillian’s defense of his readings of apocrypha was serious and mocking and grounded in a strong sense of theological, ascetical and intellectual elitism (Cila, 427). 3) The debate between Symmachus and Ambrose is one of the greatest moments of conflict between Christianity and paganism. Symmachus pleads for a status quo. He said that there was no conflict at all and the best would be that which would help the state, thus experience would be better than reason. Religion, pagan as well as Christian, had moved toward accepting a universal monotheism. The debate was whether the Gods of Rome or Jesus of Nazareth was the savior of mankind. Ambrose answered to Valentian and threatens episcopal sanctions. He urged the emperor not to be misled by bad advisors. The pagans had persecuted the church as late as Julians reign and traditions and customs were not regular in a natural world and there should always be scope for change and improvement. Here he supported the change from pagan to Christianity (Frend, 704-705). In the next decade the advantage was there in the favor of the Christians. Pagan leaders in Rome recognized Theodosius as their adversary. Symmachus himself was prepared to treat with the userper Magnus Maximus. This was bad as the tremendous pressure that Theodosius was able to put when he visited Rome swayed many of the doubters to the Christian faith. Privileges, wealth and honor were now linked with Christianity. (Frend, 706-707). 4) Claudian was an unlikely champion of tradition. He was an Egyptian Greek who sought fortune in Rome and changed the course there better than Augustine. He was a minor poet, turned himself into a Latinist and became the consulate for two important Roman nobles. He attached himself to Stilicho’s star and became famous. He wrote many patriotic verses. In the short time between Theodosius’s victory over Eugenius and his death, Claudian wrote about Rome. Prudentius was a Spaniard, born in 348. He entered the imperial service and was the magistrate twice of important cities. He was proud to be an administrator of Roman laws and was the immediate counselor or proximus of Honorius. His poetic achievements were mostly in the turn of the fifth century. He was the first Latin Christian poet along with Paulinus. They were the first to write lines that would be read as poetry by Christians. He described Rome as ‘queen’ and ‘golden’. He had praised Christianity and wrote poetry in reply to Symmachus’s apologia for paganism (Frend, 706-707). 5) In the last quarter of the fourth century many bishops began spreading Christianity in north of Italy and northern Gaul. Ambrose was responsible for creating new bishoprics and for the spread over north Italy. However in the valley of Adige, an attempt to challenge a pagan household ended tragically. Similarly, at a town of Val di Non, the fury of the inhabitants led them to burn the mission’s church. However, later churches were built, martyrs established, murderers treated leniently, but Christianity remained defensive in their outlook. In north Gaul, the destruction of paganism preoccupied Martin of Tours, whose combination of Episcopal office and ascetic vocation left behind strong developments in the Western church. Martin, concentrated his action in towns of Loire and Seine valley, mainly on peasants. His methods were simple and he used direct action, he paid no heed to threats and became very successful. His influence is said to have reached Britain (Frend, 708-709). 6) Priscillian was a member of the provincial aristocracy of Gallaecia. He was a man of intellect and had an inquiring mind. He was converted to Christianity that required the strictest asceticism. He denied Manichee and denounced Heresies very strongly. He was known to lead an evangelical ascetic movement in Spain which encouraged charismatic prophecy among both men and women, with the study of heretical apocrypha. His religion included traits such as mysticism, love of the occult, secrecy and Docetic Christology point towards Gnosticism. He thought that the world was satanic. He was executed on charges of sorcery in 385 (Frend, 711-712). Paulinus, who was stuck in the anti-Priscillianist inquisitions, was an aristrocrat with big estates in southern Gaul and Spain. He grew up as a member of the new Christian Gallic nobility. He trained as a lawyer and a public speaker at Bordeaux and was appointed supernumerary consul in 378 and provincial governor of Campania in 381. He was highly influenced by Ausonius and love for poetry and history of Rome. He threw up his career and spent 36 years as the faithful guardian of the shrine of the martyr St. Felix of Nola. He became a friend of Martin of Tours and became committed to Christianity. He dies in 431 (Frend, 713-714). 7) Jerome was not an official and his life shows him having interest in mixed ideas of patriotism and soldierly instincts and also to take up ascetic ideals. He lived in Bethlehem, but his influence on the Roman aristocracy was deep. Nobody could draw a deeper line between classical past and the Christian present apart from him, based on pagan Rome. This and his commentaries on scriptures and Vulgate was his lasting legacy to the formation of the early Middle Ages in the west. He was baptized in 369 and migrated to Aquileia and established a community and lived as an ascetic. Jerome’s zeal as well as controversial personality gave a powerful impetus towards transforming ascetism from eccentric way to a representative Christian movement in Rome. Jovinian was a one time monk and a very normal life saying that his life was based on the scriptures, and based himself on the value of baptism. His arguments were similar to Pelagius’s. Jerome’s Against Jovinian was to establish ascetism as a norm of Christian life (Frend, 716-718). 8) Honoratus founded the monastery at Lerins, was also a Gallic aristrocrat, rejected worldly prospects at an early age. At Lerins he settled and quickly had many followers. It attracted idealists from all over the West. Honoratus became a bishop for 3 years. Honoratus’s example as a leader gave courage to others to establish monasteries (Frend, 719). John Cassian was a native of Dobrudja. He was drawn to monasticism and in 392 took admission in a monastery in Bethlehem. He made his way to Egypt and the impression of the Egyptian monks was evident from his 24 conferences that he published when he came to Gaul. Cassian’s work was a bit too late for the Christians. When the barbaric tribes attacked Most of them panicked (Frend, 719-720). 9) Gallic aristocrats showed little interest in the attack from the Visigoths, as they were into ascetic lives. The rise of the nomadic people was a major reason. Catholic bishops failed to find solutions and social and economic alienation aggravated matters. The Roman territory was full of bankruptcy where the rich were oppressing the poor. Debt and crushing interest rates were the chief causes of the trouble (Frend, 21-23). 10) The church however survived through intellectual, practical and institutional practices. Paulus, who was an intellectual had a great sense of history and events and did his task given by Augustine. He found out that the Goths had no real enmity with Rome. Conversion of the Germanic tribes to Christianity was seen as the best method of bringing them close to Rome and making them less dangerous. Ambrose of Milan was among the most important ones who took up this task (Frend, 725-727). Commentary Aristotle’s Metaphysics Aristotle’s first book of metaphysics chooses his subject matter, which he finds as ‘first philosophy’, or ‘the study of being qua being’, or ‘wisdom’, or ‘theology’. He discusses, wisdom (sophia), causes (aitia) and the principles (archai) of things and, as always, by his customary reviewing opinions held by others. First philosophy is what we call causes and the principles and debates matters fundamental to the senses. The distinction between ‘better known to us’ and ‘better known in themselves’ shows in itself the simplicity of a procedure where we should always start thinking from what is better known to us and then go to understand what is better known in themselves. Aristotle’s Metaphysics, Book 1 is a difficult read, mainly because the modern day readers are greatly unattached from the time it was written in and may find his work not very appealing. ‘All human beings by nature desire to know’ is very true, but his arguments, “a sign of this is our liking for the senses; for even apart from their usefulness we like them for themselves" (115), are not very good. It is more like a philosopher saying something that looks good but makes little sense. We humans desire to know things because we like our senses, is meaningless when we think about it. For example if we debate about eyesight, then from Aristotle’s point of view it comes to, we like out eyes because of its usefulness in sight. Eyesight is not used for other purposes and it cannot be useful in any other way. He brings in a brilliant insight from biology where he describes that in some animals, not all, the perception results in memory, making them superior in intelligence and learning, and making others weak who cannot. It is true that those who can remember are better than others in learning. I find his logic unsatisfactory owing to the fact that his thought that bees cannot hear, but are intelligent though they cannot learn. Bees cannot hear, but they do remember path to the pollen and they even remember a coded dance to communicate. Most arguments are interesting, but cannot be given too much importance with such discrepancies. Book twelve, or Lambda, is considered important in understanding Aristotle’s entire metaphysical system. Philosophers have been known to refer this book for guidance. This book is very interesting in the sense here Aristotle argues for the existence of God as a intellectual substance, whose presence is totally based on contemplation. He describes god as someone who runs and moves the entire cosmos without being it self in motion. Herein lays the concept of ‘unmoved mover’, which is beautiful and indivisible. God thus moves everything simply by being an object of desire, “as being loved”. This is what should be the ultimate object of study for the first philosophy. I find the questions regarding Gods intellectual activity are strange and thought provoking. He says “That there must be an immortal, unchanging being, ultimately responsible for all wholeness and orderliness in the sensible world. And he is able … to discover a good deal about that being” (Aristotle, Book 12) From a point of view of science, this may seem very dreamy and illogical. The universe as I know exists because of the Big Bang. Only because conditions were favorable, does life exists on earth. Aristotle’s views require deeper thinking. Although the questions asked here and the thought presented in the existence of the supreme power is intriguing, but I still find a lot of discontinuity in his work in this book. This explanation at times seems more of a patchwork. Commentary The writings of the great philosophers, be it Plato or Phaedrus, leaves us completely with a different thinking. In a scene related to the conversation between Phaedrus and Socrates, Plato has clearly highlighted Phaedrus’ noble teachings and morals and throughout how Socrates has led him support. His comments in support of Phaedrus, “"I shall have a partner in my revels." does tell everything else. This point has been vastly emphasized upon in Plato’s works. It has the effect of detaching us from our material lives and dipping our minds into the world of spirituality. In our age life has become a rat race. Life is a race for acquiring wealth, status and all the other material benefits. But such material well being are more to display and acquire envy of others. How much peace of mind such riches deliver is definitely questionable. Achieving a higher status is only a matter of showing off with which an individual ceases to be humble as depicted by Plato. What is really worth achieving is enlightenment for which Plato, like Socrates, says we have to find out the truth as well as gain wisdom to verify the truth. As Socrates remarked,” The wise are doubtful, and I should not be singular if, like them, I too doubted “.Such logical truths today have shaped up as sciences which highly influence an individual’s life. Plato’s writings also carry the information about the basic nature of human being. Loneliness is a curse in the life of every individual which he tries to avoid or overcome. Loneliness is killing, as the individual gets reduced merely to a living creature breathing but not living a meaningful life. Man, right from his origin, has been a social animal. Plato has rightly identified the tendency of the human beings to search and find out a mate when alone. Perhaps such a tendency has led to the creation of families, communities and even cities. As individuals started living in groups they also felt the need for a representative who would speak on behalf of their necessities and even take complex decisions for the groups. This perhaps paved the way for the emergence of leaders. Philosophical culture talks of divinity mainly through the emotion of sacrifice. Sacrifice should be a part of every man’s life. If not so we all deal with either some adjustments or compromise in some phase of our life. Socrates has been a political thinker as well as a Greek storyteller and this narrative tone is also visible in Plato’s works. As Socrates replies to Phaedrus question, “Will you go on?...And will you go on with the narration?” It has a strange ability of making a direct connection with the soul. Mythologies in our cultural contexts always have a superhero to crush the evil powers of the society and rise against all the odds. With saturation of the tolerance limits of wrongs, people protest against the wrong doings. This is referred to as man’s basic nature to revolt and argue against unjust phenomenon. Plato has already conveyed this message through his writings. Phaedrus works are rather scary in the sense that they lead to complete distraction of our mind from the existing so called practical world. Phaedrus remarks, “Lysias has been writing about a youth who was being tempted but not by a lover; and this was the point: he ingeniously proved that the non-lover should be accepted rather than the lover” and Socrates replies, “O that is noble of him! I wish that he would say the poor man rather than the rich, and the old man rather than the young one; then he would meet the case of me and of many a man; his words would be quite refreshing, and he would be a public benefactor.” This illustrated Phaedrus’ teachings of love and care for an individual without any personal interest. The way he illustrated teaching is completely different from what we actually know it as. Socrates also had total belief in Phaedrus’ works. A kind of disrespect is noted in his writings for the ongoing society at that time and this might have lead to the tragic end. Read More