The Significance of Second Vatican Council on the Churchs Patristic Heritage - Term Paper Example

Christology INTRODUCTION Christology is the specific study of all the matters related to Jesus Christ. If the word Christology is to be explained into details, Christ is the term used for denoting the holy person of trinity. He was named as Christ when he fulfilled all the responsibilities of ‘messiah’ becoming a human being. There are two of the famous phrases used while explaining the concept of Christology i.e. ‘from below’ and ‘from above’. ‘From below’ concept of Christology starts its explanation from the man and then moves on to explain his/ her relation with God. ‘From above’ concept of Christology refers to the ideology of incarnation of a person as a human being and spends the entire life in serving to the welfare of others. The ‘from above’ concept is best applicable to the birth of Jesus Christ as he had incarnated to serve for the well-being of the humankind (Wildman 285-286). The Christology’s concept was made clear, as it was completely assumed that Jesus was the savior of human being. After this analysis of Jesus, it was necessary to understand the relationship between Jesus and his holy being. The holy being of Jesus Christ is always at the point of various types of controversies and belief of the Christianity. In accordance with the Christianity, few of the orthodox Christians believe that Jesus was the God sent for serving the welfare of the people. On the other hand, in the current scenario, the liberal theologians are strictly against of the belief that Jesus is God (Wildman 285-286). Thus, this essay will study the significance of Second Vatican Council on the Church’s Patristic heritage. THESIS STATEMENT This essay has been presented with an intention of analyzing the significance of Second Vatican Council on the Church’s patristic heritage. Accordingly, that reclaimed heritage has been understood with the description of the Keresztys Christology (Part III). In the last section of the essay, a detailed study has been conducted on the ways that Christology reflects on the Latin West’s medieval heritage. The political significance of Second Vatican Council had created complexities on the profound belief of the common people on Jesus Christ. SIGNIFICANCE OF SECOND VATICAN COUNCIL The Second Vatican Council was one of the changes that had occurred in the early twentieth century. After its formation, it became one of the most significant aspects, as it changed the life of the million Christians. Pope John XXIII had announced Second Vatican Council on January 25, 1959 in order to reveal the spiritual renewal of the church and to declare that the Christians have been separated from Rome in search of reunion and different identity. The Second Vatican Council was formed to bring in changes to the practices adopted in the various churches of the country. Due to these changes, there were several people who strictly opposed to the principles laid by Second Vatican Council. The Second Vatican Council stated four principles that include developing a long lasting energy among the Christians to be faithful in life, adapting to the changes that are necessary in human life, promoting union among the people who believe in Christ and manifesting all the people towards the humanity as well as mankind of the church (Willis 1-2). During the reign of Second Vatican Council, it was observed that the church was holding the supreme power in the society along with strengthening its political power within the country. At that period, most of the people used to visit churches for mass and the priests were gaining much of the attention than that of the sovereign authorities of that era. The people of that period used to give much of the attention and respect to the priests as well as bishops, as they had created a sense of solidity along with trust towards Jesus Christ. Pope John XXIII also stated that the aim of creating Second Vatican Council was not to protest towards the rules framed by the outer world rather it aims to fill the entire world with love and faith towards God. The specific aim of teaching the meaning of trust through love gave rise to the formation of Second Vatican Council. However, the belief of Second Vatican Council was strictly opposed by the sovereign powers during that period. The sovereign authorities were suffering from the fear of losing the supreme attention by the people. They thought that the people of the region were not considering them as the supreme authority and giving much of the concentration towards the priests and the churches (Kereszty 326-429). The fear of loss of sovereign power by the kings of that era led a conflict among the church and the sovereignty. The conflict rose between the sovereign authorities and the churches of Vatican City indirectly. The conflict intensified, as the sovereign powers of that period stood against the churches and its priests in an aggressive manner. They were in a great fear of their loss of power and control over the region and its people. In simple words, it can be explained that the sovereign authorities of Vatican were planning to provoke the group of people against the church and the priests. They started protesting against the priests and the church by provoking the people against the teachings of Bible presented by the priests during the mass. A group of people named Christian theologians was against the thought that Jesus was God. They also provoked the common people stating that few of the contents in the Old Testament of Bible was not true and contributed to the false allegation that Pope and Bishop were spreading all the wrong information of Christ in communities. Hence, it can also be stated that due to the formation of Second Vatican Council, severe conflicts rose among the Church’s priests, Bishops as well as Pope and the sovereign authorities of that era. The conflicts resulted towards the violation of the society and the valuable teachings of the holy Bible and its deities along with the holy being (Kereszty 326-429). Therefore, in the following section of the essay, analysis of Keresztys Christology (Part III) and Churchs Patristic heritage is carried on. CHURCHS PATRISTIC HERITAGE The patristic concept of the Bible and church was one of the major principles of the teachings of Bible. The patristic literature of the Bible was regarded as one of the important teachings of the priests and bishops of the churches. It is evidential that the Russian theology of 20th century had given much of the emphasis towards the maintenance of patristic heritage. The fathers of the Palestinian churches had played a special role in the development of the patristic heritage. In the patristic era i.e. A.D. 100-500, priests and bishops were quiet renowned in the churches as in this era, the churches had to fight against several theological issues. The major differences stood in the belief that whether Jesus Christ was God or human being. At this patristic era, the belief on the God and the contents of the Old Testament of Bible were affected through the rumors spread by the sovereign authorities of the region. The sovereign powers of the region did so in order to regain the control and power over the common public and also the area in which they were ruling. However, the church’s patristic heritage was kept unaffected and the theologies mentioned in the patristic study expressed a firm belief on the principles of Christianity and the Christ. It is worth mentioning that the patristic heritage was not confined within the systematic theology, as the Christological characteristics were taken into consideration while conveying the teachings of Bible (Kereszty 326-429). It was been described in the earlier section that during the period when Second Vatican Council was introduced, there were various complexities in the teachings of the Bible. The patristic literature as per the patristic heritage identifies God or Christ, as the father of all the common people. The patristic literature also considered the priests and bishops, as the incarnation of the Christ, who had been sent for rendering service to the humankind. As per the theologies of patristic literature, the people of the Second Vatican Council were giving respect to the priests for considering them as the messenger of Christ. The ruling sovereign authorities were not accepting the belief that Christ as God. In this context, they wanted to create a situation wherein the people or the follower of the priests and bishops undergoes into conflicts or protest against the churches. Several conflicts were raised stating that the contents mentioned in the old as well as the new testament of Bible had wrong sayings and it had the probable chances of leading the people towards the wrong path. However, the patristic literature did not allow the sovereign or the political forces to do so by allowing the priests to teach their disciples about the learning of the Bible. The patristic literature helped the people to keep a firm belief on the teachings of the Church and bestowed their respect towards their teachers i.e. priests of the church. Hence, it can be ascertained that the quotations and the statements stated as per the patristic heritage in that era had saved the priests of the church from the sovereign powers of the Vatican City to create a conflict against them. It also provided the priests along with the political authorities the power of having a generalized rule over the region. The parties in force could understand the need for the teachings and motivate the people to gain knowledge from the holy books and preaching of the Holy Spirit or the messenger of God (Kereszty 326-429). In this manner, it can be affirmed that one of the major ways of thinking about the significance of Second Vatican Council is the influence created by it in the reclamation of the Church’s patristic heritage. KERESZTYS CHRISTOLOGY (PART III) In the book “Fundamental of Christology”, written by Roch Kereszty, a wide range of approaches of the mystery of Christ has been studied. The concept of Christology entails that the divine spirit or Holy Spirit i.e. Jesus described several incidents of His mysteries regarding incarnation and humanity, which serves the purpose of well-being of the humankind. Thus, in the philosophy laid down by Kereszty, it has been mentioned that communion and incarnation of Jesus Christ is the two major contents of Christology. In the New Testament, it has been denoted that Jesus is the son of God. In the systematic theology of Kereszty, it has been stated that there are human being who are been sent by the Holy Spirit for the removal of sins from the world. However, during the period of Second Vatican Council, there were conflicts among the followers of Jesus and those opposing to the incarnation prophecy of Jesus. Considerably, it has been observed that the Jesus was named as ‘Second Person of the Trinity’, as it was said that His birth was not for the natural purpose. This belief was quoted in the Holy Bible, which again motivated the people to maintain the patristic heritage. It is quiet necessary to understand the concept of His incarnation in details to analyze its reflections on the Latin Wests medieval theological heritage. The sovereign authorities of the Vatican City during the Second Council were completely made to believe that Jesus was blessed with incarnation from the Holy Spirit, as He served the mission of serving the humankind (Kereszty 339-342). The Christology is said to be one of the holy reminders of Jesus, to make the people understand about the need for humanity and serve for the humankind. The fact that Jesus had a natural birth from the womb of a woman made the people understand that Jesus was God and not a common human being. Hence, it can be ascertained that the preaching of the Church and priests had a high value, as it can mold the people’s life towards the Holy Spirit. It has also been observed that in the medieval Latin West, the people used to believe that there is no divine spirit and all that exist in the world is the blessing of concerns and techniques. The systematic theology, which gives much of the stress on the concept of incarnation and humanity of Jesus, motivated the people to believe that there is divine spirit owing to the number of mysterious incidents. According to the systematic theology proposed by Kereszty, it has been stated that Jesus being the Son of God, who had a natural birth was sent for the fulfillment of His duty of filling the entire world with the trust through love. There is a twofold truth regarding the birth of Jesus i.e. God and human being exhibit systematic theology and teach the people to understand the need for developing belief on the divine spirit of God. The people of Latin West in the medieval age determined that if Jesus was not the God before his reincarnation, there would have been no meaning of eternal communion of love among the people (Kereszty 326-429). Thus, from the above study, it can be understood that the systematic theology proposed by Kereszty in his study of Christology has developed the belief that Jesus was the son of God who had been sent for serving towards the betterment of humankind. The thoughts preached by the priests and the bishops of the patristic church, which aided them in developing positive attitude among the sovereign powers during that period. The Vatican City was blessed with the effective rule of the sovereignty along with the guidance of Pope and bishops on a number of social and political issues. Hence, it can be ascertained that the Christology of Kereszty had reflected the patristic heritage along with the theological heritage of the Medieval Latin West through its concept of incarnation and humanity of Jesus. CONCLUSION From the above discussion and analysis, it can be ascertained that the incarnation of Jesus was the mysterious and the controversial issue in the Vatican Council. After the formation of Second Vatican Council, there were conflicts on the matter that Jesus is not God rather he is a human being. The teachings of bishops that Jesus was completely God made the sovereign authorities go against the church. The ruling sovereignty felt that they were losing their control over the general public and also the political supremacy. However, the systematic theology developed by Roch Kereszty in the medieval age had developed ideologies, which gave rise to the concept that Jesus was blessed with reincarnation for the fulfillment of the mission of serving for the betterment of human beings. If Jesus was human being, he would not have been blessed with the power of reincarnation. This ideology of the Testaments in Bible, which were also taught in the church, improved the thoughts of the sovereign authorities and general people. With the notion of humanity and filling the world with the truth through love, all the priests of the church in Latin West and Vatican City were able to bring improvements to the political aspects of the region and also the living standard of the people during that era. Works Cited Kereszty, Roch. Jesus Christ: Fundamentals of Christology. New York: Alba House, 2002. Print. Wildman, Wesley J. “Basic Christological Distinctions.” Theology Today 64 (2007): 285-304. Print. Willis, Michelle. “Vatican II.” Summary and Reflection of Vatican II Documents (2008): 1-20. Print. Read More