Tag Archives: origen

We Believe in One Lord Jesus Christ (ed. McGuckin)

Posted on November 22, 2018 by J. B. Aitken

John McGuckin gives us an outstanding, yea even world-class compendium of Patristic Christology. It nicely succeeds the first volume in the series.  McGuckin notes a set of “ciphers” that explain the theology behind the Nicene Creed: “‘Christ’ becomes a cipher … Continue reading →

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J. Macleod Campbell (The Nature of the Atonement)

Posted on November 19, 2018 by J. B. Aitken

Campbell, J. Macleod.  The Nature of the Atonement.  Eerdmans. Macleod Campbell represents a different stream of Scottish theology.  It is Reformed theology without limited atonement. His argument, to be presented below, is incomplete in many ways.  He really doesn’t develop a … Continue reading →

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Review: Torrance, Space, Time, and Incarnation

Posted on November 10, 2018 by J. B. Aitken

Torrance, Thomas F. Space, Time, and Incarnation.  Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1969 [1997]. At barely 90 pages of text, Thomas Torrance wrote a book on cosmology that shocked the theological world.  If his arguments in this book obtain, then all … Continue reading →

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Review: Cosmic Mystery

Posted on February 3, 2018 by J. B. Aitken

I’ve read this book six or eight times.  It’s probably the most important theological piece ever written on cosmology. Ambiguum 7 All created being is in motion since it aims toward some end. This combats Origenism.  Origen (de Principis I.2) … Continue reading →

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Review: Arius: Heresy and Tradition

Posted on February 3, 2018 by J. B. Aitken

by Rowan Williams Date: January 2014 Being faithful to church teachings does not mean merely chanting former slogans, but critically receiving the church’s witness and faithfully putting it into a new context in response to a new crisis.  Rowan Williams … Continue reading →

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Analytic Outline, Balthasar’s Cosmic Liturgy

Posted on January 17, 2018 by J. B. Aitken

This isn’t an outline of the whole book–only the first half.  That is where Balthasar’s discussion on Person and Nature is.  I first read this book in 2010 when I was new to Maximus the Confessor.  Those were heady days.  … Continue reading →

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History and Spirit (de Lubac)

Posted on June 2, 2016 by J. B. Aitken

“The Law is spiritual.” This one sentence allows Origen to seek “mystical” meanings beyond that of the literal text–and in de Lubac’s hands he does a fairly impressive job. In many ways this work can be seen as a case … Continue reading →

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Readings in Christian Ethics (O’Donovan list)

Posted on March 12, 2016 by J. B. Aitken

Focusing mainly on more classical and patristic texts.  These are the texts in the O’Donovans’ work.  So, if you wanted to read in the patristic tradition and how earlier Christians engaged in political reflection, this is a good list. Justin … Continue reading →

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Origen and the Life of the Stars

Posted on February 18, 2016 by J. B. Aitken

Alan Scott sheds light on key problems in Hellenism by focusing on Origen’s view of the stars’ souls.  Ancient Greece certainly discussed the possibility that the stars are alive (and we will use the phrase” alive,” “intelligence,” and “souls” interchangeably … Continue reading →

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Gregory for Origen

Posted on February 4, 2016 by J. B. Aitken

I don’t think I am an Origenist.  I don’t think his protology survives Maximus’s deconstruction of it.  But I do think it is wrong of “Trad Fundies” to bash Origen as a “heretic” when few of the greatest fathers of … Continue reading →

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