“To be ignorant about these debates is to be ignorant of how we Christians came to be who we are. To know about them is to have a fuller understanding of our faith and what it means for our lives today.”
(Douglas W. Johnson, The Great Jesus Debates, p. 12)
No Christian teacher should ever want those in his or her care to live in ignorance about the history of Christianity.
“It has been said that history is written by the winners. This remark holds true for the present volume. The main characters treated will be primarily those whose ideas and beliefs emerged victorious in the theological battles.”
(Ibid., p. 13)
That such theological battles happened in the church is beyond dispute.
I would like for my readers to recall at this point what of one of those major characters - Gregory of Nyssa - said about what the ideas and beliefs of the “winners” did to Jewish monotheism - it destroyed it.
This is a historical fact which should be ingrained in the mind of every human being. I’m very interested in finding out whether or not the trinitarian author addresses this point in his book. I don’t think he will but he might. I hope that he does.
P.S.
There is no mention of Gregory of Nyssa on the timeline the author uses. In fairness to him, he does tell his readers - “I have attempted to keep matters as simple as possible. Some scholars may object that I have included the wrong individuals and excluded the most relevant ones. It is a judgment call.“ That’s a little disconcerting but at least he draws our attention to it.
The book doesn’t contain an index of characters. Gregory of Nyssa may yet be included in the 4th century narrative.
P.S.S.
He does, in a very small section dedicated to discussing the Cappadocians (pp. 99-101). Perhaps then he will be elsewhere also.
”Theologically and philosophically the Cappadocians were dedicated followers of Origen and his Platonic understanding of reality, but they also took for granted the correctness of the Nicaean formula.”
(Douglas W. Johnson,
The Great Jesus Debates, p. 99)
Important background information -> Gregory of Nyssa (and the others) were dedicated followers of Origen and Plato; Anti-Jewish monotheism.
The prophets, the Messiah, and the apostles - all of whom are Jewish monotheists - weren’t dedicated followers of Origen and Plato; Pro-Jewish monotheism.
”The Christian concept of God, argues Gregory of Nyssa, is neither the polytheism of the Greeks nor the monotheism of the Jews and consequently it must be true...”
(Henry Austryn Wolfson,
The Philosophy of the Church Fathers, Vol. 1, p. 362-363)
“The Christian concept of God” for Gregory of Nyssa is what we know as historical orthodox trinitarianism.
”... for ‘the truth passes in between these two conceptions, destroying each heresy …’”
(Ibid.
Gregory not only calls polytheism heresy, he calls Jewish monotheism heresy.
The prophets, the Messiah, and the apostles - all of whom are Jewish monotheists - do not call Jewish monotheism heresy.
”…’and yet, accepting what is useful to it from each.’”
(Ibid.)
Gregory acknowledges that historical orthodox trinitarianism appropriated and made use of some parts of what he calls their heresy. When is the last time your pastor or Sunday School teacher informed you about that? Mine never did.
“‘The Jewish dogma is destroyed by the acceptance of the Word and by the belief in the Spirit, …’”
(Ibid.)
As if the Jewish monotheists themselves - the prophets, the Messiah, the apostles, and even the earliest Christians - didn’t accept the Word and believe in the Spirit.
Gregory, speaking on behalf of historical orthodox trinitarianism, dedicated follower of Origen and Plato, arrives at a different understanding from that of the Jewish monotheists - the prophets, the Messiah, the apostles, and the earliest Christians; an understanding which he acknowledges destroys their understanding.
My interest is in what historical orthodox trinitarianism did to Jewish monotheism, not what it did to the polytheism of the Greeks but I’ll finish his statement for the benefit of my readers.
”’… , while the polytheistic error of the Greek school is made to vanish by the unity of the nature abrogating the imagination of plurality.’”
(Ibid.)
Gregory loves Jesus. He doesn’t love Jesus’ monotheism. He is pleased with the destruction of “the Jewish dogma”.
***
”Jesus’ beliefs, therefore, remained those of a first-century Jew, committed to the coming kingdom of Israel’s god. He did not waver in his loyalty to Jewish doctrine. But his beliefs were those of a first-century Jew who believed that the kingdom was coming in and through his own work. His loyalty to Israel’s cherished beliefs therefore took the form of critique and renovation with; of challenge to traditions and institutions whose purpose, he believed, (like prophets long before him, and radicals in his own day), had been grievously corrupted and distorted; and of new proposals which, though without precedent, were never mere innovations. They always claimed the high ground: fulfillment, completion, consummation.
We can summarize Jesus’ beliefs in terms of three most fundamental Jewish beliefs: monotheism, election, and eschatology.
Jesus believed there was one God who made the world, and who called Israel to be his people; that this one God had promised to be with his people, and guide them to their destiny, their new exodus; that his presence, guidance and ultimately salvation were symbolized, brought into reality, in and through Temple, Torah, Wisdom, Word and Spirit. He was a first-century Jewish monotheist.”
(N.T. Wright,
Jesus And The Victory of God, p. 652)
Jesus didn't destroy what he was and is.
“Jewish monotheism, the Jewish dogma, was destroyed” (Gregory of Nyssa). Jesus didn’t destroy Jewish monotheism, the Jewish dogma.
“Jewish monotheism is heresy” (Gregory of Nyssa). Jesus was and is a Jewish monotheist. I’m a Jewish monotheist.
Gregory would love me if he knew me. He wouldn’t love my monotheism.
