Posted on by Kurt Bodling

how the magi found Jesus

“These magi were carefully prevented from finding Christ by their own efforts or with the aid of men. They found him solely because of the prophet, written word, and the star that shone from heaven in order that all natural knowledge and all human reason might be rejected and every enlightenment repudiated except that which comes through the Spirit and grace. For human reason boasts and claims arrogantly to teach truth and show the proper way, just as the blind men in the universities, of whom we spoke earlier, at present claim to be able to do. Here is determined for all time that Christ, who is the truth that brings salvation, will not permit himself to be taught or found through the teachings or aid of men. The Scriptures alone and the light of God must show him.”

Luther, Martin. “The Gospel for the Festival of the Epiphany, Matthew 2:1-12” from his Christmas Postil (1522) Luther’s Works Vol. 52. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1974, page 194.

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why the magi didn’t go to Bethlehem first of all

The 3 magi went first to Jerusalem rather than directly to Bethlehem. Martin Luther had thoughts on why that was:

“Here we ask why Christ did not lead these magi up to Bethlehem with the star, but instead permitted his birth, which was now known, to be searched for in Scripture. He did this to teach us to cling to Scripture and not to follow our own presumptuous ideas or any human teaching. For it was not his desire to give us his Scripture in vain. It is in Scripture and nowhere else, that he permits himself to be found. He who despises Scripture and sets it aside, will never find him.”

Luther, Martin. “The Gospel for the Festival of the Epiphany, Matthew 2:1-12” from his Christmas Postil (1522) Luther’s Works Vol. 52. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1974, page 171.

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the path to Christian doctrine

"The church’s official ‘doctrine of the Trinity’ was not fully formulated until three or four centuries after the time of Paul. Yet when the later theologians eventually worked it all through, it turned out to consist, in effect, of detailed footnotes to Paul, John, Hebrews and the other New Testament books, with explanations designed to help later generations grasp what was already there in principle in the earliest writings.

“But it would be a mistake to give the impression that the Christian doctrine of God is a matter of clever intellectual word-games or mind-games. For Christians it’s always a love-game.”

Wright, Tom. Simply Christian. London: SPCK, 2006, p. 118.

Comment: It’s clear, according to N.T. Wright, that Christian doctrine is more than simply a slow development of simple statements recorded in the Bible. He says here that doctrine is basically footnotes to the Scriptural text. At least when it (the Bible) is expounded properly.

It would seem, then, that Tradition must in this light be measured against Scripture. If the teachings of Tradition are not apparent in Scripture, then they aren’t footnoting anything. Which makes no sense. Pay attention to Wright’s idea of the “love-game” in tension with the “word-game”. If a doctrinal exposition and explanation is not growing out of the love-game, there’s reason to suspect it.

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Scripture is the door

“Through Sacred Scripture, when it is listened to and meditated upon in silence, divine graces are poured out on man. It is in faith, and not by traveling in distant lands or by crossing the seas and continents, that we can find and contemplate God. Actually, it is through long hours of poring over Sacred Scripture, after resisting all the attacks of the Prince of this world, that we will reach God.” Robert Cardinal Sarah, The Power of Silence Against the Dictatorship of Noise. (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2017), page 23

Posted on by Kurt Bodling

the source and norm

“There is only one God, brethren, and we learn about him only from sacred Scripture. It is therefore our duty to become acquainted with what Scripture proclaims and to investigate its teachings thoroughly. We should believe them in the sense that the Father wills, thinking of the Son in the way the Father wills, and accepting the teaching he wills to give us with regard to the Holy Spirit. Sacred Scripture is God’s gift to us and it should be understood in the way that he intends: we should not do violence to it by interpreting it according to our own preconceived ideas.”

Hippolytus. “A treatise against the heresy of Noetus.” Quoted in the Liturgy of the Hours, Office of Readings for December 23 (Vol. 1, p. 370-371) and cited there as: Cap. 9-12: PG 10, 815-819

Note: Saint Hippolytus, who lived in the decades either side of the year 200, writes that people learn about God only from sacred Scripture. Which sounds to me like a sola Scriptura thought. He also here makes clear that interpreters need to get from the Bible what God intends us to get, and not what our preconceived ideas tell us is there.

Holy Scripture is, in other words, the source and norm for all our talk about God. Or it should be.

Posted on by Kurt Bodling

are you using that phrase correctly?

Quote: “Movements and theologies need short phrases that capture their convictions and give people something easy to remember in times of need. But these slogans can end up being reductive or distorted. A great example of this is sola Scriptura or “Scripture alone.”

“It accurately represents Luther if it means something like “the church has permission to formulate as binding doctrine or practice only those things that are taught in the Scripture, always pointing to the salvation offered in Jesus Christ as the matter of central importance, but it can’t make up new teachings or traditions and impose them on believers as a matter affecting their salvation.” Whew! Not a very catchy slogan, that.

“But, if sola Scriptura means something like “unless it’s explicitly written and defined in Scripture a Christian must have absolutely nothing to do with it” or “nothing in the entire history and tradition of the church is of any value at all” or “anyone can read the Scripture without any education or training and come up with a perfectly valid interpretation that cannot be challenged because after all it’s from Scripture”—then no, those unwieldy versions of sola Scriptura do not accurately reflect Luther.”

(From a now apparently defunct webpage by Sarah Hinlicky Wilson at  https://www.lutherreadingchallenge.org/ which is © Institute for Ecumenical Research “in Strasbourg, France, an affiliate of the Lutheran World Federation (http://www.lutheranworld.org/) that has been devoted to Lutheran churches’ ecumenical commitments since 1965.” The web page existed on 15 November 2016.)

Note: I get so exasperated with writers and speakers who misuse terms like this one. It’s shorthand for an important theological concept. It doesn’t mean what so many people make it out to mean. This is mostly those trying to “prove” fellow Christians are wrong, but sadly also includes lesser-informed Protestants. What Pastor Wilson says in the above quote accords with the original meaning of the pithy Latin phrase as used by those in the 16th century who first used it.

Posted on by Kurt Bodling

paean to theology

Note: I always cringe a little when I hear preachers say “I’m no theologian, but….” It makes me wonder to myself why they’re even up there. Didn’t the congregation call/license/hire you to be their theologian-in-residence and interpret the Word of God in their midst?

What they are generally trying to do, I think, is to distance themselves from academic theology which can sometimes be dry, boring, and even quite wrong in its attempt to be innovative. That ploy, however, can make theology as a whole an object of contempt and even ridicule among the congregation.

Rest assured that there’s still a place for theology in today’s world. All Christians need at least some theological knowledge so that they can work with the heart wisdom gleaned from Scripture through the spiritual disciplines. Every one of us is a theologian. Some of us are just better trained and more skilled at it than others of us.

Quote:
“Theology is the main requisite for entering into and embodying Christian wisdom. We read the Scriptures, but without theology, we understand only the letter and do not enter into the spirit of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We read the mystics, but without theology, we do not understand the profundity of their spiritual insights and enter into mystical experience. We have authentic moments of silence, meditation and prayer, but without theological exercise, our life will not become doxological, permeated by prayer and thanksgiving. Theology is the way to enter into God’s mystery.”

Source: Barban, Alessandro. “Lectio Divina and Monastic Theology in Camaldolese Life” in Belisle, Peter-Damian, editor. The Privilege of Love: Camaldolese Benedictine Spirituality. Collegeville, Minn.: Liturgical Press, 2002, pg. 50.

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the Scriptural center of the spiritual life

Note: Again and again we see the necessity of soaking in Scripture as the center of the spiritual life. Ruminating on God’s Word – which we can only do when we’re thoroughly familiar with it – puts it constantly in our thoughts and on our lips. Is it time to add “ruminatio” to the oratio, meditatio, tentatio sequence?

(And, by the way, the sequence I just referred to comes from Luther’s commentary on Psalm 119 where he wrote that “oratio, meditatio, tentatio faciunt theologum” which, being interpreted, means “prayer, meditation, and struggle/temptation/personal experience make a theologian.” Many modern writers treat the “tentatio” as one of those words you can’t really translate. Anyway, should we think about adding “rumination” to Luther’s formula?)

Quote:
“The monastic practice of rumination moves from the personal reading of the gospel of the day and the liturgical listening to the text at Lauds and Eucharist to its repetition from memory throughout the day. We could call it meditatio, but meditation is only a moment of lectio and cannot exhaust its spiritual sense. Rumination consists in keeping the word alive within us by its repetition. So we begin to know God, to abide in God’s love. This kind of knowledge is a comprehension of participation, union, and love.”

Source: Barban, Alessandro. “Lectio Divina and Monastic Theology in Camaldolese Life” in Belisle, Peter-Damian, editor. The Privilege of Love: Camaldolese Benedictine Spirituality. Collegeville, Minn.: Liturgical Press, 2002, pg. 53.

Posted on by Kurt Bodling

Scripture alone is the heart of the spiritual life

Note: I grew up knowing that sola Scriptura (“Scripture alone”) is one of the core principles of the Reformation. And it’s only in the last couple decades that I’ve become aware of two things connected with this two word soundbite. First, that so many people misunderstand what the Lutheran Reformers were getting at here. Second, that so many Roman Catholics actually teach the same thing the Lutherans do with regard to the Bible.

As an example of the second, the Camaldolese see lectio divina as the central core and heart of the spiritual disciplines. That’s because lectio is how and where the Bible soaks into our very being. We must listen before we can serve.

Quote:
“Our monastic vocation is to serve and worship God through a contemplative life that reveals the trinitarian love of God. For this reason lectio divina is not a technique of interpretation or meditation of the Scriptures, but the very heart of monastic spirituality. Our own asceticism must be built on God’s Word. The monastery is a school of the Lord’s service because it is where we learn to hear our Lord Jesus Christ. Silence, ongoing conversion and solitude are meant for listening. They are conditions of possibility for our spiritual growth.”

Source: Barban, Alessandro. “Lectio Divina and Monastic Theology in Camaldolese Life” in Belisle, Peter-Damian, editor. The Privilege of Love: Camaldolese Benedictine Spirituality. Collegeville, Minn.: Liturgical Press, 2002, pg. 54.

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Luther on Luke 2

“This lesson is just like the sun: in a placid pond it can be seen clearly and warms the water powerfully, but in a rushing current it cannot be seen as well nor can it warm up the water as much. So if you wish to be illumined and warmed here, to see God’s mercy and wondrous deeds, so that your heart is filled with fire and light and becomes reverent and joyous, then go to where you may be still and impress the picture deep in your heart.”

Martin Luther. ‘The Gospel for Christmas Eve’ from the Christmas Postil. Luther’s Works, American Edition, vol. 52. (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1974), p. 8-9.