Clement on dialectic

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"true dialectic is the science which analyses the objects of thought, and shows abstractly and by itself the individual substratum of existences, or the power of dividing things into genera, which descends to their most special properties, and presents each individual object to be contemplated simply such as it is. Wherefore it alone conducts to the true wisdom, which is the divine power which deals with the knowledge of entities as entities, which grasps what is perfect, and is freed from all passion; not without the Saviour, who withdraws, by the divine word, the gloom of ignorance arising from evil training, which had overspread the eye of the soul, and bestows the best of gifts,— “That we might well know or God or man.” It is He who truly shows how we are to know ourselves. It is He who reveals the Father of the universe to whom He wills, and as far as human nature can comprehend. “For no man knoweth the Son but the Father, nor the Father but the Son, and he to whom the Son shall reveal Him.” Rightly, then, the apostle says that it was by revelation that he knew the mystery:" (Str. 1.XXIX)

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Nein!(?) A negative "point of contact" in the Epistle to Diognetus?

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Billede
Still working on The Epistle to Diognetus , which keeps making associations to modern theology pop up. This time it's Karl Barth's debate with Emil Brunner. Consider the epistle's claim that, “[...]being convicted in the past time by our own deeds as unworthy of life, we might now be made deserving by the goodness of God, and having made clear our inability to enter into the kingdom of God of ourselves, might be enabled by the ability of God.” (9.1, Lightfoot) and “Having then in the former time demonstrated the inability of our nature to obtain life, and having now revealed a Saviour able to save even creatures which have no ability, He willed that for both reasons we should believe in His goodness[...]” (9.6, Lightfoot) If by 'dialectical theology' we mean that God's 'yes' and 'no' are inseparable (Tillich), this is certainly a specimen of such. The two elements, negative and positive, come together in faith (in an Aufhebung! ), or? A
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Why "contra fatum"?

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Billede
Gregory of Nyssa Contra Fatum ( lat. against fate , death or the speech of the gods ) is the Latin title of the Church father Gregory of Nyssa's (c. 335-394 ) short treatise against fatalism . Gregory defended the doctrine of free will ,  rejecting the belief that human destiny is determined by the celestial movements . Analogously, this blog is intended as a criticism of modern rationalism (s), whether in the form of political, technological, sociological or economical abstractions (modern astrology!), religious or spiritual-metaphysical ideas such as divine predestination and determinism. All lack a sense that human beings are created in the image of God , with freedom, infinite value , and a reason that cannot be reduced to the formulas of rationalism . Christus Victor! On the positive side the blog is a defense of the classical idea of the atonement effected by the incarnation, life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ: Rather than
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