"Custom is indeed in everything hard to resist."

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"Custom is indeed in everything hard to resist. It possesses an enormous power of attracting and seducing the soul. In the cases where a man has got into a fixed state of sentiment, a certain imagination of the good is created in him by this habit; and nothing is so naturally vile but it may come to be thought both desirable and laudable, once it has got into the fashion." (De Vir. IX)

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Hvad betyder det, at Gud bliver "alt i alt", når Kristus ifølge Paulus har underlagt sig alle sine fjender? Gregor af Nyssa om 1 Kor 15,28

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Billede
"Herren er Liv. Ifølge Apostlen vil Kristus forbinde sig med Faderen med hele sit legeme, når han engang overgiver riget til Gud. Kristi legeme består i sin helhed af menneskets natur, hvormed Kristus er forenet. Paulus kan af samme grund omtale Kristus som formidler mellem Gud og mennesker. Han, som er i Faderen, men som har levet blandt mennesker, træder frem mellem Gud og mennesker. Kristus forener hele menneskeheden med sig selv, og gennem sig selv med Faderen. Det kommer til udtryk i evangeliet, når Herren siger: ”Du, Fader, er i mig, og jeg er i dig, for at de må være ét i os”. Ifølge evangeliets løfter, er vi ikke længere Herrens slaver, men som forligt med Gud, regnes vi blandt hans venner. Ikke desto mindre skal Kristus herske ”indtil han har lagt alle sine fjender under sine fødder”. Den mest ærbødige måde at forstå det på må være, at Kristus tappert holder fast i magten indtil al modstand mod det gode hører op. Når han har samlet hele sit rige, vil Kristus overgive...
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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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John Chrysostom on violence and heresy

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"Our warfare does not make the living dead, but rather makes the dead to live, because it is conducted in the spirit of meekness and humility. I persecute by word, not by acts. I persecute heresy, not heretics. I would rather be persecuted, than persecute, just as Christ was victorious as Crucified, and not as crucifier."
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