Origen on God's creating external evils for the purpose of education

-
"If anyone mentions those things which are loosely described as evils, namely physical and external evils, we may grant that sometimes God has made some of these in order that by this means he may convert certain men. [...] we say that the the father does evil to his sons or that schoolmasters or teachers or doctors do so [...] evil has concrete form [...] For He creates physical and external evils to purify and educate those who are unwilling to be educated by reason and sound teaching." (Con. Cel. VI,56)

Populære opslag fra denne blog

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

-
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
Read more »