CONTRA FATUM

The Lord pities, instructs, exhorts, admonishes, saves, shields, and of His bounty promises us the kingdom of heaven as a reward for learning; and the only advantage He reaps is, that we are saved. For wickedness feeds on men’s destruction; but truth, like the bee, harming nothing, delights only in the salvation of men. (from the Protrepticos)

”He is in no respect whatever the 'cause of evil. For all things are arranged with a view to the salvation of the universe by the Lord of the universe, both generally and particularly. It is then the function of the righteousness of salvation to improve everything as far as practicable. For even minor matters are arranged with a view to the salvation of that which is better, and for an abode suitable for people’s character. Now everything that is virtuous changes for the better; having as the proper cause of change the free choice of knowledge, which the soul has in its own power. But necessary corrections, through the goodness of the great overseeing Judge, both by the attendant angels, and by various acts of anticipative judgment, and by the perfect judgment, compel egregious sinners to repent.” (Str. VII 12.2-5) "κακίας δ' αὖ πάντῃ πάντως ἀναίτιος. πρὸς γὰρ τὴν τοῦ ὅλου σωτηρίαν τῷ τῶν ὅλων κυρίῳ πάντα ἐστὶ διατεταγμένα καὶ καθόλου 7.2.12.3 καὶ ἐπὶ μέρους. ἔργον οὖν τῆς...

“ The Bible was associated, and largely identified, with the tradition as early as Clement of Alexandria, at the turn of the century. He claims the authority of scriptural texts with the new phrase ‘as the Scripture has traditioned’ ( strom . I.21, 142.2; ib. 7.18, 109.2), and speaks of the ‘spiritual knowledge traditioned through the Scriptures’, by which Christ makes a man truly great–minded ( strom . 7.16, 105.1)...The genuine 'G nostic ' —that is to say, the devout and intelligent Christian, the man of real enlightenment—will grow old in the Scriptures, preserves the apostolic and ecclesiastic orthodoxy in his doctrines, and lives according to the Gospel; for his life ‘is nothing else than the deeds and words conforming to the Lord’s tradition’ ( ib. 104.1 & 2). In his maintenance of such an attitude, basing a deep reverence for the Bible on the unique character of the tradition which it contained, Clement is not singular. He merely gives expression in words ...

Clocktower in Prague. A friend recently posted this quote on Facebook: “The present moment is all that is real. The past is gone. The future is not yet. We remember the past and anticipate the future, but we always do so in the present. Reality is always now...” (Greg Boyd, Present Perfect) I have much good to say about Boyd (and I haven't read the book, it might be good, who knows). But I believe that Boyd here relies on a tradition of thought that is deeply problematic. This way of thinking about time can at least be traced back to the Platonism of Augustine: “How can the past and future be, when the past no longer is, and the future is not yet? As for the present, if it were always present and never moved on to become the past, it would not be time, but eternity.” (Augustine of Hippo, Confessions)

Christ the teacher? Is this Clement's 'subjective' view of the atonement? According to Gustaf Aulen (Christus Victor), the 'moral influence theory' of the atonement (the 'subjective theory') can be traced more or less back to Abelard. It seems to me, though, that more of the early Church Fathers represent this theory, than Aulen would admit (correct me if I'm wrong!). Take Clement of Alexandria (ca. 150-215). Emancipation or liberation is central in Clement’s theory of atonement. Christ is the good Samaritan that liberates us from the “rulers of darkness” (Clement of Alexandria, Who is the Rich Man That Shall Be Saved?, XXVIII). But! Even if a 'Christus Victor'-motif is present, all this, it seems, happens through 'teaching'.

Yet one of those blog-posts that are "to be updated" as  I find more quotes on the subject matter. There is a tendency to think of prayer as a mechanism of obtaining things. You ask, you receive. God is imagined to be some sort of cosmic mechanical dispenser. You put in prayer, you get something, whatever, out. Of course it has to be honest prayer from a pure heart, and so on. We also tend to think of prayer as an initiative we take in order to get God's attention. But what we forget is that the only prayer acceptable to God is the one animated by the Spirit.

"If anyone has a thought of God, it does not match God's worth - what could that be? So far as in him lies, let him think of a tremendous light of supreme beauty, unthinkable and unapproachable, possessing every good power and every attractive virtue, concerned for all, full of compassion, passionless, good, omniscient, completely prescient, true, sweet, brilliant, unquenchable" (Clement, Selections from the Prophetic Scriptures, 21, Ferguson, 161-162)

What is called by men an ancestral custom passes away in a moment, but the divine guidance is a possession which abides for ever. (The Instructor VII, ANF p. 223)

[...]we rightly do not sacrifice to God, who, needing nothing, supplies all men with all things; but we glorify Him who gave Himself in sacrifice for us, we also sacrificing ourselves; from that which needs nothing to that which needs nothing, and to that which is impassible from that which is impassible. For in our salvation alone God delights. (Str. 7.3)

"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 sh...

Jean-Francois Millet: The Good Samaritan It is, of course, a cliché that the world has become so globalized and communities so broken up, that we do not any longer know what our responsibilities are. The world has always been chaotic, ties broken and relationships distorted (at least since shortly after someone ate a fruit they would have better left alone). Knowing that there have always been problems doesn't solve the problems, however. People - philosophers, politicians, pastors, anyone - still seem bewildered (or are they just passing time?) about who exactly we have duties towards. Is my neighbour anyone, my family, nation, refugees, the guy on the street or the African kid in the television-box? When Jesus was once asked "Who is my neighbour?" (Luk 10:29) he gave the parable of the good Samaritan. We are used to reading the conclusion - that it was the Samaritan who was a neighbour for him who was wounded - not so much as an answer to the question "wh...