The Lord Is the Spirit. John A. Studebaker
Чтение книги онлайн.

Читать онлайн книгу The Lord Is the Spirit - John A. Studebaker страница 13

Название: The Lord Is the Spirit

Автор: John A. Studebaker

Издательство: Ingram

Жанр: Религия: прочее

Серия: Evangelical Theological Society Monograph Series

isbn: 9781630876852

isbn:

СКАЧАТЬ the authority of the Church itself was on the rise. Between Constantine and Clovis there was certain “deadness” in both Eastern and Western Churches. Though papal claims remained lofty throughout the Middle Ages, the actual ecclesial power of the Popes diminished considerably between 600 and 1050. Councils of Bishops often ruled in various Western territorial Churches with kings presiding over them. With the “prophets” of the early Church no longer exhibiting Church authority, with no official emperor, and with the diminishing influence of the papacy, Western Churches (those previously controlled by the emperor) were able to develop a greater degree of local ecclesial control.

      Is there any connection between the Filioque emendation and the change that occurred regarding the Church’s understanding of its role in the world? This question is one to ponder as we examine two major contributors to the Filioque debate: Augustine and John of Damascus.

      Augustine

      Augustine deals with the question of Filioque in De Trinitate as well, and his conclusions accord with the above thinking. In his writing he seems to make a deliberate effort to oppose the Eastern conception of the Spirit by associating divine auctoritas (i.e., authority or source or authorship) with the Father alone (rather than to all three Persons). Augustine states,

      John of Damascus

      John of Damascus (ca. 675—ca. 749) has been described as “the last great theologian of the Eastern Church.” John’s pneumatology is essentially a synthesis of the basic concepts provided by Athanasius and the Cappadocians. His De Fide Orthodoxa came to serve as a primary textbook for Eastern theology that provided Greek theologians with many theological standard concepts, including the monarchy of the Father, the distinction between the Son’s begetting and the Spirit’s ekporeusij (“procession”), and clarifications regarding the Son/Spirit relationship СКАЧАТЬ