Faith of our Fathers: A Colloquium on Orthodoxy for Lutherans

This is some good stuff!!!

You can hear lectures online from some Orthodox academics and clergy, all of them converts from Lutheranism, on various subjects like Augustine and ecclesiology, justification, Scripture, and the Trinity.

Evangelicals and canon

One thing which the Orthodox and many Oozers have in common is a questioning of the biblicism in the evangelical approach to Scripture. So our readers may be interested in this article at bible.org, reviewing the history of evangelicalism's wrestling with canonicity. Props to Energetic Procession for the link.

As I said in my earlier post on the history of anti-Catholicism, it's eye-opening to see where ideas that are taken for granted and stated as revealed truths actually developed at certain points in time, by certain individuals asserting them. Naturally this doesn't necessarily mean the ideas themselves are wrong, but as the article points out it can lead us to read these back in to the early church in anachronistic ways. An example discussed in the article is the widely-held assumption that there even was such a thing as a "closed canon" prior to the Reformation, whereas this simply isn't true. A careful study of history is really essential to a fully-informed faith, in my view.

In any case, this article is a good read and good historical overview, whatever your take on the subject.

Fr. John Behr, The Mystery of Christ

A book by one of the most significant Orthodox theologians writing today- so say people smarter than me- and which seeks to explain "the reappropriation of a premodern perspective in a cautious postmodern fashion," ought to be of interest to Oozerdoxies and those who love (?) us.

Fr. John is professor of patristics at St. Vladimir Orthodox Seminary. His ongoing project is a series on the formation of Christian theology, one volume already laying out "The Way to Nicea" and the other the formation of Nicene faith. This small book can be seen as a companion volume to those, while standing as a compelling work in its own right.

The "mystery of Christ" is that Christ is at the center of absolutely everything. He is the axis around which all of the universe turns, all of our understanding of who God is, who we are as the church, and of what truth is. Fr. John asks us to go back in time before the formulations and systematizations of later centuries, which tend to put the gospel in the form of an historical narrative beginning at the beginning and leading forward. In this journey back in time we are not seeking a pristine, primitive church age, but Christ Himself.

He writes: "When the apostle Paul speaks of 'its breadth and length and height and depth' (Eph. 3:18), St. Gregory [of Nyssa] sees him as inscribing the figure of the cross into the very structure of the universe created by 'the God revealed through the Cross'... It is likewise only in this way, 'through the church', that the heavenly powers come to know 'the manifold wisdom of God' (Eph. 3:10)." The cross of Jesus Christ is the centerpoint of the universe, mirroring and being mirrored by all creation, and most significantly, an absolutely unique revelation of God.

The first implication of this cruci-centric view of all things is that Christ is at the center of the Scriptures. We have been so influenced by modern historical-critical method, Fr. John argues, that we have a difficult time reading them any other way. Yet for the early fathers, "the Word of God" referred not to a book but to a Person. There is no meaning in the Scriptures except that which reveals Christ. For the early fathers, the Jewish Scriptures were less historical narrative and more a library of images, prototypes and visions testifying to Jesus Christ. Similarly, the New Testament canon can be understood as having been gathered around the theological center of Christ's Passion moreso than any historical or textual criterion.

He uses the illustration provided by St. Irenaeus of a mosaic, whose tiny jewels only acquire their true beauty when seen according to the design revealed on the Cross. That design is set out by the apostles' teaching, where Christ's revelation was safeguarded. Yet here again Fr. John reminds us that the focal point must be Jesus Christ. It is not enough to see the design; to unearth "the author's original meaning"; one must have personal, dynamic engagement with Christ. The Scriptures, church tradition and apostolic succession are a framework which allows this to happen. Their boundaries are not intended to limit the knowledge of God, but to allow such a genuine encounter to happen, unhindered by "regression and mythology."

(to be continued)

What is "Oozerdoxie?"

I think an attempt to define what exactly we are doing here is in order. Maybe not so much for the reader, but for us! I solicit input from the other Doxies and Oozers in general.

This is a work in progress. We are an eclectic collection of Orthodox Christians, whose other connection.....and how we know each other.....is that we all post on an "Emergent Christian" website called theooze.com. What is "Emergent?" Well I point you to the Ooze's main page to help you figure that one out. But possibly, none of us would consider ourselves to be "Emergent"...I know I do not. I am very firmly placed within the Holy Orthodox Church.

So what is the appeal of "the ooze?" Perhaps in my case, it was somewhat evangelical. I was (am) a newbie Orthodox, and was excited to see people asking the same questions that had propelled me in MY spiritual journey. Some of my fellow Doxies are Orthodox partly because of things they had read on The Ooze. Two posters here met each other on The Ooze and are now married!

But I think what we really enjoy about The Ooze, is the community. Oozers don't all think alike and quite frankly, there are often some heated discussions. But there is a lot of respect and love that flows around there and we really enjoy being a part of the community.

But as a "subset" of the ooze, we were encouraged to start this blog. So here ya go. We will never be as cool as the "Conservative Reformed Mafia," but maybe we have something to offer.

So, what do you think?