A System Of Christian Doctrine Volume 2

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1888 edition. Excerpt: ... and depth. They believe in the evil, which attributes to itself a power belonging only to God. They hold it to be inevitable, a view which maims the moral impulse, as it obscures the consciousness of guilt . On the other hand, in the 0. T. and far more decisively in Christianity, the consciousness of the victorious power of goodness shows that the hollowness and folly of evil have been seen through. It is recognized as springing from falsehood, maintaining itself through falsehood, and also as ending, through the manifestation of its falsehood, in judgment. Satan is already judged.1 5. The superficial conception of evil stops at the evil acts, and does not recognize the evil state in which it culminates, and from which the evil act again issues. On this view it appears as consisting in mere isolated acts2 of momentary significance. But the N. T. recognizes also inherent sin." According to the apostle, alienation from God is accompanied by an evil state. He speaks of deadness to the divine, of insensibility, of a hard heart and conscience, of an old man.4 Christ speaks in the same way.5 III. SIN AS A POWF.E IN THE HUMAN RACE, OR AS GENERIC SIN. 73i. According to Biblical teaching, the actual, like the inherent, sin of the individual does not stand as something isolated, but is in most intimate connection with the entire race. Literature.--Oehler, Tltcol of 0. T. I. 235 ff. [Clark]. Weiss, v.t supra, 67, 153. Ohsercation.-- As tbe generic character of evil is of the highest importance, both for a correct idea of evil and for redemption, it is worth while first of all to review the 1John xvi. 11; Luke X. 18. * [Blouse JCmzel/teil, mere individuality.] 3 inafTi* nxfi, Rom. vii. 8, is sin not yit active. Eph. ii....

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This is Volume 2 of a 4 volume set.

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"Who do you say that I am?" This question that Jesus asked of his disciples, so central to his mission, became equally central to the fledgling church. How would it respond to the Gnostics who answered by saying Jesus was less than fully human? How would it respond to the Arians who contended he was less than fully God? It was these challenges that ultimately provoked the Council of Nicaea in A.D. 325. In this volume covering the first half of the article in the Nicene Creed on God the Son, John Anthony McGuckin shows how it countered these two errant poles by equally stressing Jesus' authentic humanity (that is, his fleshliness and real embodiment in space and time) and his spiritual glory or full divinity. One cottage industry among some historical theologians, he notes, has been to live in a fever of conspiracy theory where orthodox oppressors dealt heavy-handedly with poor heretics. Or the picture is painted of ancient grassroots inclusivists being suppressed by establishment elites. The reality was far from such romantic notions. It was in fact the reverse. The church who denounced these errors did so in the name of a greater inclusivity based on common sense and common education. The debate was conducted generations before Christian bishops could ever call on the assistance of secular power to enforce their views. Establishing the creeds was not a reactionary movement of censorship but rather one concerned with the deepest aspects of quality control. Ultimately, what was and is at stake is not fussy dogmatism but the central gospel message of God's stooping "down in mercy to enter the life of his creatures and share their sorrows with them. He has lifted up the weak and the broken to himself, and he healed their pain by abolishing their alienation."

Excerpt from A System of Christian Doctrine, Vol. 2 Neither to supply a deficiency in His perfect Essence, nor on account of a superabundance of which He is supposed not to be master, God, of His perfection and blessedness in love, sets forth as a really second object a world, which He calls out of non - existence into existence, that, loved and loving, it may be a relatively self-dependent image of His perfect triune nature and attributes. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Christian doctrine, McClendon tells us, is no laundry list of propositions to be believed, but is rather an essential practice of the church. Doctrines are those shared convictions which the church must teach and live out if it is to be the church. The author rejects the prevailing assumptions stemming from the rationalism of the Enlightenment, and redefines theology as a discipline within the context of particular religious beliefs and practices of concrete believing communities. McClendon ties the reading of Scripture to the community's understanding of itself and its own mission.