In the West, we are trained to pay careful attention to the rational, logical side of theology. In Athanasius, one is aware of a presence, a weighty presence that has its own inherent rationality and beauty. For Athanasius, there is thus an unstated rule for true theological thinking, a rule which demands respect and indeed complete obedience. We are certainly free to ignore it. We are free to invent our own theology, free to utilize whatever logic we may think is important. But not if we wish to know the truth. There is, to borrow a great insight from Michael Polanyi, a tacit knowledge at work in theology, as there is in every scientific discipline. We ignore it to our peril. I did not know it at the time, but my encounter with Athanasius, and with the transcendent rationality one meets in his writings, created serious conflict within me. I was taught Calvinism from my mothers womb and heavily influenced early on by Evangelical thinking. But the magisterial truth to which Athanasius bears such eloquent witness does not sit well with either Calvinism or modern Evangelical thought. The same is true, of course, with liberal theology, but that is another story. The problem is not so much that Calvinistic and Evangelical theologies are all wrong. The problem is, they are out of step with the most obvious, yet deepest truth–the incarnation of the eternal Son of God. There is an alien logic at work in both systems of thought, which skews the truth and eclipses the staggering reality accomplished in the person of Jesus Christ. ~C. Baxter Kruger, Jesus and the Undoing of Adam
Posted on: Sun, 13 Apr 2014 22:13:12 +0000
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