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To: RnMomof7; Hank Kerchief
RNMOM, I am trying to remember from my brief Greek, but I know that likeness and image are not the same thing, according to the Greeks at least.
(I said, I hope, that we were made in God's image.)
I am on my way to work now but will come back this evening with more on this.

Also, Hank, I found something in a book I have, last night. The Orthodox Church, (Ware) says that Augustine originated the "double procession" theory and which was the forerunner of the filioque.
See also this, and this.

"The doctrine of double procession cannot be understood when considered apart from Augustine's thought. Augustine, without knowing it, may have set off this controversy which ultimately led to the split between the eastern and western churches. A commentator on Photius believed that every crisis and change in thought in the western church could be traced back to Augustine. In his treatise, De Trinitate, he drew upon Scripture and logic to argue in favour of double procession. According to Augustine, the procession of the Holy Spirit was as true from the Son as it was from the Father. Primordially, the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father, who then gave the Son the ability to produce the Holy Spirit." ( from the second site).

If you want to see lots more, just do a google search for "double procession Augustine".

87 posted on 09/16/2002 7:14:16 AM PDT by MarMema
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To: RnMomof7
The only thing I could find in my remaining five minutes was this .
I will see if I can find where I read something more about that. Meantime snippet here...

"The church draws its stance from a vision of the human "person" built around scriptures and patristic teaching.

The Orthodox doctrine of the human person begins with the Genesis affirmation that every human being is created "in the image and likeness of God." However the term "image" is defined, it implies that people are not isolated but members of a community. And the primary and primordial community is that of the church.

The ultimate model for this community is God himself: the eternal life-in-communion of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

"Be perfect," Jesus instructs his followers, "as your heavenly Father is perfect." That perfection, in God's terms, is expressed as self-sacrificing love, offered as a free gift, particularly to his people.

In order for us to reflect God's perfection, we cannot avoid engaging in an ongoing struggle against the tendencies of our darker side, what the ascetic tradition calls the "passions."

Accordingly, many teachers of the faith make a distinction between "image" and "likeness." They define "likeness" as the goal of that struggle. Just as every human being is created in the divine "image," every one is called to assume the divine "likeness." The image refers to our nature. The likeness, on the other hand, constitutes the goal toward which each of us is called to strive."

88 posted on 09/16/2002 7:32:11 AM PDT by MarMema
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To: MarMema
Thanks for the links. They were interesting.

My understanding of the nature of God is not exactly Trinitarian, in any of the calssical senses. This one sentence I thought was interesting in the midst of a discussion about the Holy Spirit "flowing" from either the Father or the Son:

He [Holy Spirit] is coeternal and coequal with the Father and the Son

Which I would say is all that is needed. I do not use the words "persons" or "Trinity" to describe the nature of God. Though I believe God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are distinct, and that each is God, eternal, and is a "person" in the sense of being a conscious volition being. I believe these because all are clearly taught in Scripture. Almost everything else written about the nature of God, in this vain, by Theologians and others, I believe, is conjecture that has only added confusion to our understanding of God.

(RnMomof7 calls me a rebel. Actually, I'm a servant.)

Hank

98 posted on 09/16/2002 6:22:13 PM PDT by Hank Kerchief
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