New Digs

Okay! This blog is over, done, kaput....

well, not really. I'm starting a new blog so this one is no longer going to be posted on. I will, however keep it up and running so that anyone can go back and read old posts as I have a few years worth on here.

Thank you so much for sticking with me this whole time and I hope that any and all who have followed along for the bumpy and jolting ride will continue to follow as I get more focused and mature in my writing.

So, for the last time...

Pax,
The Dread

love you all :)

How NOT to Handle Conflicts in the Church: the Nesotrian Controversy

For my more academic-loving readership, here is the most recent paper I wrote for my Master's class. It chronicles in brevity the controversy surrounding fifth century Bishop of Constantinople, Nestorius and his interlocutor, Cyril of Alexandria. What we see is a sad story of Christians abusing theology and arguing semantics in order to serve their egos and political position.

 On Nestorius

            When considering controversies in Christian history, one that may stand out against the multitudes as more poorly handled than most is the Nestorian controversy. The storm surrounding the teachings and espousals of Nestorius, Bishop of Constantinople from 428 to 431 A.D., was a cloud of miscommunication and hidden agendas. We see clearly in the story of this theologian, deemed heretic, a marked turn from early Christendom in which the meek and marginalized were striving for Christ-likeness and towards a more imperial approach in which rival centers of Christian thought in Antioch, Rome, Alexandria and Constantinople were vying for political influence. It is in this context that Nestorius becomes the hub of a Christological conundrum[1].

Nestorius’ Dangerous Ideas

            While Nestorius’ most controversial teachings center on the nature or natures of Christ, the phrase that set fire to the prepared pier of tension between the Alexandrian and Constantinople sees was theotokos, or God-bearer. It was the title that had been utilized in the western church for Mary, mother of Jesus. For Nestorius, this phrase loomed too closely to making God out to be a lesser being than orthodox Christianity taught and, zealous as he was against heresies, he honored his nickname, “Firebrand” by taking up theological arms brazenly[2].

            The most distinctive characteristic of Nestorius’ Christology is his emphasis on the distinct qualities of Christ’s nature or person. While he utilizes different language than what had been decided upon at the first ecumenical council, his intention was never to make Jesus out to have two different natures; only two distinct natures. One particularly problematic issue with this highlighting was that it was incredibly difficult for Nestorius to explain exactly what he meant. This was due to his having to explain his terminology along with his belief and this did not bode well with those who were comfortable with the earlier established linguistics. Another concern of his opponents lay within the idea that Christ could not reconcile to God what he did not take on and so if he was not truly human in the fullest sense, he could not truly restore humanity. This, in hindsight, was not what Nestorius was saying, but the aforementioned breakdown of communication inhibited the circumvention of controversy on this point. So, his accusers claimed that he essentially did not affirm a real incarnation. Thus, we see the early church divided, not over beliefs, but mere linguistics and pride[3].

Nestorius’ Interlocutor

            Now, we turn our focus to the man who became the main opponent of this Bishop from Antioch: Cyril of Alexandria. In order to truly understand why Nestorius ended up classified as a heretic and Cyril is memorialized as a church father, we must give a look at both men together. This is because many of their actions and the decisions they made were all in the context of striving for a greater influence in the wider church and in asserting themselves as the greater theologian and authority. Also, it has been noted by several historians that both bishops were similar enough in temperament that they likely would have had difficulty getting along regardless of linguistics and theologies.

            Cyril, Bishop of Alexandria from 412 to 444 A.D., was a self-proclaimed peace-lover regardless of the ruthlessness with which he took on Nestorius. As far as we can ascertain from his own writings, he sincerely believed that he was protecting not only orthodoxy but the church itself by wrestling through this Christological controversy. Herein lays some irony as both men claimed in their respective writings to be willing to lay down their life for truth and orthodoxy. Truly, it was Nestorius’ innovative streak that offended Cyril; new language in Christology debates meant new problems and it seemed unwarranted and dangerous to the Alexandrian[4].

            It is commonly agreed on that Nestorius’ greatest downfall was his over-estimation of his ability to explain himself and thus maintain pull in political circles. Couple this with his abrasive and somewhat cold personality and he is left with many personal hurdles to overcome in order to get his ideas heard. It was this tendency toward hard and fast statements that led him to refute the title theotokos in the first place, thus opening himself up to misunderstanding and misconstruction. In all fairness, he did not simply say that this title was inappropriate, but offered a couple of viable alternatives. His first, Christotokos seemed acceptable as he felt it was more specific to the event; namely the birth of Christ. The second, anthropotokos was even less well received than his first suggestion, but seemed right to him as it was the man himself whom Mary bore and not the metaphysical God in his divine essence[5]. Tragically for Nestorius, he gained almost no stage to defend himself.

Questionable Proceedings

            True to form, it was Nestorius’ idea to have a sit-down with Cyril and other leaders in order to hash out the details of their respective Christologies[6]. What he failed to realize was the political wit of his opponent. Prior to the meeting of the council, Cyril sent a packet of Nestorius’ teachings to Roman Pope, Celestine I (422-432) for consideration[7]. As a result, the council was moved from Nestorius’ region in Constantinople, where he would have found some support by mere association to Ephesus, the legendary retirement place of Mary, mother of Jesus. One can see how this was not going to go well for the one who seemed to hold a low view of the virgin mother[8].

            After receiving the packet, Celestine I, assuming he was being asked for a ruling and not merely his opinion, enlisted the help of John Cassian who was also a supporter of Cyril. Clearly at a disadvantage, the council convened under Emperor Theodosius II in Ephesus. Unfortunately, Nestorius’ supporters were slow coming and after tarrying for a few weeks, the council proceeded despite objections from many attendants. Not surprisingly, Nestorius was deemed wrong and, almost as if to add insult to injury, Cyril was charged with the task of carrying out the excommunication orders. When the Nestorian proponents finally arrived and discovered the ruling, they assembled their own council and deemed it the true gathering, the outcome of which was the excommunication of Cyril. Nearly as quickly, Cyril and his supporters met again and condemned the participants of the pro-Nestorius council and reaffirmed their initial ruling. Embarrassed, Theodosius II had both Cyril and Nestorius arrested and ordered to reconcile[9]. Once again, Cyril proved himself the more cunning of the two and Nestorius was indeed condemned to exile in 430 A.D. and officially banished in 431 A.D.[10]

Reflections on Nestorius

            From his exile, Nestorius wrote a thorough espousal of his beliefs entitled Proceedings of Heracleides by which he clarified some of the ways that his opponents committed themselves to destroy him by way of an elaborate straw-man fallacy[11]. Still, he was never again influential in Christian circles.

            So what can be said of this once prominent church leader who ended alone in exile? Mostly that it is a terrible thing when theology is utilized to realize political endeavors. Also that what is at one time deemed heresy may resurface again in the mouths of those who may advocate the view with more clarity as can be seen in the Protestant aversion to referring to Mary as the theotokos. In all things, this is a story which contemporary Christians must look at in all its bareness; though there was theological progress made it was at the expense of community between Christians. Let the future church be diligent against such tragedy.

References

Ferguson, E., Woodbridge, J. D., & James, F. A. (2005). IV. The Second Phase, 381-433: Nestorianism. In Church history (pp. 258-261). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

González, J. L. (1987). The Nestorian Controversy and the Council of Ephesus. In From the beginnings to the Council of Chalcedon (pp. 353-367). Nashville: Abingdon Pr.

Hall, C. A. (2002). Christ Divine and Human. In Learning theology with the church fathers (pp. 83-90). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.

Hart, D. B. (2007). The Formation of Orthodox Christology: The 'Mother of God' In The story of Christianity: An illustrated history of 2000 years of the Christian faith (pp. 94-96). London: Quercus.

Hurley, P. J. (2012). Informal Fallacies: 3.2 Fallacies of Relevance. In A concise introduction to logic: Using traditional logic (pp. 89-90). Mason, OH: Cengage Learning.

Litfin, B. M. (2007). Cyril of Alexandria. In Getting to know the church fathers: An evangelical introduction (pp. 239-258). Grand Rapids, MI: Brazos Press.

Sheppard, J. (2005). At the Crossroads: Midieval Contributions. In Christendom at the crossroads: The medieval era (pp. 5-6). Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press.

---

[1] (González, 1987, pp. 353-367)

[2] (Hall, 2002, pp. 83-90)

[3] (Hart, 2007, pp. 94-96)

[4] (Hall, 2002, pp. 83-90)

[5] (Hall, 2002, pp. 83-90)

[6] (Litfin, 2007, pp. 239-258)

[7] (Sheppard, 2005, pp. 5-6)

[8] (Litfin, 2007, pp. 239-258)

[9] (Sheppard, 2005, pp. 5-6)

[10] (Ferguson, Woodbridge, & James, 2005, pp. 258-261)

[11] (Hurley, 2012, pp. 89-90)

Thanks for reading! Have you ever experienced such division in the church; that is, division over semantics and not beliefs? Do tell! Let's all resolve to prize community over being right.

Pax,

The Dread

3 Things I Learned While Moving

Ok, so it has been a week or more since I last posted and prior to that, I had been posting every couple of days. My apologies to my handful of followers ;-) I know this was important to you.

At any rate, the reason for my silence has been that we've been moving to a different house (same city) and that kind of messes with your writing schedule.

What happened was that on a Monday, we found out that we needed to move by Friday. So, Monday was taken up with paperwork and formalities, Tuesday I had to work (I substitute teach, so my schedule is fairly volatile) and so we really moved in three days. If you've ever had to move much, you know that this was a crunch. I counted while talking with a great friend of mine during one of our many trips in the truck and I think I've moved houses or cities something like 8 times before I graduated high school and then another 7 times after. Needless to say, I'm getting good at this. Unfortunately, virtuosity in moving all of your worldly possessions does not ease the stress and frustrations that come along with it.

Here's what I learned this time around:

1. Practicing Grace is Hard
 I know this comes as a surprise, but having grace in stressful situations is hard. All sarcasm aside, I think it is a little silly how, when life is comfortable, we have no problem talking about how Christians ought to have grace in conflict, but at 12:30 am after a long day of moving, wrangling children and dealing with financial strain and after your spouse has spent 8+ hours at work, on her feet, talking with clients all day....grace is a little more difficult to demonstrate and even harder still to talk about. As soon as that grace word is out, I'm instantly convicted of my short temper and harsh responses to innocent questions. But! This is where one really discovers if grace is a part of ones daily language and rhythm or if you (like me) have been doing more lip-service than practice.

2. Given Enough Space and Time, People are Gatherers.
 I'm not a hoarder. In fact, I personally love to live simply and not have random things just laying around. For example, my wife will attest to the fact that I do not now (and probably never will) understand the complex purposes of the "throw pillow". It is an intellectual conundrum; a mystery really. But even given my aversion to collecting junk, it was incredible to find how much stuff we had collected. See, we moved from a 5 bedroom, 2.5 bath, 2 story house into a single-level, 3 bedroom, 2 bath house. The drastic change in available room forced something that has probably been the most refreshing: Purge. Just to give you a taste, we gave away something like 6 bags of toys in great condition, 4-5 bags of quality clothing/coats, sold a weight machine and couch among other things...It's just incredible how much we had and didn't need. I think that this one is simply a reminder to me and whoever wants to accept it to be conscious of what we have and what we need. I believe everyone can probably give away more than they do. I know this is generally true of how I have been living.

3. People Will Surprise You
I know that this seems pretty much like common sense, but it was an incredible week in which more than once, I had a handful of guys ready and willing to do some heavy lifting (talking about lifting an outdoor play set up and over a 7 foot fence) at something like 7 pm (for those readers that are not in Kansas, this is well after the sun has gone down). It was not only incredible that people were willing to do this, but who was willing to do this. I've known a couple of these guys less than a year and hung out with others maybe twice in the entirety of our acquaintance. Still, many stepped up to help unexpectedly. I don't want to spend too much time on the counter-point, but there were also many I thought who would make last week easier who, in fact made it more difficult or didn't show at all. Now, I'm not angry with or bitter towards any of these, mind you. People have lives and things come up, but it was surprising nonetheless. The take away on this point is that all humans are somewhat inconsistent -- for better or worse -- so we ought not hang too much on our expectations and learn to be flexible, grateful and forgiving in all situations, especially stressful ones.

That's not nearly all of what I experienced in the last week and I wish I could show it all to you, but it would be too much for a blog. Instead, let me encourage you with this:

What Got Me Through
 The one thing that carried me during the most stressful week of 2014 thus far was the practice of finding space in the chaos. I'm talking about internal space; room in my inner man where I could breathe deep, remember that Christ is my sustenance and press on. Life will be surprising, trying and bountiful; what we have to do is remember that relationships hold more value than anything else and that one relationship -- with God -- can make crucible events in life into more than just painful episodes.

Can you relate? Tell me about it in the comments!

Pax,
The Dread

A Christian Take on Divorce

So, this is probably one of the most personal blog postings I’ve ever written; time to be bare. 

I come from a family with divorced parents and while I’ll not bore you with the details of being a problem-child due to my grief, suffice it to say that this event characterized much of my formative years. The reason that I bring this up is because I think that in Christian circles, it’s tempting to regard such topics with latex gloves on; that is, we talk about messy situations in sterile terms and I don’t think it’s always helpful. On occasion, such as now, it’s ok to look at the thing for what it is. 

I talked with my father on the phone this afternoon and he disclosed to me some of the “behind the scenes” goings on in his personal life from around the time of his divorce from my mom. This was hard. I’ve heard most of it before because my dad has always been remarkably honest with me, but this was difficult to hear now because it was the first time that I had ever approached the issue as a Christian leader. I called him, you see. I told him that I was struggling with this idea of divorce and how to approach it as a Christian with influence. Not because I'm having problems with my marriage, though I'd be lying if I said that the word has never come up in the heat of argument, but because the topic was weighing heavy on my mind. So my question to him was essentially “What did the church do that was effective/ineffective in your life when you were the one who was doing wrong that allowed you to continue to grow in your faith? How should Christian leaders treat divorcees?” 

His words cut me deep because they were raw and honest. I’m a well adjusted adult now, but somewhere deep down, there is a little boy who still grieves the loss of a life once cherished. What was incredible was how he was able to talk to me in a way that allowed me to talk the answer out of myself. 

Be Christ.

It seems simple, but the one thing that he communicated that was vital to his spiritual life at the time was a small congregation that he was a part of for a short time and a few Christian men in his life that gave him room to continue to draw near Christ. In his words:

“I never wanted to leave God. I knew I was doing wrong, but the choice had been made.”

Amidst a flurry of emotions and confusing feelings, this space created by a few men who verbally acknowledged their disagreement with his choices and yet showed grace anyway, made all the difference.

For some odd reason, I had a hard time holding it together during this phone call. I’ve long since forgiven both of my parents for the divorce and yet in discussing God’s grace in that context, I couldn't help but tear up.

As Christians and especially as Christians with sway, we need to lead with this: Christ loved the lost. Christ died for the confused who didn’t know what they were doing. And if Christ did that for them, I need to do that also. I need to crucify that part of me that is hurt from my parent’s divorce and thus wants to hold back grace. I need to shower forgiveness and give people room to continue to work out their faith while they work out their lives.

This is a blog for me. Mostly. But I think there’s a message here for all Christians; a challenge to show Christ in messy and painful situations. In this way, we join Jesus’ martyrdom for the Kingdom; we die to ourselves and our personal issues in order to shine the light of the Kingdom of forgiveness; the Kingdom of love; the Kingdom of God.

Pax,

The Dread

Don't be Stupid, Don't be Dangerous

Tonight I went to get a tattoo…

It’s kind of a story, but the short of it is that the artist was ill and so he left early and so I ended up sitting around for 3-4 hours and NOT getting one. But! There is a bright side to this story and so I thought I’d share it with you…

I have several ideas for tattoos all of which I may eventually get. As of now, I have approx. 10 depending on what you count as “1”…

But tonight as I went in to get one, I was undecided walking through the door. Thanks to my long wait, I had plenty of time to think about what I wanted. Now, if you know me personally, you know that 4 hours sitting in a chair is not really boring to me. It’s more like “me time”. I am very much an introvert and so just being alone for a while was nice. In fact, I didn’t even really get on my phone. 

The design I decided on will complete the inner portion of my left arm half-sleeve. What’s currently there is a piece for my second son and a sugar skull; both of which are kind of in the traditional tattoo style. So, in keeping with that theme, I decided on doing a serpent and a dove (neither pictured) in the same color scheme and style. The serpent and dove are a  play off of Matthew 10 when Jesus tells those he sends to be “wise as serpents and harmless as doves” or, as the message version puts it “be as cunning as a snake, inoffensive as a dove”. And this got me thinking…

Are we, who are called to ministry in whatever form, wise as serpents and harmless as doves?

I fear the reputation that we get is often the opposite.

Too often Christian leaders are guilty of being as cunning as doves and as harmless as serpents…

Have you ever seen a dove in real life? When I was a kid, we bird-sat for some friends and they had a dove.  The one thing I remember about that bird was that it was stupid. I mean bad. It would let you hold it but would make the most irrational decisions. Like flying into the window or fan…it survived :)

Have you ever come across a serpent in the wild? Growing up in western Kansas, it was no joke when you heard a rattle while walking through tall grass. I spent a portion of my childhood in a farm house (though we didn’t work the farm) and my siblings and I spent much of our time outside. I distinctly remember watching out for snakes as I knew the potentially deadly repercussions of carelessness.

I guess my point with this blog post is simply that I, as a Christian with influence, want to be sure to keep the combination correct: wise as a serpent and harmless as a dove. 

It’s interesting that without the animal symbolism, that doesn’t sound weird: be wise and harmless. I feel like most people would say “yeah, wise and harmless, those seem to go together”. Somehow, though, it doesn’t seem to be the common worldview where I’m from. Most people who are deemed “wise” are often proponents of violence in some way or another. There’s food for thought. 

So, the bottom line is this: let us self-examine regularly. Are you being the correct combination of serpent/dove? Or are you being stupid and dangerous with your words and ideas. Not trying to attack people, but let’s be careful with the roles we’ve accepted in life.

Post your thoughts to the comments!

Pax,

The Dread