Ben Witherington

1 week ago | patheos.com | Ben Witherington

By now you will perhaps have noticed that on the cover of this book are little cameos of the large painting of Raphael of the School of Athens, which is of course totally appropriate considering the content of this book. As Bray says at the outset of his final chapter, theology, unlike philosophy is dependent on divine revelation and is an interpretation of that, even if the subject is natural theology. (p. 329).

1 week ago | patheos.com | Ben Witherington

The Latin phrase ‘ars longa, vita brevis’– art is long but life is short is a maxim that especially came true during the Renaissance when artists such as Raphael, Michelangelo, and Da Vinci, all of whom professed to be Christians, began to offer art that emphasized the full humanity of their subjects (cf. e.g. Michelangelo’s David). The Renaissance had arrived and with it various Greek scholars who had moved from a dying Byzantium to Rome and elsewhere in Italy.

1 week ago | patheos.com | Ben Witherington

As Bray shows, a variety of things went wrong in the Middle Ages in terms of proper theology. For one thing asceticism led to a requirement of celibacy for priests, and at the same time the role of priests was elevated by the development theology of the sacraments. Only priests were holy enough to handle the actual body and blood of Christ.

1 week ago | patheos.com | Ben Witherington

It was not until about 1200 A.D. that we had universities to house and promote the acquiring of knowledge and wisdom, but there were precursors who made clear that such institutions were needed what with the developments of disciplines such as the study of law, or medicine, as well as theology. One leading theologian who helped to pave the way forward was indeed Anselm of Canterbury (1033-1109), perhaps the first really great English speaking theologian.

1 week ago | patheos.com | Ben Witherington

According to Gerald Bray, the first real systematic theologian of the Christian church was John of Damascus (675-750). He lived under Muslim rule in Syria and then Palestine as well. He was a leading critic of iconoclasm, which was the movement to destroy images on the basis that it was a sacrilege to represent God in images, since God is spirit.