Who Can Marvel Enough?

Posted on December 24, 2017 by Matthew Phillips

“An angel announces, power overshadows, and the Spirit startles; the Virgin believes, by faith the Virgin conceives, the Virgin gives birth, the Virgin remains a virgin: who would not marvel? Then is the Son of the Most High born, God, begotten of God before all ages.  The Word is born as a baby: who can marvel enough?” Bernard of Clairvaux, “On the Proclamation of the Lord’s Birth,” in Sermons for Advent and the Christmas Season, trans. Irene Edmonds, Wendy Mary Becket, Conrad Greenia; ed. John Leinenweber (Kalamazoo: Cistercian, 2007), pp. 44-45.           

In this beautiful sermon for Christmas Eve, Bernard of Clairvaux praises the miraculous manner of Christ’s conception and birth as the Word made flesh.  However, the great abbot does not simply praise the miracle but explains its significance for his hearers (or readers):

“Jesus is born: let them rejoice, all those whose consciousness of sins used to judge them liable to perpetual damnation! The loving-kindness of Jesus far outweighs the extent and number of offenses.  Christ is born! Let them be glad, those assailed by long-ingrained vices! In the presence of Christ’s anointing not one single disease of the soul, however deep-seated, can hold its ground.  The Son of God is born! Let them exult, those wont to desire great things, because a great benefactor has come.” Ibid., 46.

The image to the right is Stammheim Missal at the Getty Museum, Ms. 64, fol. 92.

Posted in Bernard of Clairvaux, Christ, Christmas, Incarnation, Mary, medieval, preaching | Leave a comment

Luther on Becoming a Theologian

Posted on December 18, 2017 by Matthew Phillips

“If anybody wishes to become a theologian, he has a great advantage, first of all, in having the Bible.  This is now so clear that he can read it without any trouble.  Afterward he should read Philip’s Loci Communes.  This he should read diligently and well, until he has its contents fixed in his head.  If he has these two he is a theologian, and neither the devil nor a heretic can shake him.  The whole of theology is open to him, and afterward he can read whatever he wishes for edification.  If he wishes, he can read, in addition, Melanchthon’s Romans and my Galatians and Deuteronomy. These will give him the art of speaking and a copious vocabulary.” Martin Luther, “Table Talk no. 5511,” Luther’s Works, volume 54, pp. 439-440.   

In this record of his table discussion in 1542-43, Dr. Martin Luther set forth the books needed to study theology.  First, he advised the theology student to read the Bible, which one could read in various languages, including Luther’s own German translation.  Second, Luther wanted students to read the first major textbook of Lutheran theology: Philip Melanchthon’s Loci Communes, often translated as Theological Commonplaces.  First published in 1521, Melanchthon published later editions, particularly in 1543.  Luther praised this text in the following manner:

“There’s no book under the sun in which the whole of theology is so compactly presented as in the Loci Communes.  If you read all the fathers and the sententiaries you have nothing.  No better book has been written after the Holy Scripture than Philip’s.  He expresses himself more concisely than I do when he argues and instructs.  I’m garrulous and more rhetorical.” Ibid., 440.

When Luther mentions the fathers he usually means the early Christian theologians to the early 6th century.  While the “sententiaries” refers to the many late medieval commentators on Peter Lombard’s Sentences, the text upon which all Western theological rested from the late 12th century to the early 16th centuries.  Luther’s theology of justification by faith in Christ alone began as rejection of these late medieval scholastics’ theology of salvation.

 

Posted in Martin Luther, Philip Melanchthon, theology | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Students of Wisdom

Posted on November 3, 2017 by Matthew Phillips

“Some of us are enslaved to glory, others to money.  But there are also a few people who devote themselves wholly to the study of the universe, believing everything else to be trivial in comparison.  These call themselves students of wisdom, in other words philosophers; and just as a festival attracts individuals of the finest type who just watch the proceedings without a thought of getting anything for themselves, so too, in life generally, the contemplation and study of nature are far superior to the whole range of other human activities.” Marcus Tullius Cicero, Discussions at Tusculum (V) 3. 8-9, in Cicero: The Good Life, trans. Michael Grant (London 1971), p. 56-57. [Emphasis added]

 

Posted in Cicero, education, philosophy | Leave a comment

Indulgences and the Gospel

Posted on October 30, 2017 by Matthew Phillips

 

“Works of piety and love are infinitely better than indulgences; and yet [the indulgence preachers] do not preach them with an equally big display and effort.  What is even worse, [the preachers] are silent about them because they have to preach the sale of indulgences.  The first and only duty of the bishops, however, is to see that the people learn the gospel and love of Christ.  For on no occasion has Christ ordered the indulgences be preached, but he forcefully commanded the gospel to be preached.  What a horror, what a danger for a bishop to permit the loud noise of indulgences among his people, while the gospel is silenced, and to be more concerned with the sale of indulgences than with the gospel!  Will not Christ say to [such bishops], ‘You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.’ ” Martin Luther, “Letter to Cardinal Albrecht, Archbishop of Mainz” in Luther’s Works, vol. 48, p. 47. [Emphasis Added]

On October 31, 1517, Dr. Martin Luther addressed a letter to Archbishop Albrecht of Mainz in which he attacked the preaching and distribution of indulgences to Christians.  This quote from that letter demonstrates his dogged resolve based in his newly-discovered theology of grace and faith based on his reading of the Bible and Augustine of Hippo’s writings.  Notice, Luther’s criticism of indulgences rested on his faith in the good news of Christ.  As he wrote in the Thesis 62 of the Ninety-Five Theses:

“The true treasure of the church is the most holy gospel of the glory and grace of God.” LW 31: 31.

In the explanation of this thesis a few months later he wrote:

“…the gospel is a preaching of the incarnate Son of God, given to us without any merit on our part for salvation and peace.  It is a word of salvation, a word of grace, a word of comfort, a word of joy, a voice of the bridegroom and the bride, a good word, a word of peace.” LW 31: 231.

 

 

Posted in gospel, Martin Luther, Reformation | Leave a comment

The Final Judgment of Michelangelo

Posted on October 1, 2017 by Matthew Phillips

A Sonnet by Michelangelo

The course of my life has already reached,                                                                                          Across a stormy sea in a fragile ship,                                                                                                    The common port, where we must give                                                                                                An account of our every evil act or good deed

The impassioned fantasy, which made                                                                                                Art an idol and idol over me,                                                                                                                  Was, I now realize, full of error,                                                                                                         Like all else that men desire against their will.

            

What will become of my amorous thoughts, once so vain and gay,                                              Now that I draw near to my double death?                                                                                        Of one death I am certain, and the other threatens me.

There is no painting nor sculpture now which quiets                                                                  The soul turned toward that divine love                                                                                          Which on the cross opened to take us in Its arms.

Source: The Italian Renaissance Reader, Eds. Conaway Bondella & Mark Musa (New York 1987), p. 379.

Posted in Christ, Michelangelo, Renaissance | Tagged , | Leave a comment

The Interrogation of Mercy

Posted on August 28, 2017 by Matthew Phillips

Augustine of Hippo (d. 430) teaches on John 1:16  “And of his fullness have all we received, and grace for grace.”

“What grace did we, in the first instance, receive?  Faith: walking in faith, we walk in grace.  How have we merited this? by what previous merits of ours?  Let not each one flatter himself, but let him return into his conscience, seek out the secret places of his own thoughts, recall the series of his deeds; let him not consider what he is if now he is something, but what he was that he might be something: he will find that he was not worthy of anything save punishment.  If, then, thou wast worthy of punishment, and He came not to punish sins, but to forgive sins, grace was given to thee, and not reward rendered.  Wherefore is it called grace? Because it is bestowed gratuitously.  For thou didst not, by previous merits, purchase that which thou didst receive.  This first grace, then, the sinner received, that his sins were forgiven.  What did he deserve? Let him interrogate justice, he finds punishment; let him interrogate mercy, he finds grace.  But God promised this also through the prophets; therefore, when He came to give what He had promised, He not only gave grace, but also truth.  How was truth exhibited? Because that was done which had been promised.” Augustine of Hippo, Tractates on John. III. 8.  Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, volume 7, p. 21. [Emphasis added]

 

Posted in Augustine of Hippo, grace | Leave a comment

Humility

Posted on August 3, 2017 by Matthew Phillips

“And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be humbled: and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.” Matthew 23:12 (Douay-Rheims)

In my last post we saw how Augustine asserted that pride began as a perverse exaltation of the self above all else.  This vice characterized the sinful community of human beings (city of Man) Pride Goes Before Destruction.  Augustine pointed toward humility (given by the grace of God) as the foundation of virtue.  This idea became the basis of medieval religious belief and practice.  As pride actually abased those who exalt themselves through sin, humility exalts those who abase themselves through true humility.  Augustine explained:

“Thus, in a surprising way, there is something in humility to exalt the mind, and something in exaltation to abase it.  It certainly appears somewhat paradoxical that exaltation abases and humility exalts.  But devout humility makes the mind subject to what is superior.  Nothing is superior to God; and that is why humility exalts the mind by making it subject to God.” [Augustine, City of God 14. 13. trans. Henry Bettenson (London 1984), 572]

For this reason Augustine states that humility marks those who belong to the City of God and Christ, the ruler of that City.  In order to remedy the human sin of pride, Augustine explains that God abased himself through mercy and demonstrated grace through taking on human nature. [Augustine, On the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins 26. 17.]

Medieval monastic theologians focused on humility as the foundation of faith and virtue.  In his Rule, St Benedict depicted the monastic life as a ladder of humility with twelve steps: “Now the ladder erected is our life on earth, and if we humble our hearts the Lord will raise it to heaven.”  The monastic life revolved around self-abasement of body and soul in absolute obedience to another’s will.  [Rule of St Benedict chap. 7.]

As we saw in the previous post on pride, Bernard of Clairvaux (d.1153) adopted Benedict’s ladder imagery to examine the vices of pride and the virtues of humility.  In opposition to pride, he defined humility as the virtue of having a low opinion of one’s self based on self-knowledge and the contempt of one’s own excellence. [Bernard, The Steps of Humility and Pride 1. 2; 4. 14, trans. M. Ambrose Conway OCSO. Kalamazoo 1989, 30, 42]

Munich, BSB Clm 14519, 5r

Genuine humility rests in the truth, results in mercy, and it leads to love (caritas).  All of these virtues come from the incarnate Christ through faith and are practiced by monks through imitation.  This is the manner by which monks (or Christians) may fulfill the commandment to love their neighbors as themselves.  As Bernard wrote:

“You will never have real mercy for the failings of another until you know and realize that you have the same failings in your soul.  Our Savior has given us the example.  He willed to suffer so that he might know compassion; to learn mercy he shared our misery.” [Steps 3. 6, p. 35]

The depiction to the right reads: “the pride of the devil is conquered by the humility of the cross of Christ.”  If you would like to see the original go here: BSB Clm 14159

 

 

 

 

Posted in Augustine of Hippo, Bernard of Clairvaux | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Pride Goes Before Destruction

Posted on June 10, 2017 by Matthew Phillips

“Pride goeth before destruction and the spirit is lifted up before a fall.” Proverbs 16:18 (Douay-Rheims)

Pride (superbia) was the foundation of all sin in medieval piety and theology.  A concept well-established on the Bible and the Church Fathers, pride was the devil’s original sin. Augustine of Hippo explained that pride was the original sin of human beings and led to The Fall and its horrible consequences. Citing Ecclesiasticus 10:14-15  to demonstrate this theological teaching, he asserted that pride led the devil to tempt humanity out of envy. He appealed to humanity’s pride through the lie that they would be like gods. [Augustine, On Nature and Grace 33.29. Idem, City of God 12. 6.]

Augustine defined pride as the evil will from which the rebellious action against God’s commandment arose.  Pride, defined as the love of one’s own excellence, began as a voluntary choice to move away from the changeless Good (i.e., God) and to perversely exalt the self.   Augustine identified this self-centered exaltation as the main character trait of the community of sinful human beings.   [Augustine City of God 14. 13. Idem, De Genesi ad litteram 11. 14. 18]

Twelfth-century monastic theologians particularly focused on pride as the source of the soul’s demise.(See John of Salisbury’s Description of Pride)  In fact, as we read in the Rule of St Benedict the entire monastic way of life rested on self-denial as the means to humble one’s sinful pride.  Bernard of Clairvaux integrated the Augustinian theological tradition with Benedict’s practice.  His first published work was a devotional exposition of Benedict’s description of the monastic life as a ladder of humility.  In this work, Bernard explained the twelve steps of humility and pride.  He followed Augustine’s definition of pride as the love of one’s own excellence. According to Bernard, pride reaches its culmination in the habit of sinning driven by cupidity (cupiditas) [Bernard of Clairvaux, The Steps of Humility and Pride 4. 14, 21. 51, trans. M. Ambrose Conway OCSO. Kalamazoo 1989, 42, 77-78.]

My next post will discuss humility (humilitas).

 

 

Posted in Augustine of Hippo, Bernard of Clairvaux, medieval, pride | 1 Comment

Melanchthon on Slavery and Natural Law

Posted on May 25, 2017 by Matthew Phillips

“Also in civil law, as they call it, there are many things that reflect human affections instead of natural laws.  For what it more foreign to the law of nature than slavery?….a good man will fashion civil constitutions according to a just and good rule, that is, with both divine and natural laws.  And whatever is instituted against these laws can be nothing but unjust.” Philip Melanchthon, Commonplaces: Loci Communes 1521, trans. Christian Preus (St Louis: CPH, 2014), p. 66. [Emphasis added]

Philip Melanchthon (1497-1560) was Martin Luther’s most significant colleague in Wittenberg.   As the primary author of the Augsburg Confession and the Apology of the Augsburg Confession, he played a major role in the establishment of the intellectual foundations of Lutheran theology.  If the Reformation had never occurred, Melanchthon most likely would have been a well-known classical humanist and scholar from the sixteenth century.

In the quote above, Melanchthon uses the existence of slavery as a legal institution as an example of how civil law sometimes contradicts natural law.  It’s clear that Melanchthon understood slavery to be against the law of nature and, therefore, immoral and unwise.

Posted in government, nature, Philip Melanchthon | Leave a comment

Tyranny of Wickedness

Posted on May 16, 2017 by Matthew Phillips

“Those lofty kings you see seated high on thrones,                                                                            Bright in their glowing purple, hedged in with bristling arms,                                                      Threatening with visage stern, and gasping in the frenzy of their hearts–                                  If a man strip from those proud kings the cloak of their empty splendour,                                At once he will see these lords within bear close-bound chains;                                                    For there, lust stirs their hearts with poisonous greed,                                                              There anger whips the mind as a whirlwind whips up  waves,                                                        And either close-confined sorrow plagues, or slippery hope torments.                                      Therefore since as you see one head so many tyrants bears,                                                          He does not do what he himself would do, by these harsh masters pressed.”

Boethius, Consolation of Philosophy IV. ii. Loeb Classical Library No. 74, trans. S.J. Tester. (Cambridge, MA: Harvard, 1918), 328-31. [Latin Text with English translation.]

Boethius wrote this work around 524 as he languished in prison accused of treason to King Theodoric of the Ostrogoths in northern Italy.  Every section contains a poem after a dialogue between Lady Philosophy and Boethius.  Here Boethius identified the futility of power and its deadly effects on those who yield it. Tyrants, driven by lust (libido), have poisoned souls.  A political tyrant is ruled internally by wicked vices.  These harsh masters rule the one who seek to be lords over others.

Posted in Boethius | Leave a comment