The contemplative home of Skylar D. McManus
There are many reasons to find the exchange between Eunomius, Basil of Caesarea, and Gregory of Nyssa fascinating. I can think of three. First, it gives us historical insight into how prominent pro-Nicene thinkers defended their view. Second, it provides a way to think about the Trinity that many fail to consider. And third, some… Continue reading A Summary of Basil’s Against Eunomius, Book 1
Let’s start this series with a scenario that you may, or may not, ever encounter. You are walking through an antique store when you accidentally bump into a fragile item on a shelf. The next two seconds seem like slow motion as you watch the item fall to the floor and shatter. You attempt to… Continue reading Series Introduction: Logic 101
Translated by Giulio Silano. His additions are in square brackets [e.g., lorem ipsum], and mine are in curved brackets {e.g., lorem ipsum}. DISTINCTION 1 1. Why the Son took on flesh, and not the Father or the Holy Spirit. 2. Whether the Father or the Holy Spirit could have become incarnate. 3. Whether the Son, who alone took on flesh,… Continue reading Peter Lombard’s Sentences, Book 3: On the Incarnation of the Word (Table of Contents)
Following Dr. Dale Tuggy's debate with Mr. Chris Date on "Jesus is human and not divine," I joined the Trinities Podcast Facebook group and asked for clarification on one of his thought experiments. I recall that he used a similar line of reasoning in his "Case Against Preexistence" episode on the podcast, and the fact… Continue reading Tuggy’s Demon-Puppet Thought Experiment: My Thoughts and His Reply
David Bernard's The Glory of God in the Face of Jesus Christ is easily the most important book on Oneness Pentecostal theology from the last decade. It is a part of the Journal for Pentecostal Theology supplement series, and is in fact (what he says is) a slightly modified form of his doctoral dissertation for… Continue reading On David K. Bernard’s Trinitarian Thought Experiment
Now that we have an understanding of the grammar and syntax of John 1:1, I want to begin to focus our attention on John 1:1c. Just to be absolutely clear, here is John 1:1 again in the English and Greek with each part labelled (a) through (c): John 1:1a In the beginning was the Word… Continue reading 6 Interpretive Options for John 1:1c
The purpose of this post is to simply describe what its title proclaims: the grammar and syntax of John 1:1. The term "grammar" refers to how words relate to one another in a sentence, and "syntax" refers to how words are organized into sentences. Here’s how John 1:1 reads in English, along with the reading… Continue reading The Grammar and Syntax of John 1:1
In an earlier post I offered an inconsistent tetrad (or set of four claims) about the Father and Jesus. Naturally, for any theology of the New Testament to be complete, we need to consider who (or what) the Holy Spirit is. When we combine our understanding of the Holy Spirit with our understanding of the… Continue reading Interpretive Options on the Holy Spirit
