Heart Soul and Might

Today I came across this beautiful and reverent lyric penned by Thomas Aquinas:

Devoutly I Adore Thee

O Godhead hid, devoutly I adore Thee,
Who truly art within the forms before me;
To Thee my heart I bow with bended knee,
As failing quite in contemplating Thee.

Sight, touch, and taste in Thee are each deceived;
The ear alone most safely is believed:
I believe all the Son of God has spoken,
Than Truth’s own word there is no truer token.

God only on the Cross lay hid from view;
But here lies hid at once the Manhood too;
And I, in both professing my belief,
Make the same prayer as the repentant thief.

Thy wounds, as Thomas saw, I do not see;
Yet Thee confess my Lord and God to be:
Make me believe Thee ever more and more;
In Thee my hope, in Thee my love to store.

O thou Memorial of our Lord’s own dying!
O Bread that living art and vivifying!
Make ever Thou my soul on Thee to live;
Ever a taste of Heavenly sweetness give.

O loving Pelican! O Jesu, Lord!
Unclean I am, but cleanse me in Thy Blood;
Of which a single drop, for sinners spilt,
Is ransom for a world’s entire guilt.

Jesu! Whom for the present veil’d I see,
What I so thirst for, O vouchsafe to me:
That I may see Thy countenance unfolding,
And may be blest Thy glory in beholding. Amen.

Saint Thomas Aquinas, translated by E. Caswall

My next door neighbor, John, holds a PhD in Biblical Languages from Harvard and when he found out the reading focus for my sabbatical was Church History, he slipped his copy of Here I Stand: A Life of Martin Luther - in the back of my car just before we left. Following Athanasius and Augustine, my intent was to fast forward past the Reformation to next read the biography on Jonathan Edwards I picked up from amazon.com. But holding the biography of he who started the Reformation, it makes more sense to read Luther before Edwards, so I’m going for it. Thanks, John. This book is incredible. He told me its the definitive work on Luther, and I can see why.

It’s interesting to see how Luther never intended to be the Father of the Reformation… In fact, he didn’t intend any fanfare on posting his 95 Theses… his intent was to spur some spirited intellectual debate… until someone combined his paper with the printing press and started distributing copies! One thing led to another and he found himself debating truth to save his life.

The timing of his strong and principled beliefs, eloquent writing and speaking styles and growing widespread frustration with abuses within the Catholic Church were the ingredients necessary for a Reformation. There were many teachings he had a problem with, not the least of which were the infallibility of the Pope, the infallibility of the Catholic Church, indulgences, and most importantly, placing the word of the Church and Pope over and above Scripture. The bottom line is he saw that the Church was professing a false gospel, and he was fed up. His writings were getting him in trouble (obviously) with the powers that be, and he was being asked to recant his protests when he boldly said the following:

You are not a bad Christian if you deny the decretal [of the Pope]. But if you deny the gospel, you are a heretic. I damn and detest this decretal. The Apostolic Legate opposed me with the thunder of his majesty and told me to recant. I told him the pope abused Scripture. I will honor the sanctity of the Pope, but I will adore the sanctity of Christ and the truth. I do not deny this new monarchy of the Roman Church which has arisen in our generation, but I deny that you cannot be a Christian without being subject to the decrees of the Roman pontiff. As for the decretal, I deny that the merits of Christ are a treasure of indulgences because his merits convey grace apart from the pope. The merits of Christ take away sins and increase merits. Indulgences take away merits and leave sins. These adulators put the pope above Scripture and say that he cannot err. In that case, Scripture perishes, and nothing is left in the Church save the word of man. I resist those who in the name of the Roman Church wish to institute Babylon.

Roland Bainton, Here I Stand, p. 75.

What I most admire about Luther, as exemplified in this quote, is that he doggedly held to what he believed to be true even in the face of serious and damaging consequences - in his case, excommunication and possibly even death. He was going up against the most powerful people in both Church and government during this time. But he held his ground. He held to his convictions concerning the authority of Scripture. It wasn’t popular to oppose the pope, but he did - in the name of truth and the gospel. Yes, he was uncouth at times, and later came to regret some things he said (haven’t we all?), but he stood for principle. He stood for truth. He stood for Scripture. He stood for the gospel.

Father, may I have the same boldness and confidence in the face of persecution for the sake of the gospel and for Your glory.

I finished Garry Wills’ well-done biography of Augustine today. There are many rich thoughts and subjects worth noting, but I wanted to highlight a memorable quote as he reflected on the “carnality of the incarnation.” Augustine says of Christ:

“Man’s maker was made man that He, Ruler of the stars, might nurse at his mother’s breast; that the Bread might hunger, the Fountain thirst, the Light sleep, the Way be tired on its journey; that Truth might be accused of false witnesses, the Teacher be beaten with whips, the Foundation be suspended on wood; that Strength might grow weak; that the Healer might be wounded; that Life might die.”

Gary Wills, Saint Augustine, pp. 139-140.

What insight from one of the most influential and important founders of our faith. Augustine obviously meditated often and deeply on the person and work of our Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ. We would do well to do the same.

I highly recommend reading on and studying the history of the Church even for your own personal devotion. I’ve been ministered to richly as I’ve spent much time this year focusing on Church History - especially biographies of some of the men who laid the foundation on which we stand today. It is an important part of our heritage and can be a very devotional exercise to reflect on (and express gratitude for) the work that some very faithful men and women did on behalf of the Church in the last 2000 years.

I’m on sabbatical for a few weeks and am continuing my 2006 reading focus in Church History - what a rich treasure-trove of inspiration! In addition to continuing to read through a couple books dedicated to a summary of Church History, I’ve also brought along biographies of Augustine, Athanasius and Jonathan Edwards. I’m just about finished with Augustine, and while not a long book by any stretch, I’ve placed a comma there and read Saint Athanasius in a day. WOW. What an amazing and faithful man of God. Man of resolve. Patience. Steadfastness. Persistence. Resilience.

I was inspired to read his biography after listening to John Piper give a message on the life of Athanasius at the 2006 Passion conference in Nashville. Every year, Piper focuses biographically on one figure from Church History in his teaching at Bethlehem Baptist Church. Athanasius was his chosen subject last year. You can read the entirety of Piper’s article entitled “Contending For Our All: The Life and Ministry of Athanasius” here.

Here is the introduction to give you an entry point into his life:

Athanasius was born in AD 298 in Egypt and became the bishop of Alexandria on June 8, 328 at the age of 30. The people of Egypt viewed him as their bishop until he died on May 2, 373 at the age of 75.¹ I say he was “viewed” by the people as their bishop during these years because Athanasius was driven out of his church and office five times by the powers of the Roman empire. Seventeen of his 45 years as bishop were spent in exile. But the people never acknowledged the validity of the other bishops sent to take his place. He was always bishop in exile as far as his flock was concerned.

Gregory of Nazianzus (330-389) gave a memorial sermon in Constantinople seven years after the death of Athanasius and described the affections of the Egyptian people for their bishop. At the end of the third exile from his homeland, when Athanasius returned in 364 after six years away, Gregory tells us:

amid such delight of the people of the city and of almost all Egypt, that they ran together from every side, from the furthest limits of the country, simply to hear the voice of Athanasius, or feast their eyes upon the sight of him.²

From their standpoint none of the foreign appointments to the office of bishop in Alexandria for 45 years was valid but one, Athanasius. This devotion was owing to the kind of man Athanasius was. Gregory remembered him like this:

Let one praise him in his fastings and prayers . . . , another his unweariedness and zeal for vigils and psalmody, another his patronage of the needy, another his dauntlessness towards the powerful, or his condescension to the lowly. . . . [He was to] the unfortunate their consolation, the hoary-headed their staff, youths their instructor, the poor their resource, the wealthy their steward. Even the widows will . . . praise their protector, even the orphans their father, even the poor their benefactor, strangers their entertainer, brethren the man of brotherly love, the sick their physician.³

One of the things that makes that kind of praise from a contemporary the more credible is that, unlike many ancient saints, Athanasius is not recorded as having done any miracles. Archibald Robertson, who edited Athanasius’ works for the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, said, “He is . . . surrounded by an atmosphere of truth. Not a single miracle of any kind is related of him. . . . The saintly reputation of Athanasius rested on his life and character alone, without the aid of any reputation for miraculous power.”⁴ Then he goes on with his own praise of Athanasius:

In the whole of our minute knowledge of his life there is a total lack of self-interest. The glory of God and the welfare of the Church absorbed him fully at all times. . . . The Emperors recognized him as a political force of the first order . . . but on no occasion does he yield to the temptation of using the arm of flesh. Almost unconscious of his own power . . . his humility is the more real for never being conspicuously paraded. . . . Courage, self-sacrifice, steadiness of purpose, versatility and resourcefulness, width of ready sympathy, were all harmonized by deep reverence and the discipline of a single-minded lover of Christ.⁵

Father of Orthodoxy

This single-minded love for Jesus Christ expressed itself in a lifelong battle to explain and defend Christ’s deity and to worship Christ as Lord and God. This is what Athanasius is best known for. There were times when it seemed the whole world had abandoned orthodoxy. That is why the phrase “Athanasius contra Mundum” (against the world) arose. He stood steadfast against overwhelming defection from orthodoxy, and only at the end of his life could he see the dawn of triumph.

Athanasius’ main (and life-long) battle for truth was with the Arians - originally led by their namesake, Arius - whose teaching lived on in the belief that Jesus was not God, but was instead created by God. In their view, Jesus was not the Creator, but instead was a creature. It was against this heresy that the Emperor Constantine convened the Council of Nicea  in A.D. 325. Athanasius and Arius were invited to attend by Constantine, although not as Bishops, but as onlooking contributors to the debate.

Piper draws seven conclusions from this study of the life of Athanasius that I think are very helpful to apply to our lives as believers today:

1. Defending and explaining doctrine is for the sake of the gospel of Christ’s glory and our everlasting joy.

2. Joyful courage is the calling of a faithful shepherd.

3. Loving Christ includes loving true propositions about Christ.

4. The truth of biblical language must be vigorously protected with non-biblical language.

5. A widespread and long-held doctrinal difference among Christians does not mean that the difference is insignificant or that we should not seek to persuade toward the truth and seek agreement.

6. Don’t aim to preach only in categories of thought that can be readily understood by this generation. Aim at creating biblical categories of thought that are not present.

7. Finally, we must not assume that old books, which say some startling things, are necessarily wrong, but may in fact have something glorious to teach us that we never dreamed.⁴³

Rather than expounding on each of these principles, I will simply encourage you to read the entire article on the Desiring God website here. There are many ways in which we can apply these truths to our lives and especially in light of the “generous orthodoxy” and moving target of truth we find in many “emerging” discussions, what Athanasius lived and fought for is as applicable today as it was in the 4th century.

HT: DesiringGod Ministries 

I picked up a biography on Saint Augustine at a used bookstore the other day and I’m fascinated by his life. Here is a quote showing how Augustine forged a bond with his community as he taught and interacted with them. This is why it is good to teach (with intentionality)!

“If it becomes boring to repeat the same things to beginners, we should put ourselves in their affectionate brother’s place, or their mother’s or father’s. Then such will be our empathy with what they are feeling that what is said will become new to us again. The effect of this sympathy is so great that when listeners are moved as we speak, we enter into each other’s reactions, as the hearers speak in us and we learn in them what we were teaching. Isn’t that what happens when we show others beautiful scenes which we have often gone past with a careless glance, but which give us fresh joy as we share others’ joy on first seeing them? And the intensity of this experience is the greater, the closer we are to each other. The more, by the bond of love, we enter into each other’s mind, the more even old things become new for us again.” (Instruction 17)

from Saint Augustine, Garry Wills, p. 72.

Friend and fellow blogger Reid Monaghan (Power of Change) taught the first part in a two-part series today on The Da Vinci Code where he laid the foundation for why it’s culturally important to understand what is behind the phenomenon of the DVC. The point is not to get sucked into the myth and the heresies behind this fictitious book, but to understand why it is taking culture by storm and be able to defend truth in light of the heretical and blasphemous claims made in the book and film.

I read The Da Vinci code almost three years ago, and knew when I read it that this book could do serious damage to some people’s fragile belief systems if it became more well-known than it had even at that time. And now, here we are with the movie release coming up May 19 - and unbelievable “buzz” surrounding this movie starring America’s beloved Tom Hanks and directed by another American “hero”, Ron Howard. This movie is sure to hit BIG at the box office.

So what is Da Vinci Code’s “perfect storm” all about? The “perfect storm” refers to the storm that developed off the northeast coast of the U.S. in 1991 where a cold front combined with a low pressure system and remnants of Hurricane Grace to create a scenario perfect for the development of a massive and destructive storm. It was such an amazing storm that a book was written and a movie was eventually produced.

Reid presented the case for a cultural “perfect storm” where a number of factors combine to create the scenario where this book has sold over 50 million copies and now is being produced into a high-budget Hollywood blockbuster. Here are the elements of the cultural perfect storm that are contributing to this Da Vinci Code phenomenon:

1. Discussion around the “Lost Gospels” - There has been a lot of interest in recent years around writings that supposedly call into question the validity of our current Scripture and present a different view of history and the life of Jesus Christ. The Gospel of Thomas, Gospel of Mary Magdalene (among others) and most recently the Gospel of Judas are a few of those. Most of these writings have been found to have been written as late as the 200’s and 300’s - many, many years after the rest of the Canon of Scripture - and LONG after Mary and Judas had died. Yet, many people are holding these writings to the same level of Scripture. And Da Vinci Code author Dan Brown capitalizes on this in the book, bringing up many fringe writings while also calling into question the authority of Scripture.

2. Conspiracy Theories - There is all kind of interest in conspiracy theories in the world today - alien abductions, government involvement in assassinations, UFOs, etc, etc. Culture is fascinated by a good conspiracy theory, which is clearly exploited in DVC.

3. Orders, Art and Architecture - The Knights Templar, the Priory of Scion, Opus Dei… These secretive, mysterious orders - often dating back to medieval times and before - easily draw many people in to their intrigue. The mystery behind their practices and rituals is a lure into a world we know not of - and Dan Brown is aware of this curiosity of human nature. Add to the picture interest in the world of great art and beautiful architecture and you have the recipe for the success of DVC. People are intrigued to know there might be something behind the coy smile of the Mona Lisa and possible connections to the Louvre in France and other great architectural marvels.

4. The “Vatican Boogeyman” - Many people want reason to believe their fears that the Catholic Church is controlled by greed for money, power and influence to the point that it will do anything to perpetuate its belief system - even if the belief system is based on deceit and false information. Dan Brown capitalizes on this and picks on the Catholic Church, setting it up as a dominant predator that will seek to save face no matter the cost.

5. Goddess Worship and Neo-Paganism - There has been much interest in recent years in the Divine Feminine, the role and position of women in society and the worship of goddesses. Interest in witchcraft has risen sharply in recent years and Brown picks up on these issues with the interest in Mary Magdalene and the centrality of the book’s key female character, Sophie - a supposed descendent of Jesus and Mary Magdalene…

6. Pick a Fight with Jesus - Over 2.1 billion people in the world consider themselves “Christian” in some form - with belief in the person of Jesus Christ being the central focus. Brown calls all known information about Jesus into question and gets at the core belief system of the largest religious order on the planet. If Brown wanted to generate interest in his fast-paced, intriguing murder mystery, he got it from all directions by targeting the core, fundamental beliefs of those who consider themselves Christians (whether protestant or Catholic) - primarily the beliefs of the divine authority of Scripture and the life, death and resurrection of Christ…

All of these six factors (and maybe some others as well) have combined for such a time as this in the course of human history to create the perfect storm scenario where - as Brown touches on all of them in unique and creative ways - they create a stir and buzz that will be hard for the world to not take notice.

The terrible thing is that the validity and authority of Scripture are being questioned, the legitimacy of Christ’s integrity and character is being attacked and almost all of the book’s content that supports these concerns is being upheld as “fact” when in reality, a lot of it either isn’t true or wasn’t well researched.

The great thing about this is that this perfect cultural storm is getting the whole world talking about Jesus! Being aware of the issues in this book and movie will create many opportunities for dialogue over the coming weeks and months. Dialogue that presents the gospel and sees lives being changed. But, we need to know our own faith well and how it interfaces with The Da Vinci Code in order to engage culture in this unique season of opportunity. We can’t stick our heads in the sand and either not respond, or protest in ignorance when God may well be (and most likely IS) planning on using even this for the advancement of His glory. How do I know that? Because that’s just how He operates and has proven time and again that what man intends for evil, God intends for good.

Do you have any other ideas on “pefect storm” factors that might not have been mentioned? If so, drop me a line and we can continue the dialogue.

I’m not advocating seeing the movie (although I will) - but I am advocating that we know enough about the issues raised - in the book and the movie - that we can get into the cultural world without being threatened, and present the one, true Gospel. This book and movie are an open door… We all need to decide how the Spirit is leading us to walk through it into the possibility of changed lives and people giving their lives to the advancement of the Gospel and uplifting the glory of God.

Could it be that this is part of God’s divine plan? Could God Himself have devised the pieces that would come together to create this perfect cultural storm? Because of what I believe about God, my answer is YES.

This from Justin Taylor at Between Two Worlds:

A few days ago I passed along an email from screenwriter Brian Godawa, where he included a suggested strategy of going to a different movie than the Da Vinci Code on its opening weekend. After receiving feedback, he’s had second thoughts on that approach, and passes along the following note (with permission to post). I reprint it here for your consideration:

“I have had some very helpful responses to the email I forwarded about strategy dealing with the Da Vinci Code release on May 19. In fact, they were so good that they persuaded me to expand my thinking on what to do May 19. I have always affirmed the Acts 17 approach to engaging with pagan culture, and was neglectful in taking that into consideration when I forwarded that email. As I thought about it some more, based on some of your thoughtful challenges, I realized that this is a profound opportunity that we have not had in a long time (since, The Passion) to talk about Jesus so widely. Now, some Christians have different gifts and ministries than others, which mean there are several ways of dealing with this issue, and all of them are legitimate depending on what situation you are in:

1) Educate yourself and go to see another movie on May 19. This was the first suggestion. And it is great for those who would probably not go see the movie anyway, as well as those who feel they don’t want to “support” the success of the film. Hollywood does listen to box office on the first couple weekends in terms of what movies they will continue to make. In a sense, our dollars are votes for what kind of movies are going to be made. Buy some books by Christians who have dissected the fallacies and fantasies of The Da Vinci Code so you can actually converse with people and express a measure of intelligence. It is important to note here that Christians have a reputation for not knowing what they are talking about because they “haven’t seen the movie.” BUT… Remember, you don’t have to see the movie to be able to discuss it with those who have, but you DO have to know what the issues are. In fact, the most effective means of witnessing is to LISTEN FIRST. So ask what someone else learned from the movie to see just how it affected them, and then respond to those concerns with the truth.
Too often we start rattling off what we think is wrong with something before we understand what the unbeliever really needs or thinks.

Listening first places you in a humble and disarming position. JUST ASK QUESTIONS AND LISTEN to the unbeliever’s viewpoint first. Wow, what a concept!

2) Go see the movie on May 19. The fact is, some unbelievers will not listen to your viewpoint if you haven’t seen it. For those of you who are in these circles, you may need to see it in order to interact with more effect. If your friends are going to see it, go with them, so you can give your opinions when they discuss it afterward. If you aren’t there when they do, then you’ve missed a chance to share the Gospel. Go the first couple weeks because it is going to be a hot issue and a lot of people will be talking about it right away, so if we wait for a few weeks, we can miss the most important discussions. The point is that we rarely have an open opportunity to talk about Jesus and here we have the unbelievers bringing it up and willing to talking about it.

OBJECTIONS:

1) But doesn’t this give money to godless movie companies for their godless films?
Well, Either Paul or Gamaliel, under whom Paul studied, paid money to buy the plays of Menander as well as the writings of pagan poets Aratus and Cleanthes and many others in order to interact with their ideas and apply the Gospel (1 Cor. 15:33; Acts 17:24-29). So there is biblical precedent for paying money for godless works in order to interact with them.

Look at it this way: You are paying 10 bucks to listen to a godless hate theory about Jesus, but this “buys” you the opportunity to share the true Jesus with those who would not listen to you otherwise.

Christians are always griping about how hard it is to get opportunities to talk about Jesus and this is a stark raving opportunity. Who cares if you have to pay for the opportunity? Do you want to share Jesus or not? $10 to be able to share Jesus. That’s pretty cheap. Of course, if you are like many Christians and do not really have any unbelievers who are your friends, then you probably don’t need to go because who do you have to share Jesus with anyway?

2) But doesn’t the first weekend box office support the film’s success?

Yes, it does on one level. However, the other side of that coin is that the more of a success it is, the more people talk about it, the more opportunity you have to share the real Jesus with them. If you wait until the second or third week, you will not be prepared to engage in the hottest discussions which are the first couple weeks. Also, realistically, whether you go to the first, second or tenth week, it’s still gonna count toward the box office anyway, so why not have a voice for Jesus in the hottest discussions? Would Paul have opted out of speaking to the pagans on Mars Hill because they wouldn’t respect him unless he read the Poets? No! He read the Poets and entered the fray!

Because he believed the truth of the Gospel will win out and “greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world!” (1 John 4:4)

Folks, this is an opportunity to talk about Jesus! So the options are: 1) go to a different movie that weekend to cast a vote against Da Vinci Code, 2) Don’t go to the opening week of Da Vinci Code and don’t have an opportunity to talk about Jesus to those who did and won’t listen to you if you did not, or 3) Go the opening week and DO have an opportunity to talk about Jesus to those who did. Again, this has to do with the fact that there are plenty of unbelievers who will not listen to your viewpoint if you haven’t seen it. Sure, that’s unfair. Welcome to history.”

If you’re like me, you like to know what others are reading, or have read. Reid Monaghan (Power of Change) provides a great resource on his blog and actually recently posted a reading list that you should check out. Reid is an apologist and is well read in the areas of apologetics, philosophy, church history, theology, discipleship, etc.

Thanks to Justin Taylor (Between Two Worlds) for pointing me to a great blog devoted to church history called “Historia Ecclesiastica”. Read Michael Haykin’s post here on why we should study the “church fathers.” I’ve grown a real appreciation for what we can learn from studying church history and was recently inspired at Nashville’s Passion event by John Piper’s biographical message on the life of Athanasius. Read it here. 

HT: Between Two Worlds