John of Damascus

2024-05-07

Popularly considered the last of the church fathers, John of Damascus gathered up the fruit of early church reflection on the Trinity and the person of Christ in his learned tome, The Orthodox Faith. But in addition to the usual wrangling with the Greek philosophical heritage and the monotheistic challenge of Judaism, John had a new adversary to consider: the even more radically monotheistic Islam. In this episode, Dad and I sort through John's record of Chalcedonian orthodoxy from the 8th century, his...

Popularly considered the last of the church fathers, John of Damascus gathered up the fruit of early church reflection on the Trinity and the person of Christ in his learned tome, The Orthodox Faith. But in addition to the usual wrangling with the Greek philosophical heritage and the monotheistic challenge of Judaism, John had a new adversary to consider: the even more radically monotheistic Islam. In this episode, Dad and I sort through John's record of Chalcedonian orthodoxy from the 8th century, his "double-mindedness," and what pressures led to the enormous internal doctrinal tensions that he passed on to the generations to follow. Such that, in this episode, Sarah admits defeat.

Notes:

1. Can't get enough of Trinity and christology, especially with respect to Greek metaphysics? Then by all means rush right out and get yourself a copy of Dad's Divine Complexity and also Divine Simplicity

2. John of Damascus, On the Orthodox Faith (and generally speaking checking out the great selection in the Popular Patristics series)

3. Related episodes: Atonement, Image of God, Melanchthon's Loci Communes, Oh, Anselm!!!, Gregory of Nazianzus, Irenaeus, Athanasius

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