Junker Jorg

Every night at bed time my boys beg me to tell or read them a story. So last night I told them one which I knew would be right up their alley. It involved a fugitive on the run, kidnapping, a fast ride through a forest, and a castle with a knight. In the story, ML was the name of the main character and the face. The heel was simply known as "the organization." The organization was out to get ML and found him guilty of treason. ML was a fugitive on the run and in order to keep him safe, his friends staged his kidnapping and hid him in a castle disguised as a knight. Just the kind of story a young boy would like.

Sound familiar? If it does, it may be because the story is true. ML is Martin Luther, the organization is the Catholic Church. When Luther left the Diet of Worms his friends kidnapped him to keep him safe from those who sought his life. He was taken to the castle in Wartburg where he grew a beard and disguised himself as Junker Jorg (Knight George). It was here that Luther was allowed to work and translated the Scriptures into the German language.
 

The bearded Luther, Junker Jorg

The Church History ABC's

While browsing the local mega bookstore a few weeks ago, I came across a nice little book I didn't expect to find there, Stephen Nichols' and Ned Bustard's The Church History ABC's. It's a Church history book for children in which a prominent figure from Church history is featured for every letter of the alphabet. The only criticism I have seen for the book is that there are important figures from Church history who are left out of it. While this is true and the book actually admits this point, it must be remembered that there are only 26 letters in the alphabet. Overall, I think it is a great introduction for children to church history and nicely illustrated, if I might add. We have decided to use it as a regular part in educating our young children. On Fridays, Camdyn and Cayde have a history lesson that ties into the letter they are currently studying. The first week their letter was "I" and on Friday they learned about the Church father Ignatius. Last week the letter was "U" so they were introduced to Ursinus, the primary author of the Heidelberg Catechism and particularly relevant to our Reformed heritage.The book is witty, fun for children, and I would recommend its use for any Christian family.

Introduction to the Life and Thought of Thomas Aquinas

 

From Carl Trueman's post at Ref21. Original Link

Having just agreed to write a short introductory text on the life and thought of Thomas Aquinas for a Protestant audience, I have spent the last few days pulling various primary and secondary texts off my shelves to refresh my memory of the great man.  I used to teach an Honours course on his life and thought many years ago at the University of Nottingham, and found him both a fascinating and stimulating thinker.

Returning to him so many years on, I am struck again at what a theological resource he is, and that for a variety of reasons:

1. His development of the topical ordering of theology represents a definite advance on the Sentences of Peter Lombard and, in many ways, set the gold standard for subsequent Western systematic theologies.

2. While his two Summae are strongly theological/philosophical, they are underpinned both by biblical exegesis and by a thorough grounding in the ecumenical creeds.  Indeed, I believe Thomas was the first Western theologian of the Middle Ages to make extensive use of the canons of the ecumenical councils; and, as a medieval teacher, he had to exegete, teach, and preach his way through more scripture before he was deemed qualified  as a teacher than any Protestant minister of whom I am aware (including myself), despite the fact that we are the ones who are supposedly committed to scripture alone and the Bible's centrality to life and faith.

3. His constructive theological work (particularly Summa Theologiae Part One) lays the groundwork for much of what is later incorporated into Reformed understandings of God.  This is also done with a fine pastoral touch (as in his handling of the question, `If God knows the future, why should we pray?')

4. As a theologian operating at a time of significant philosophical upheaval (the arrival in the Latin West of Aristotle's metaphysical treatises) and theological/cultural challenge (the influence of Islamic culture in the south of Spain and Islamic science and philosophy everywhere -- even on Aquinas's own back doorstep in Paris), he is a great example of a great mind wrestling with great issues.   Given the philosophical disturbances of our own times, and, indeed, the pressing importance of both cultural and intellectual engagement with Islam, there is surely something to be learned from seeing how Thomas did it all those years ago.

Of course, there are other areas where Protestants will have fundamental disagreements -- authority, sacraments, justification, Mary, ecclesiology -- but this should not blind us to his strengths; nor should we ignore these parts of his work.  Reading a great theologian is always productive, and often no more so than at those points of disagreement where our own thinking is made necessarily sharper and clearer.

How Serious was the Reformation?

The Church of Rome took it pretty seriously (and they knew exactly what they were refuting):  

CANON XI.-If any one saith, that men are justified, either by the sole imputation of the justice of Christ, or by the sole remission of sins, to the exclusion of the grace and the charity which is poured forth in their hearts by the Holy Ghost, and is inherent in them; or even that the grace, whereby we are justified, is only the favour of God; let him be anathema.

CANON XII.-If any one saith, that justifying faith is nothing else but confidence in the divine mercy which remits sins for Christ’s sake; or, that this confidence alone is that whereby we are justified; let him be anathema.

CANON XIII.-If any one saith, that it is necessary for every one, for the obtaining the remission of sins, that he believe for certain, and without any wavering arising from his own infirmity and disposition, that his sins are forgiven him; let him be anathema.

CANON XIV.-If any one saith, that man is truly absolved from his sins and justified, because that he assuredly believed himself absolved and justified; or, that no one is truly justified but he who believes himself justified; and that, by this faith alone, absolution and justification are effected; let him be anathema. .

CANON XXX.-If any one saith, that, after the grace of Justification has been received, to every penitent sinner the guilt is remitted, and the debt of eternal punishment is blotted out in such wise, that there remains not any debt of temporal punishment to be discharged either in this world, or in the next in Purgatory, before the entrance to the kingdom of heaven can be opened (to him); let him be anathema.


(Council of Trent, Decree on Justification)
 

History of the Church Lectures...(Early Church)

...I hope to edit and upload them soon. At the end of 2009 I taught a Sunday School class where we focused on the Early Church. The lectures are simple and to the point, not profound or academic. The focus is on key events, main figures, and the progression of the early church. A link will be posted as soon as they're up.