Ulrich Zwingli

1484-1531

He was to Switzerland what Luther was to Germany. It is a funny thing what happens to people's perceptions of the church and spirituality when they actually read the Bible. Zwingli was exposed to Erasmus' translation of the Greek text. He actually transcribed most of it in notebooks and committed nearly all of it to memory. Upon reading the text for himself, he immediately realized how broad the catholic church's interpretation of Scripture has become. He especially took issue with the adoration of saints and relics, promises of miraculous cures, and church abuses of the indulgence system. (Funny how we have similar problems today in the church as well.)

He began to address the aforementioned abused from the pulpit, thus prompting Rome to put him on trial as a heretic. He thoughtfully laid out the reason he was denouncing such wandering from the simply and clear message of Scripture. He asserted the supremacy of the Holy Writ over church dogma, attacked the worship of images, relics, and saints, and denounced the sacramental view of the Eucharist and enforced celibacy as well. In fact, Rome must have been surprised indeed, because instead of labeling him as a heretic, the local governing body rather removed themselves from under the umbrella of the Catholic Church. Thus effectively starting the reformation in Switzerland.

He began to take his message to the other governing bodies in Switzerland that were subject to Rome. Six bodies agreed with him, while 5 stayed loyal to Rome. This divided swelled into a civil war, in which Zwingli was wounded and later executed by the opposing side. That is still where Switzerland finds itself, half protestant and half catholic.

Clement, a native of Athens, was converted to Christianity by Pantaenus, founder of the Catechetical School at Alexandria (then the intellectual capital of the Mediterranean world), and succeeded his teacher as head of the School about 180. For over 20 years he labored as an apologist for the faith.. He regarded the science and philosophy of the Greeks as being, like the Torah of the Hebrews, a preparation for the Gospel. Like none before him, Clement emphasized the relationship between faith and knowledge. He turned the contemporary understanding of his day from viewing gods as mythical legends to understanding God as being engaged in human life and, in fact, God incarnate. His speculative theology, his scholarly defense of the faith and his willingness to meet non-Christian scholars on their own grounds, helped to establish the good reputation of Christianity in the world of learning and prepare the way for his pupil, Origen. Clement did Christianity a great service to enable it to engage the rest of civilization as something more than an odd sect. He helped move Christian thought from simple traditions to scientific dogmatic theology. Although he had great interest in knowledge, he differed from the gnostics in that the basis of gnosis for him was the "Canon of the Church" rather than special esoteric knowledge.

Here is a prayer translated into modern day language.

O God of unsearchable mystery, who led Clement of Alexandria to Find in ancient philosophy a path to knowledge of your Word: Grant that your Church may recognize true wisdom, wherever it is found, knowing that wisdom come from you and leads to you; through our Teacher Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen

Currently Reading The Cost of Discipleship By Dietrich Bonhoeffer see related

Bonhoeffer 1906-April 9, 1945 where he was executed by hanging. Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a real person, who lived, and struggled and battled with the principalities and powers of this world and beyond. He died at age 39, but the impact he has left has been quite significant.

Bonhoeffer studied in Europe as well as the United Stated. He has a great many opportunities, and could have avoided the war and all its ill effects, but reasoned that he must return to his homeland of Germany, because if he could not identify with the tremendous struggles believers in his homeland were enduring, how then could he contribute to the reconstruction of the Christian Life in post war Germany.

As a result of Bonhoeffer's studies, he penned two well known books, The Cost of Discipleship and Life Together. Both of which have continued after his death to impact the Christian community in untold proportions. He aligned himself with Barth and others in his opposition to Hitler's regime. He was arrested for the first time in 1943 for smuggling Jews out of Germany. D. Bonhoeffer was also a leader in the anti-Nazi church, Confessing Church. He was ultimately arrested for being a part of a failed assassination attempt against Hitler. He was hanged on April 9, 1945. Hitler committed suicide later that same month and Germany surrendered within the month. Bonhoeffer never saw that dream realized. He died a death, where he had yet to see anything he stood for or believed in realized, yet jailers attest to the fact that the found him on his knees praying when they came to get him for his execution. He was no saint. Just a mere man. In responding to the problems of the society and culture in which he found himself, he made some poor decisions, he failed, he was human. Sometimes, we fail to understand that many of the great men and women of God who came before us were somehow exempt from fears and doubts and failures. But we are all mere men and women, desperately trying to peel the layers of selfishness off of ourselves so the inner parts of ourselves can be exposed to God and changed. A wise professor once told us that a couple can never birth anything unless they expose themselves to one another. Likewise, the Father cannot birth anything in us until we truly expose ourselves to Him. Bonhoeffer, somehow, someway, exposed himself to God, and the resulting commitment led to his ultimate death.

Here is an excerpt of a poem he wrote while in prison...

Who am I? They often tell me I would step from my cell's confinement calmly, cheerfully, firmly, like a squire from his country-house.
Who am I? They often tell me I would talk to my warden freely and friendly and clearly, as though it were mine to command.
Who am I? They also tell me I would bear the days of misfortune equably, smilingly, proudly, like one accustomed to win.
Am I then really all that which other men tell of, or am I only what I know of myself, restless and longing and sick, like a bird in a cage,
struggling for breath, as though hands were compressing my throat, yearning for colors, for flowers, for the voices of birds, thirsting for
words of kindness, for neighborliness, trembling with anger at despotisms and petty humiliation, tossing in expectation of great events,
powerlessly trembling for friends at an infinite distance, weary and empty at praying, at thinking, at making, faint and ready to say farewell to it all.
Who am I? This or the other? Am I one person today, and tomorrow another? Am I both at once? A hypocrite before others, and before myself a contemptibly woebegone weakling? Or is something within me still like a beaten army, fleeing in disorder from victory already achieved?
Who am I? They mock me, these lonely questions of mine. Whoever I am, Thou knowest, O God, I am thine.

Currently Reading The Epistle to the Romans (Galaxy Books) By Karl Barth see related

Karl Barth 1886-1968

Karl Barth was one of the most influential theologians of the last century. Barth's contribution came at a most opportune time, when nazism was rising and liberal theology was attempting to dominate the theological landscape. Barth is best known for his monumental work, "The Epistle to the Romans," published in 1919, as well as Church Dogmatics, which was a product of the later years of Barth's life and as a result, was never finished, despite the fact that it is compiled of over a colossal 6 million words.

Most of Barth's energy was exerted towards two ends, 1)combating nazism (attempting to convince Germans that they have a responsibility to someone greater than Hitler) and false justification for war and 2) his reaction to liberal theology which produces his contribution to the emerging theological system of the day, neo-orthodoxy, for which Barth is credited for establishing the foundation.  Many liberal theologians of his day also justified WWI, which infuriated Barth. Barth understood that God did not ally Himself with the cultures, possessions, or experiences of "cultured people."

It is my understanding that Barth's emphases in neo-orthodoxy are the sinfulness of man, the transcendence of God, and the inability of humankind to know God except through revelation. Although Barth sought to combat liberal theology, he was in agreement with one of their tenets, mainly that the Bible is neither historically nor scientifically reliable. Barth understood Christ to be God's revelation, and the Bible as a record of that revelation, not the revelation in and of itself, therefore, later theologians have rightly criticized Barth for not holding to Biblical inerrancy. 

Although Barth seemed to have problems in parts of his theology, his contribution to Christian Theology cannot be minimized. It came at a critical time in Christian history and world history. He rose up to challenge problems in the theological arena as well as the political. He played a major role in turning the theological tide away from modern influences and focusing more on the principles of the Reformation and the teachings of the Bible.  

"Theology is a peculiarly beautiful discipline.  Indeed, we can confidently say that it is the most beautiful of all disciplines. To find academic study distasteful is the mark of the Philistine.  It is an extreme form of Philistinism to find, or to be able to find, theology distasteful. The theologian who labors without joy is not a theologian at all.  Sulky faces, morose thoughts and boring ways of speaking are intolerable in this field." [Karl Barth]