Greetings! In this episode we talk about several things as we try to wrap up the class: 

Consider heading over to my (infrequently updated) blog at hermeneuticaetc.wordpress.com

Hello and welcome (back) to Hermeneutica Etcetera Podcast!

In this episode of the podcast we talk about the second half of the fourth article (the article on the Church) of the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed (381): "We confess one baptism for the forgiveness of sins. We look forward to the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come. Amen." We spend most of our time on baptism, forgiveness, and the "amen." Maybe there will be another episode in the future about the resurrection and the world to come!

Don't forget about the resources on the Christian Toolbox page on my blogsite (hermeneuticaetc.wordpress.com/christian-toolbox)

Aaaaaand welcome back to the podcast! Or simply welcome for the first time!

In this podcast we have a second conversation about the third article of the Creed on the Holy Spirit. The session takes a lot of time to talk about a particular issue in Church history concerning the addition of one little word: filioque ("and the Son")! This one word, like homoousios, has generated a significant amount of controversy because it has to do with the nature of God, this time with "the procession of the Holy Spirit" - How exactly is the Holy Spirit related to the Father and to the Son? We don't answer that question definitively (as if we could!), but we do lay out the issues. We also talk about the Spirit's inspiration of the prophets (and thus, by extension, of the Scriptures). All that and more in this week's episode!

Don't forget about the Christian Toolbox page on my blog at hermeneuticaetc.wordpress.com/christian-toolbox

Welcooooooooome back to the podcast!! In this episode we have our first session on the Holy Spirit, the Third Person of the Trinity. Have you ever prayed to the Holy Spirit? Have you ever "called upon" the Holy Spirit? Sometimes the Holy Spirit slips past our notice unless there is a specific liturgical Sunday dedicated to the Spirit in some way; the three that come to mind are Pentecost, of course, as well as Trinity Sunday and the Feast of the Annunciation (that is the annunciation to Mary concerning the Incarnation). This situation, says Luke Timothy Johnson in his book The Creed: What Christians Believe and Why it Matters, is the biggest most significant loss Christianity has suffered: the lack of a robust sense or vivid awareness of the Holy Spirit's presence as the intimate power of the Resurrected Lord. Hope you enjoy the episode!

And don't forget to check out the resources page on my blog: hermeneuticaetc.wordpress.com/christian-toolbox/

Hey and welcome back!! Hope you enjoy this episode and find it meaningful to your growing understanding of the Christian theological grammar (encompassing both thought and practice, faith and work).

In this episode we muse (I do most of it...) on the intelligibility of the second article of the Creed, namely the last part that starts with "and he rose again on the third day according to the scriptures." We explore that phrase specifically as well as some of the other claims that come up in the last part of the second article on the Son: that he is the eternal King, that he is the righteous Judge, that he is coming again in glory.

Don't forget to check out the resources page on my blog at hermeneuticaetc.wordpress.com/christian-toolbox/

Peace!

This episode is the second of four on the second part of the second article of the Creed, and deals with the last bit from ch.5 of Johnson's The Creed: What Christians Believe and Why It Matters. That last bit has to do with the early Christians' experience of the Holy Spirit as the life-giving presence of risen Lord among his people. This "power" manifests itself primarily in "salvation" or "rescue" or "deliverance" which the Creed says is really the purpose ("for us and our salvation") of the Son's incarnation as Christ Jesus. What a radical, cosmic claim! Hope you enjoy the episode!

Be sure to check out the theological resource page on my blog at hermeneuticaetc.wordpress.com

Thanks for joining us this week on the podcast! This class session is the first of four sessions we'll be spending on the second part of the second article of the Creed. In other words, the human career of Jesus, the incarnate Son, we'll take in two parts, the descent ("down from heaven...became man...suffered and was buried") and the ascent ("he rose again...ascended into heaven..."), and we'll spend two sessions, roughly, on each part. And, just as a reminder, the second article of the Creed is the article on the Second Person of the Trinity, and the first part of the second article deals with the divinity of the Son, which you can find in earlier episodes.

Don't forget to take a look at the resources page at my blog at hermeneuticaetc.wordpress.com

Hey there! Long time no speak!

In this episode, the class dives into the rest of the first part of the second article of the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed (381). If you haven't listened to previous episodes, go do that! They lay the groundwork for what this episode (and all the rest to come!) will talk about.

More specifically, this episode gets into what we mean when we say Jesus is "Lord" and "Christ," and what we mean when we say Jesus is "God" and "Light" and "Only-begotten" and "not made." We've spoken about Jesus, the Incarnate Son, as "homoousious" or "of one/same essence" with God the Father, so I don't talk about it in this episode. 

But, the big idea of the class, and really of the whole course, is that the "framers" of the Creed did not invent this stuff! They are trying to make the same "judgments" (decisions about Jesus, especially, but also about the Father, Spirit, and the Church) that Scripture is making, even if they have to do it in different "conceptual terms" (like with homoousios, a word which does not appear in the New Testament). This first part of the second article of the Creed draws especially from John's Gospel when speaking of Jesus as "(true) God" and "Light from Light" and as "of one essence with the Father" (cf. Jesus' statement in John that he "and the Father are One").

At any rate, I hope this episode is a genuine help to you as you read Luke Timothy Johnson's book The Creed: What Christians Believe and Why it Matters, which I've been using as the general frame/guide for the class.

Be sure to check out my theological resources page at hermeneuticaetc.wordpress.com

In this episode, I walk through the puzzle I'd been working over in ch.4 of Luke Timothy Johnson's The Creed: What Christians Believe and Why It Matters. We talk about some important questions to consider when taking an historical-theological look at the Creed... and we get side tracked a little bit, but I wrap those loose ends up a bit and connect them to the Creed in the last 20 minutes or so.

During the conversation, I make reference to Larry Hurtado's book, One God, One Lord: Early Christian Devotion and Ancient Jewish Monotheism. It is an excellent book for those seeking scholarly engagement on an important historical and theological question.

Be sure to check out the resources page at my blog, https://hermeneuticaetc.wordpress.com/christian-toolbox/

This is a supplemental episode rounding off our discussion of the first article of the Creed. This episode is pretty long and pretty detailed, so you can take your time getting through it if necessary! We'll be ready to tackle the next articles of the Creed (on the Son, Spirit, Church, etc.) now that we've discussed the sine qua non, "that without which, nothing," of Christian theological grammar (both what Christians say/believe and what they do/practice). In other words, the first article of the Creed is the source and goal of the rest of the Creed's affirmations and the realities to which it points.

You can check out my blog at hermeneuticaetc.wordpress.com

Thanks for tuning in!