“The New Testament and the Nicene Dogma” by David Yeago

Posted on 16 November 2013 by Fr Aidan Kimel
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4 Responses to “The New Testament and the Nicene Dogma” by David Yeago

  1. PJ says:
    16 November 2013 at 5:04 pm

    There are really two questions:

    1. Is it possible to propound and defend the triune Godhead of Nicaea and Chalcedon in a strictly apostolic — that is, biblical — idiom?

    2. Is Christian theology fundamentally bounded by this idiom?

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    • Fr Aidan Kimel says:
      16 November 2013 at 5:25 pm

      I certainly think it is possible to preach the Trinity in an apostolic idiom: the heart of preaching is telling the biblical story with its three dramatic personae (Father, Son, and Spirit). I rarely invoke the Nicene vocabulary (ousia, hypostasis) in my preaching when speaking on the Holy Trinity, though I do in catechesis.

      PJ, I’m not sure what you are asking in your second question.

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      • PJ says:
        16 November 2013 at 6:36 pm

        I’m asking whether or not it is acceptable — or, if acceptable, then prudent — to use the language and categories of profane philosophy to explicate and defend the Christian vision of God.

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      • PJ says:
        16 November 2013 at 8:53 pm

        Do you ever consider what might have happened had the fathers restricted themselves to the “apostolic idiom” in the formulation of creeds? Could they have constructed and defended a stable and enduring christological and trinitarian orthodoxy apart from the language and constructs of philosophy? Even catholic fathers — Jerome comes to mind — questioned the prudence of “homoousios.” Was there a viable alternative in the struggle against the various heresies (which themselves drew upon philosophical, and especially Hellenistic, notions of deity).

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