Journey Into Divine Intimacy

In part 1 of this series, I introduced the process of traditioning and documented how it was used in the Bible. In this post I will trace how this traditioning process was used in the early church. First we will construct a narrative for the traditioning process up to and including the apostles. Second, we will explore the importance of the oral component of the tradition. The Christian Tradition in the Apostolic Era From Scripture we can reconstruct this narrative about the uniquely Christian tradition and the initial stages of its transmission: God the Father is the ultimate source of the Christian tradition, and the Son is the agent through whom it is initially transmitted: "All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him" (Matthew 11:27). As the incarnate Word of God, the Son orally transmits a portion of the tradition to his ...

A friend recently asked me this question: "I ... wondered how you now conceive of your sources of authority. How do you conceive now of the authority of the Scriptures? Are they ultimate in authority, or part of a wider 'stream' of inspiration and authority?" This question deserves a substantial reply, so I am going to use multiple blog posts to answer it. Although the question does not used the word tradition , I understand it to be asking about my relationship to tradition . In the Evangelical tradition of my upbringing, the word  tradition  was a bad word. It was mainly used pejoratively to ridicule people of other faith traditions, most notably Roman Catholics. Ironically, the pejorative users of this word rarely ever realized that they had their own traditions and unconsciously operated within them. In retrospect, one of the differences between the Evangelicalism I experienced and Orthodoxy is that of self-awareness. As an Evangelical--unaware or even in denia...

Someone dear to me recently wrote and said that while reading a book by an Orthodox author, she ran into a stumbling block. This is the quote from the book with the challenging parts in bold: Orthodox Christian Scriptures and saints all stress the necessity, and indeed the inevitability, of blessed mourning ( penthos ) over life in this sinful world . They say, as is often emphasized in Orthodox Church services, that without tears of sorrow over the "sin of the world" and one's own sins, and those of one's family and friends, no person can be saved . A human being who sees and experiences the grim realities of life in this world will necessarily weep as Jesus wept, and weep together with Him. "Blessed are they who mourn," Christ teaches, "for they shall be comforted" (Matt. 5:4). (from Christian Faith and Same Sex Attraction: Eastern Orthodox Reflections by Fr. Thomas Hopko of blessed memory). I want to share my response to her below. You sai...

Introduction Judging merely by the degree to which a service affects me emotionally, it seems that the Vesperal Liturgy of St. Basil celebrated on the morning of Great and Holy Saturday is my favorite service. The selection of Scripture readings, hymnography and psalmody really chokes me up. Today's celebration of that liturgy was as glorious as ever, and I want to share a few impressions that I had. All Scripture quotations are from the Lexham English Bible except where indicated. The Back Story to the Harrowing of Hades Most people in the tradition of my upbringing have no idea what the Harrowing of Hades is. In order that the rest of my article can make sense, let me present its primary source. At the moment of Jesus' death, this happened: "And the tombs were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many." (Matthew 27:52-53). Am...