Saturday, August 23, 2014

Respect in nothing new

I'm currently in the middle of my penultimate subject for the Bachelor of Theology - Christology - and, if I'm honest, I'm not learning a great deal of new things.

One part is that I've already done the equivalent subject at a diploma level, but more so, many of the concepts aren't breathtakingly new. In fact, many of the readings are based in the second and third centuries of the church.

And herein lies the beauty of the subject.

Two millennia after the life of Jesus, the idea of the incarnation, Christ's divinity, the trinity and salvation by grace are not exactly eye-opening.

But, at one time, they all were.

They needed to be argued over.
They had to be defended.
They clarified what God had set in place.
They set right the paths of the church.

This is the value of church history.

What we take for granted wasn't always.

It took courage for doctrines to be nailed down and those who had the guts to defend the truth deserve our respect.

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