In the beginning was the Word
On Sunday December 21 at 10am the Sunday class concludes its series on the theology of Christmas. In this session, we look at the prologue to the Gospel of John and its implications for later understandings of the relationship between God the Father and God the Son. The class meets on the fifth floor.
The Genesis of Orthodoxy
The Sunday class resumes its study of the origin and development of the Christian theological tradition on January 7 at 10 a.m. The Council of Ephesus (A.D. 431) affirmed that Mary could be described as the theotokos (“God-bearer” or “Mother of God”) but the controversy over the two natures of Christ raged on. In this session, the class looks at the background to the Council of Chalcedon (451), as the Church began to formulate what would become the definitive orthodox position.
The Emperor and the Bishops: Politics of Language and Faith in the Fifth-Century Church
On Wednesday, January 31, at 6:30 p.m., Saint Thomas welcomes the Rt. Rev. Allen K. Shin, Bishop Suffragan of the Diocese of New York. In this lecture, Bishop Shin discusses the complex interaction between politics, religion, and national identities in the Church of the patristic age. While debating fundamental theological doctrines about Christ, the bishops were also speaking different languages, living in different cultures, and negotiating different relationships with the emperor. The result was a heated controversy which nevertheless formed the Christian tradition as we know it today. The lecture is held in Andrew Hall.
