Christian Unity (the book) - The Maranatha Community
Christian Unity (the book) - The Maranatha Community
Christian Unity (the book) - The Maranatha Community
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Perhaps, also, non-Chalcedonian believers can be rehabilitated by <strong>the</strong>acceptance of this Creed.Holding to <strong>the</strong> Nicene Creed will have to allow for plenty of debate about itsmeaning and relevance to <strong>the</strong> 21 st Century world. In <strong>the</strong> Epilogue to his <strong>book</strong><strong>The</strong> Person of Christ, Donald Macleod makes this point well. He writes:‘Is <strong>the</strong> task of Christology completed? Is Chalcedon final? By no means!We cannot content ourselves with merely repeating <strong>the</strong> words andphrases of <strong>the</strong> past till <strong>the</strong> Day of <strong>the</strong> Parousia. <strong>The</strong>se very words<strong>the</strong>mselves require to be teased out, using, among o<strong>the</strong>r things, <strong>the</strong>insights of modern psychology and modern genetics. Besides, Christologyconstantly faces new challenges and each such challenge both changesand enriches us. Even those who cannot always be thanked for <strong>the</strong>iranswers must at least be thanked for <strong>the</strong>ir questions.How do we translate homoousios and perichoresis into <strong>the</strong> plain Englishof today? <strong>The</strong> 4 th Century <strong>the</strong>ologians ransacked <strong>the</strong>ir world forappropriate images. We must find ours in <strong>the</strong> world of singularities,quarks, black holes and electro-magnetism. He who finds a serviceablenew image puts <strong>the</strong> whole world in his debt. <strong>The</strong> task goes on, <strong>the</strong>n.’ 20David Willis sees <strong>the</strong> creeds as ‘channel markers’ to guide <strong>the</strong> ship of <strong>the</strong>Church. He writes:‘<strong>The</strong>re were and are, when it comes to <strong>the</strong> Church’s teaching about Christ,only a few ways to speak about <strong>the</strong> mystery of <strong>the</strong> unity of God andhumanity in <strong>the</strong> person of Christ. <strong>The</strong>se major ways came to be defined aschannel markers within which saving, sane, wholesome navigation couldproceed. That is a very different picture from ones that ei<strong>the</strong>r toss out <strong>the</strong>doctrinal development of this period altoge<strong>the</strong>r or treat <strong>the</strong> formations of<strong>the</strong>se agreements as pretty much <strong>the</strong> last and final word. Channel markersfor sane navigation are for proceeding. That means <strong>the</strong> dynamic businessof discerning what <strong>the</strong> makers of <strong>the</strong> creed agreed to at <strong>the</strong> greatecumenical councils and <strong>the</strong>n attempting to translate and interpret that20Macleod, Donald, <strong>The</strong> Person of Christ, Contours of <strong>Christian</strong> <strong>The</strong>ology, Inter-VarsityPress, 1998.Page 35