Feb 27
Papa Ratzi’s heresy watch award
In marking some basic doctrine assignments (comparing the Nicene Creed with a metrical version of it) I was very impressed by some students’ ability to spot the serious implications of what might have seemed like an insignificant change on the surface. As well as marking them I decided one or two deserved a special award.
No sooner had I created the award (see below) than I stumbled across this blog posting by Molly Aley. I would like to make her my first blog recipient of this award. Taking Wayne Grudem to task for distorting the fathers’ teaching into its opposite is a worthy deed.
I was also amazed in passing at her quotation from Grudem’s systematic theology.
“subordination in role has been essential to the church’s doctrine of the Trinity since it was first affirmed in the Nicene Creed, which said … that the Holy Spirit “proceeds from the Father and the Son.
Breaking news: the phrase “and the Son” was not added until two centuries after the Nicene Creed first affirmed the doctrine of the Trinity (or two and half centuries if you mean the Nicene Creed as opposed to the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed) and then only in Latin, and always subsequently disputed. Ironically the root of the dispute lies partly in the question of the ordering of the relationships in a way that safeguards the divine monarchy in Eastern thought.
But would you buy a doctrine from this man?
Oh, and a PS. Did you hear about the inquisitor who bought a dog and called it “Anathema”, just for the pleasure of being able to keep saying “Anathema - sit!”
February 27th, 2008 at 10:16 pm
Doug, thanks for this award to Molly. Her post is indeed excellent, although I think Papa Ratzi might have spotted her misattribution of the Athanasian Creed as well as Grudem’s of the Nicene. But I find it strange that there is no mention of this award in a comment or trackback on her post. I have now partially rectified that, so presumably Molly will now be aware of it.
February 27th, 2008 at 10:31 pm
I couldn’t see a mechanism for leaving a trackback and Blogger and Wordpress don’t seem to mate. I felt dubious about leaving a comment, since that blog is about asking people to play nice to each other and I was playing nasty by using the “H” word!
Yes, I too think Benedict might have spotted the Athanasian Creed question - but I overlooked it in an unaccustomed fit of charity.
February 27th, 2008 at 10:47 pm
Gee, thanks for the award! I also appreciate the unaccustomed fit of charity.
February 27th, 2008 at 11:38 pm
Yes, I’ve heard the dog joke — one too many times.
One of the best parts about not being Catholic is that one cannot be excommunicated from Rome.
February 28th, 2008 at 12:18 am
[...] Aley at the Complegalitarian blog offers a robust (and award-winning) criticism of CBMW’s claims about the doctrine of eternal subordinationism in the Trinity. In [...]
February 28th, 2008 at 1:10 pm
A beautiful award, Doug! I may not be a friend of the Papacy (i.e., the Western Antichrist), but I am certainly a friend of the delightful Papa Ratzi!
And this first award couldn’t have gone to a better recipient: three cheers for exposing the vile subordinationism of Grudem! Hooray! Hooray! Hooray!