The festival without which there would be no festivals

Ascension Day... "that festival which confirms the grace of all the festivals together, without which the profitableness of every festival would have perished. For unless the Saviour had ascended into heaven, his nativity would have come to nothing ... and his passion would have borne no fruit for us, and his most holy resurrection would have been useless."

 Attributed to St Augustine - bonus points to anyone who has a citation

HT: Philip Robertson on The Face Book

The Imputation of Adam's Sin

When I was at Oak Hill I took a class reading some Augustine for which I did some work comparing the position of Augustine and John Murray on issues concerning original sin and the nature of our union with Adam: how did we sin in Adam?

Had I known about them at the time, I would have added these to my bibliography (which Mathison mentions, Given For You, p147, n59).

George P. Hutchinson, The Problem of Original Sin in American Presbyterian Theology (Nutley, NJ, P & R, 1972) which includes discussion of Archibald Alexander & Charles Hodge, the realistic view of William G. T. Shedd, Samuel Bird and James H. Thornwell; and Robert Dabney and John Murray.

Mark Horne has written on “Real Union or Legal Fiction? John Williamson Nevin’s Controversy with Charles Hodge over the Imputation of Adam’s Sin (with a Comparison to Robert L. Dabney)” 1997, which won the Aiken Taylor Church History Award of the Presbyterian Church in America..

From the original Bibliography:

Augustine, The Problem of Free Choice translated and annotated by Pontifex, Mark (New York, Newman Press)

Murray, John, The Imputation of Adam’s Sin (Phillipsburg, P&R, 1959)

Shedd, William G. T., Dogmatic Theology, volume 2

Given Signs

An interesting observation and suggestion from Revd Dr Peter Leithart:

Many translators and interpreters of Augustine's de doctrina Christiana translate "signa data" as "conventional signs." But there's something to be said for taking the phrase literally (as some commentators do).

The difference between naturalia and data, Augustine says, is that the latter occur by the will of a sign-user while the former do not. Given this voluntarist emphasis, it makes sense to translate "signa data" not as "conventional signs" but "given signs."

This is a pleasant thought, since it brings linguistic exchange into the realm of gift-reception-return. To speak is to give; to hear is to receive; to speak back is to show gratitude.

Can ungrateful people carry on a conversation?

May the elements of the Lord's Supper not be thought of as at least partly conventional or given signs? Leithart's analysis of words suggests that it would be fitting to think of the Supper (which is after all a kind of visible word) as a gift sign, to be recieved with gratitude and calling for a response.

Augustine and Child Communion

Off the top of me ‘ed, I don’t know what Augustine’s position on child communion was or would have been, but it is interesting to note that according to Confessions 4:4, his infidel friend was converted through being baptized while unconscious. Clearly “conscious” faith is not always essentially necessary to baptism on Augustine’s view.

(cited in Lane, Calvin: Student, p53)

How Do They Do It?

A. Mictchell Hunter said of Calvin: “Like Augustine, he wrote more than another can well read.” (The Teaching of Calvin, p3, cited in Reid).

And one could add others: Tom Wright, perhaps.

What is more remarkable is that its good stuff that people wanted to publish and keep in print.

The Spurgeon (and in part, of course, Augustine, Calvin and Wright) way, preaching it and then publishing it, is certainly one way to do it.

Blogging obviously doesn’t count!