When Jesus teaches us to pray for the future, his picture can sound a bit authoritarian: “Your kingdom come!” we are to pray. No matter how strongly we believe in enlightened, tolerant, participative government, when it comes to God we are in a monarchy. So what are we asking when we pray “Your kingdom come!”? […]
Gregory of Nazianzus, Oration 2 — Humility, Integrity, and Calling
Gregory closes out his oration considering the things that drove him from ministry and those that drew him back to it. He makes a tour of biblical texts that make this line of work scary–think of Paul’s litany of his suffering and various prophets’ declarations of God’s judgment on faulty shepherds and priests. The things […]
On Gregory of Nazianzus’ Oration 2: ‘In Defense of his Flight to Pontus…with an Exposition of the Character of the Priestly Office’
Those who study Gregory of Nazianzus seem to agree that he was a bit prickly, and that it might be more fun to have the company of his books than to have him in person. His books are very good to have around. I met one scholar who decided to master Patristic Greek (far […]