Genius And Half Crazy
Theologians
5 Genius Theologians Who
Were Also Half Crazy
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When we reach back in theology history we
tend to look upon our famous theologians with rose colored glasses.
We tend to remember
the best of what they did and discard the rest.
However, here we are
going to look at some of the worst things about some of the best known
theologians.
Feel free to add your
own in the comments.
TERTULLIAN (155 – 240
CE)
Tertullian was another early philosopher
like Justin Martyr who tried very hard to align the gospel with Platonic
thinking.
He was also like
Justin in that he spent much time defending Christianity against those who
tried to draw strange accusations against it, as well as those who pushed
Gnostic beliefs.
He was also key in
addressing the persecution of the early church by the Romans and had great
influence over the public with his writings.
Even though he was a
great intellect of his time, he also participated in the earliest birth of
self-pre-privation. He might be the least crazy person on this list, along with
Justin but here are the deeds.
1. He believe that without baptism one
cannot be saved and that it was baptism that washed our sins away.
a. Any sin committed after baptism would
not be affected by the baptism. This might sound like a problem since most
people only got baptized once.
b. Since it is in fact prescribed that no
one can attain to salvation without Baptism, especially in view of that
declaration of the Lord, who says, ‘Unless a man shall be born of water, he
shall not have life,’ there immediately arise scrupulous, or rather audacious
doubts on the part of some, as to how, in accord with that precept, salvation
can be attained to by the Apostles, who, except for Paul, we do not find
baptised in the Lord.
c. He does also try to reason this issue
by adding that abiding with Christ would be symbolical of permanent baptism but
then that would contradict his previous statement about physical baptism.
2. Tertullian might have also originated
the cliche term “everything happened for a reason,” assuming that reason is
always God.
a. A good deed has God for its debtor,
just as also an evil one.
b. Wait a sec….. a bad deed has God to
blame? I’m not sure I’m on board with that. Sounds a bit too Calvinistic for
me.
3. Tertullian believed that in addition to
baptism for salvation and forgiveness of sin, confession of sins was needed to
maintain salvation.
a. If you are inclined to draw back from
confession [of sins] , consider in your heart the hell which confession
extinguishes for you, and imagine first the magnitude of the penalty, so that
you will not hesitate about making use of the remedy . . . Therefore, when you
know that after the initial support of the Lord’s Baptism there is still in
confession a second reserve against hell, why do you desert your salvation? Why
do you hesistate to approach what you know will heal you.
AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO (354 – 430 CE)
Augustine was best known for his writing
of “Confessions” and “City of God.”
.
He is known as the
founder of western Christianity. He led many early Christians to free their
slaves and treat them as equals.
Of his most public
debates the most important and vitriolic controversy was his battle against
Pelagianism.
The Pelagians denied
original sin and the fall of humanity. The implication of this aroused
Augustine, who held that humanity was corrupt and helpless.
Augustine was also
the father of compassion and love. He even broke the mold with culture of that
time and emphasized love for those who are sick, ill, and even demon possessed.
However genius
Augustine was he was also possibly half schizophrenic. Here is the dirty list
on Augustine.
1. He was convinced that any amount of
pleasure in the act of sex was sinful.
a. Augustine believed that any pleasure
connected to the act of sex/love making was sinful and of the fleshly desires.
2. Augustine also believed that men should
practice complete control over women. In discussion about Adam and Eve,
Augustine claimed that the serpent tempted Eve because she was a woman and less
rational. Adam was partially to blame for not keeping her in check. I guess
early western Christianity kept a strong pimp hand.
3. He blamed his parents for not arranging
an early marriage for him so that he would not be plagued by his outrageous sex
drive.
4. Augustine believed that baptism was
necessary for salvation and that it actually produces regeneration.
5. Augustine also believed that the use of
contraception’s within marriage was a perversion of the marriage bed.
a. It would be worth noting that this
isn’t the most crazy thing to believe. Many Christians today still believe this
to be true.
Much can be said of
Augustine.
He was a great church
father whom the church is indebted to.
But he also thought
he was plagued by demons and was constantly fighting with his internal desire
to remain celibate.
In the long run, it
might have driven him partially mad.
.
JUSTIN MARTYR (100 – 165 CE)
Justin Martyr was best known as the first
Christian apologist as well as philosopher.
.
He engaged in public
written dialogues with his peers about history, philosophy, and misconceptions
about Christianity. The later of those things because many people believed
Christians were carnivorous and that they drank blood.
.
He is also well known
for pairing Old Testament prophecies with New Testament and 1st century
happenings.
.
His more famous
prophetic claims from the OT were as follows: The prophecies concerning the
Messiah, and the particulars of His life, the destruction of Jerusalem, and the
Gentiles accepting Christianity.
What he is not
remembered for is some of the stranger things he believed.
He may not be crazy
like the last two were but he certainly had some strange thinking.
1. He believed that Philosophy was a means
of salvation in the gap between “The Law” and Christ.
2. He believed that the “Logos” revealed
divine knowledge to Plato and Socrates.
a. Justin tried really hard to combine the
Logos that is Christ with the logos of wisdom that Greek philosophy spoke of.
b. For not only among the Greeks through
Socrates were these things revealed by reason (logos), but also among the
Barbarians were they revealed by the logos personally, when He had taken shape,
and become man, and was called Christ Jesus. (I.5)
3. He believed that Satan never blasphemed
God until Jesus came.
a. So apparently Satan was just waiting
around a few thousand years for Jesus to come along. Never mind that Jesus said
he is the father of this world. (Although, this claim was reported by Irenaeus,
a contemporary of Justin’s later times and an admirer.)
4. Justin actually struggled at time
reconciling the beliefs of Plato with the words of Christ. So much so that
rewrites about it in his 2nd Apology.
a. And I confess that I both pray and with
all my strength strive to be found a Christian; not because the teachings of
Plato are different from those of Christ, but because they are not in every
respect equal.
PETER DAMIAN (1007 – 1072 CE)
Peter Damian is canonized as a Saint in
the Catholic church.
.
He was a Benedictine
Monk and also a church Cardinal. He has his own feast day on February
21st.
He was one of the
leaders of his time that fought for reform of the Catholic church and its riches.
He was even appointed
by the Pope to search out and destroy financial scandals within the
church.
He was very much a
Pope Francis of his day, except he was only a cardinal.
Peter was also known
for his theology and writings. His most famous was De Divina Omnipotentia, a
long letter in which he discusses God’s power.
He also wrote 67
other works that greatly influenced the church and it’s members.
Despite being a great
leader in the Catholic church, Peter was the founding father of the “your flesh
is evil and you must destroy it” theology.
Here is the
information on Pater Damian, and why is made the list for cooky theologians.
1. Peter believed that philosophy and
reason were of the devil.
a. In the 11th century people started
applying reason and philosophy to the Bible again. This led an era where people
began to question those who were in power and in the position of interpreting
scripture. Naturally, this had to from the devil. God would never allow reason
and thought.
2. Peter ushered in the Medieval practice
of flagellation.
a. This is the practice of scourging
themselves with flagellum and even with planks of wood with flesh tearing
devices embedded in them.
b. In a well known writing on the matter
he said that scourging should be practiced as a ”discipline” and as a means of
mortification and penance.
3. More could be said about Peter but I
will let his own writing speak for themselves.
a. “I scourge both flesh and spirit
because I know that I have offended in both flesh and spirit.”
b. “For the wisdom of the flesh brings
death, but that of the spirit brings life and peace, since the wisdom of the
flesh is the enemy of God; it is not subject to God’s law, nor can it be.”
4. Peter’s finest moment was probably his
reaction once the church began to move away from this practice once it was
challenged by other well known theologians.
a. ‘Tell me, you who in your arrogance
mock at Christ’s passion, you who, in refusing to be stripped and scourged with
Him, deried His nakedness and all His torments as foolish and vain things like
the illusions which come to us in sleep, what will you do when you see Him who
was stripped in public and hung on the Cross shining in the glory of His
majesty, surrounded by the angelic host, with His immeasurable and incomparable
splendor round about Him, more glorious than all things, visible or invisible?
What, I say, will you do, when you behold Him for whose shame you now have
nothing but scorn, seated on the fiery throne of the tribunal of Heaven, and
judging the whole human race in the dreadful judgement of His justice? By what
rash boldness of presumption do you hope to share in His glory, whose shame and
injuries you scorned to bear?”
John Calvin was a very smart a well
educated French church reformer form the 16th century.
He was instrumental
in forming the doctrines of Sovereignty and many key beliefs of the Reformed
denominations. Most notable are the 5 points of Calvinism, known as TULIP.
The main points of
Calvinism might not be universally accepted among all the Christian
denominations but in a 2010 survey almost 30% of pastors described their church
as Calvinist or Reformed.
However, as
influential Calvinism has been it does not eliminate the fact that he was
nearly tyrannical dictator who excommunicated people for minor infractions and
even burned some at the stake. The full list is below.
1. Burned people at the stake.
a. Michael Servetus was one of the
major opponents of Calvin and many of the reformists. He studied mathematics,
geography, astrology, and medicine. Michael gaining fame as a physician, he
came close to discovering the pulmonary circulation of the blood, and published
a frequently studied book on the use of syrups in medicine. In spite of his
success, Michael made enemies through his harsh speaking tones and strong
stances. He also denied the prophecies of the Old Testament and made prophecies
based on astrology.
b. So what do you do with a strong
and well known opponent? You kill them of course. And that is exactly what John
Calvin did. He was tried in Geneva and denied legal counsel. He was then burned
at the stake.
2. Calvin formed the city of Geneva to be
an earthly kingdom of God. Calvin believed that the church should replace the
government and that is exactly what happened in Geneva.
3. Calvin frequently banished people from
Geneva an excommunicated people from the church.
a. In 1551 Jérôme-Hermès Bolsec, a physician
in Geneva, attacked Calvin’s doctrine of predestination. As a result Calvin had
him banished for life. Because why defend your positions against opponents when
you can just get rid of them? Hey isn’t that one of the reasons the reformed
leaders felt the need to fight the Catholic church? Kettle calling the pot
black?
b. John Calvin was also known to punish
people for committing sins. The moral law of the Bible was now the law of
Geneva. When people wanted to practice Christianity in a different way than
Calvin, they were punished or excommunicated.
4. John Calvin was so serious about infant
baptism that he basically Donald Trump’ed his opponents when debating with him.
He often engaged in name calling and slandering people to their face in public.
A short-list of such events have been borrowed from a fellow blogger and entered
below. (Thanks Marc Cortez, Professor at Wheaton College).
a. A frenzied spirit and disturber of the
church
1. “But since in this age, certain
frenzied spirits have raised, and even now continue to raise, great disturbance
in the Church on account of paedobaptism, I cannot avoid here, by way of
appendix, adding something to restrain their fury.”
b. A Hard Hearted Person
1. “See the quibbles to which men are
obliged to have recourse when they have hardened themselves against the truth!”
c. Stupid – this one really hurts!
1. “But God furnishes us with other
weapons to repress their stupidity.”
d. A Furious Madman
1. “Let us now discuss the arguments by
which some furious madmen cease not to assail this holy ordinance of God.”
e. A Barbarian Destroyer of Scripture
1. “In asserting a difference of covenant,
with what barbarian audacity do they corrupt and destroy scripture?”
f. A Trickster who Cloaks Falsehood as
Truth
1. “But lest they should blind the simple
with their smoke, we shall, in passing, dispose of one objection by which they
cloak this most impudent falsehood.”
g. Deluded and Lazy
1. “Hence it cannot but happen that they
are every now and then deluded, because they do not exert themselves to obtain
a full knowledge of any subject.”
h. Absurd
1. “And,
indeed, if we listen to the absurdities of those men, what will become of the
promise by which the Lord, in the second commandment of his law, engages to be
gracious to the seed of his servants for a thousand generations?” (Exodus 20:6)
i. Ridiculous and void of Reason
1. “The
distinctions which these men attempt to draw between baptism and circumcision
are not only ridiculous, and void of all semblance of reason, but at variance
with each other.”
Now that I think of
it, I think I have been called all of these names while debating Baptists and
KJVO followers.
This entry was
written a bit tongue in cheek. I am not a master of church history. If this
article need correcting feel free to post corrections in the comments. Did I
miss anyone on this list? Let me know also.
Seminary
M.Div graduate with a love for history and the Old Testament. I might also be
addicted to memes.
http://dustoffthebible.com/Blog-archive/2015/10/17/5-genius-theologians-who-were-also-half-crazy/
http://dustoffthebible.com/Blog-archive/2015/10/17/5-genius-theologians-who-were-also-half-crazy/
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