McCall Coakes and Sterk Review
Readings in World Christian History (Coakley)
I was delighted, frankly, to encounter the insistence of Ignatius of Antioch on the endurance of particular Christians in order to attain the end goal of our faith: salvation and being in God’s presence. I was disappointed, however, that in the ensuing ~130 years that official RC dogma had morphed into a more complacent view regarding those who had departed from the faith without enduring unto the end (reference Cyprian’s terming of those who had departed as merely being ‘lapsed’, and not lost). This softening of the apostasy doctrine displays the RC Church’s concession to cultural Christianity, which later generations have taken to its logical end: utter and complete chameleon Christianity.
Cyprian’s condemnation of Novatian for his lack of unity with the established Church assuredly gave rise to the errant notion that there is “no salvation outside of the [RC] Church”. Furthermore, in Cyprian’s Letter 55 one can perceive an elaborate works-based righteousness (ref., e.g., the focus on penitence) that was lacking within the earlier era of Christianity. Moreover, being a young pastor myself, as well as one who is not married (nor has yet to be married), I was overjoyed to read Ignatius’s exhortation to the Church at Ephesus not to disrespect their Bishop merely because of his age. It was most interesting to note the reason why Ignatius delivered said exhortation, additionally (for they were not submitting to the Bishop as per se, but to God instead!). I sincerely wish that Christendom would have heeded such directives, for single men in the pastorate (especially if they have not ever married!) garner little to no respect from the masses (after all, they are ‘incomplete’ without a helpmate). Further, I was intrigued by reading the reflection of Patriarch Timothy upon his apologetic exercise with the Islamic Abbasid caliph, Mahdi, as it was not only intellectually stimulating, but precise and acute in its argumentation, giving one an excellent model to emulate.