A Wisdom Archive on Christian theologians

Dualistic Polytheism:
A style of religion in which the Good Guys and Bad Guys include several major and minor deities (though they may not always be called that by the official theologians); what most so- called “monotheisms” really are. Examples would be Zoroastrianism, Catholicism, and Christian Fundamentalism.

 
(See also: Dualistic Polytheism, Pagan, Paganism, Pagan Dictionary )

Devil, The:
“Heir of Man,” originally the Evil God of the Zoroastrians; later a creation of Christian and Islamic theologians (who called him Satan and Shaitan) consisting of old fertility gods, wisdom spirits and nature elementals combined with Ahriman into a figure of terror and malevolence fully equal to that of that Good God (Jehovah or Allah); the deity worshiped by Neogothic Witches.

 
(See also: Devil, Pagan, Paganism, Pagan Dictionary )

Qui Circumambulat Terram (Latin) Who walks around the earth -- said of the Devil by medieval theologians; but there is no reason for restricting it to the maleficent works of Satan.
 
The Fall of ethereal and spiritual beings has been distorted by Christian theology to signify the evil works of the Devil on earth, but theosophically the phrase could refer to the monads who fell from their spiritual estate in order to gain experiences in lower cosmic planes, and who thus pursue their peregrinations not only around the earth, but circle through the globes of our planetary chain and from planet to planet of the seven sacred planets of the solar system.

 
(See also: Qui Circumambulat Terram, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary )

Verbum (Latin) Word; adopted by later Latin-speaking philosophers and Christian theologians to represent the cosmic Logos (word), often used in the more concrete sense as the spoken word in reference to the vibratory power of sound; or in its application to Christos in theology.
 
Whether the Greek logos or Latin verbum is used, the philosophical meaning is the same and arose from the fact that a word is the audible expression of the inner, ever-active but silent idea. Hence cosmic spirit, the field of cosmic ideation, by its very activity of producing cosmic thought manifests itself as the word -- or words. A person has a thought to which he gives utterance as a word; similarly the cosmic Logos was metaphorically spoken of in Greek philosophy, especially by the Platonists, as the cosmic Word of the secret idea or thought of the cosmic intelligence. Parallel also to the Hindu Vach.

 
(See also: Verbum, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Body mind and Soul )

Many questions arise concerning the role of suffering. These questions include: How is there suffering in a world created by a good God who cares for and loves His creation? For the Christian the quintessential question is why does God’s plan include the suffering and death of His own Son? Paul sees the death of Christ not only as a propitiatory or vicarious sacrifice, but as a colossal cosmic occurrence.

 
(See also: Suffering, God and Religion, Peace on Earth, Peace of Mind, Love and Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul )

Read more here: » Suffering: Redemptive Power of Suffering  

Sabean, Sabaean, Sabian, Sabianism [from Hebrew tsaba host, army, celestial hosts]
 
A name given by the Shemitic peoples to those who worship the spiritual beings in the universe; and because the celestial bodies were the most evident manifestations of some classes of these spiritual beings, this religion naturally became confused with the worship of the celestial bodies themselves as the dwellings or mansions of the regents above, in, and behind the visible orbs. Hence the Sabeans were called astrolaters or star-worshipers; but it was not the physical bodies of the celestial orbs which were worshiped, but the spiritual entities, powers, or spirits which ensouled these orbs. This was one of the very archaic religions of the human race, found all over the globe in various forms; and in its origins Sabianism was undoubtedly an outpouring of occult teaching from the archaic Mysteries.
 
The word Sabean itself has come down to us mainly through Greek and Latin writers, but so thoroughly imbued were the ancient Hebrews with this idea of the celestial hosts or cosmic spirits that the Bible is full of references where the context even wrongly endows the celestial hosts with the properties of the Most High God, and it has been so understood by Christian theologians; forgetting, however, that manifested deities, however high, are but the manifestations of the infinite and ineffable Mystery or parabrahman, from which all the celestial hosts flow or emanate. Thus not only ancient and modern Judaism, but Christianity itself, is filled with the thought of the ancient Sabeans.
 
Sabeanism was unquestionably the main religious belief of the ancient Chaldeans and Assyrians, but likewise the very foundation stone of practically all the great religions of all the great peoples of the past. Upon the authority of the Jewish scholar Maimonides, scholars have considered the Sabeans as an ancient race whose principal religion was that of star-worship and closely affiliated with the Babylonians and Syrians. But the Sabeans were not a race, but those who followed and practiced the divine astrological astrolatry of the hoariest antiquity. Mohammed in the Koran mentions a sect between the Jews and Christians called Sabi una -- to whom certain privileges were granted; older Moslem theologians were agreed that the Sabeans possessed manuscripts which they regarded in the light of a revelation, and the Mandeans came under the same protection granted to the Sabeans; hence the Mandeans also came to be regarded as Sabeans. Another sect of polytheists, the Harranians (830 AD), also affiliated with the Sabeans and shielded themselves under the same privileges; they were a remnant of a Mesopotamian cult, and star-worship had a prominent place in their system.
 
Certain Arabian writers termed the Sabean language the science of astronomy, but what we now call astronomy was but a minor portion of ancient astrolatry; they also state that Seth or Set was the founder of Sabeanism, and that the pyramids were regarded as the place of sepulture of Seth or Agathodaimon. We see here confusion, reductions of general principles to details, and anthropomorphizations of cosmic principles. Hermes is in many senses the same as Seth, and the pyramids were consecrated to the regents of the stars, rather than to the orbs (SD 2:362).

 
(See also: Sabean, Sabaean, Sabian, Sabianism, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary )

Theopathy [from Greek theos god + pathos experience, feeling]
 
The seventh stage of initiation in the Mysteries, where the candidate becomes a selfless channel for communion with his inner god; the third and last stage of spiritual development -- the first being theophany, the second theopneusty. The sense of theopathy, originally used in the Greek Mysteries, was that the adept "suffered" the full influence of the god within him, becoming a selfless, consenting channel for the divine power pouring through him, in utter disregard of the personal self. Because of the immense personal renunciation involved, such an adept was said to suffer -- meaning to bear or carry the divinity within.
 
The second of these three initiatory grades, theopneusty, was the same as the third, but in less full degree, and signified that the initiate received the inspiration from above-within and, as it were, was breathed into from above, but did not carry the full load of the spiritual fire or inspirational flow. The first stage, theophany, was by comparison a temporary occurrence and signified the appearance of one''s divinity to the initiant''s self-conscious perception; the neophyte met his own inner god face to face, and the appearance or theophany lasted for a greater or less time depending upon various circumstances.
 
Such terms were held secret in the ancient Mysteries, although the words themselves, as time passed, slowly filtered outwards and often became misunderstood, as by Christian theologians.

 
(See also: Theopathy, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Body mind and Soul )

Bardesanes or Bardaisan. A Syrian Gnostic, erroneously regarded as a Christian theologian, born at Edessa (Edessene Chronicle) in 155 of our era (Assemani Bibl.. Orient. i. 389).
 
He was a great astrologer following the Eastern Occult System. According to Porphyry (who calls him the Babylonian, probably on account of his Chaldeeism or astrology), "Bardesanes . . . . held intercourse with the Indians that had been sent to the Cesar with Damadamis at their head" (De Abst. iv. 17), and had his information from the Indian gymnosophists.
 
The fact is that most of his teachings, however much they may have been altered by his numerous Gnostic followers, can be traced to Indian philosophy, and still more to the Occult teachings of the Secret System. Thus in his Hymns he speaks of the creative Deity as "Father-Mother", and elsewhere of "Astral Destiny" (Karma) of "Minds of Fire" (the Agni-Devas) &c. He connected the Soul (the personal Manas) with the Seven Stars, deriving its origin from the Higher Beings (the divine Ego); and therefore "admitted spiritual resurrection but denied the resurrection of the body", as charged with by the Church Fathers. Ephraim shows him preaching the signs of the Zodiac, the importance of the birth-hours and "proclaiming the seven".
 
Calling the Sun the "Father of Life" and the Moon the "Mother of Life", he shows the latter "laying aside her garment of light (principles) for the renewal of the Earth". Photius cannot understand how, while accepting "the Soul free from the power of genesis (destiny of birth)" and possessing free will, he still placed the body under the rule of birth (genesis). For "they (the Bardesanists) say, that wealth and poverty and sickness and health and death and all things not within our control are works of destiny" (Bibl. Cod. 223, p.221 - f). This is Karma, most evidently, which does not preclude at all free-will. Hippolytus makes him a representative of the Eastern School.
 
Speaking of Baptism, Bardesanes is made to say (loc. cit. pp. 985-ff "It is not however the Bath alone which makes us free, but the Knowledge of who we are, what we are become, where we were before, whither we are hastening, whence we are redeemed; what is generation (birth), what is re-generation (re.birth)". This points plainly to the doctrine of re-incarnation.
 
His conversation (Dialogue) with Awida and Barjamina on Destiny and Free Will shows it. "What is called Destiny, is an order of outflow given to the Rulers (Gods) and the Elements, according to which order the Intelligences (Spirit-Egos) are changed by their descent into the Soul, and the Soul by its descent into the body". (See Treatise, found in its Syriac original, and published with English translation in 1855 by Dr. Cureton, Spicileg. Syriac. in British Museum.)

 
(See also: Bardesanes, Bardaisan, Theosophy, Spirituality, Body mind and Soul, Spiritual Dictionary,  )

Conservative Christianity - Scholars theologians and writers. Contemporary Conservative Protestant scholars and theologians include: Norman Geisler, FF Bruce, Gary Habermas, N.T. Wright, Kenneth Kitchen, Bruce Metzger, R. C. Sproul, Edwin M. Yamauchi, Merrill Unger, John Warwick Montgomery, Cornelius Van Til, Greg Bahnsen, and Bryant G. Wood. Popular conservative Protestant writers and conservative Christian apologetist include: Josh McDowell ...

Read more here: » Conservative Christianity: Encyclopedia II - Conservative Christianity - Conservative Protestantism

Conservative Christianity - Opus Dei. One example of conservative Roman Catholicism is Opus Dei, the name is (Latin for "Work of God"), it is comprised of a prelate, secular priests, and lay people, whose aim is "to contribute to the evangelizing mission of the Church" by spreading the message that everyone is called to become a saint and an apostle. It "encourages Christians of all social classes to live consistently with ...

Read more here: » Conservative Christianity: Encyclopedia II - Conservative Christianity - Conservative Roman Catholicism

Few writings of the Ebionites have survived, and in uncertain form (see below). There are two chief sources for our knowledge of the literature and ideas of the Ebionites: (1) Brief quotations from their writings in orthodox Christian theologians, such as Irenaeus, Hippolytus, Tertullian, and Epiphanius of Salamis, who considered the Ebionites to be heretics. The most complete of these comes from Epiphanius of Salamis, who wrote his "Panarion" in the fourth century, denouncing 80 heretical sects, among them the Ebionites, described in Panarion 30. In addition to quotations from their gospels, there are also general descripti ...

Read more here: » Ebionites: Encyclopedia II - Ebionites - History