Poll on Seminary, theology, and related degrees

I like this idea. I also endorse sub-fora for STEM, etc.

 

Since the proposed forum seems to be intended for serious theologians I suggest that all posts be written in Latin, Greek, Hebrew or Aramaic.

 

Linear A is also acceptable.

 

Not sure about Arabic though...yeah, probably.

 

Ναι, αλλα ουκ Ρωμαιστι, γαρ μου Ρωμαιστι εστιν ασθενει.

 

Why? It hasn't been deciphered. Although it shares some signs with Linear B, the only things that can be reliably translated are numbers. Linear B? OK. Thanks to Michael Ventris, we know it's an early, archaic form of Greek. (Mycenean). Most (but not all) Linear B documents can be read today. It's the earliest preserved form of Greek known.

Προσευχηθείτε στους θεούς της Ρώμης για τη θεραπεία σας. (Pray to the gods of Rome for a cure.)

 

Ah! So the Tax Code isn't written in Linear A?

 

Right, the U.S. code isn't. Only the Canadian one. Did they tell you otherwise at Taft U.?

 

No one seemed to be quite sure either way.

 

I am not a sede - just not under papal authority.

One must understand that Trent was a product of its time and that it has value while simultaneously creating challenges.

Feeneyism is a strange position. Those who are clinging to "there is no salvation outside of the church," which is a position stated prior to schism (Saint Cyprian Carthage in the 3rd Century), as being true in the modern broken body of Christ seem to not understand church history or the extant theology of the age.
The Church mentioned by Cyprian, being pre-schism, contained all Christians - who more or less were in basic agreement and who settled disagreements through true ecumenical councils.
To jump from a statement made when there was only one church to be an exclusive statement about a particular expression of the church cannot be argued from the quote alone.
Therefore to claim it to be uniquely Roman Catholic or uniquely Orthodox (elements of both sides try) must be made through arguing that somehow either of the two retained some form of doctrinal/dogmatic elements that no other body Christians has maintained.
Certainly it could theoretically be the case - I have never seen it convincingly argued however.

 

Dignum et iustum est!

With your blessing, could we also use other historic tongues of the non-Western Churches, such as classical Armenian, Bohairic Coptic, and Slavonic?

 

Absolutely! In fact, the first time anyone seeks to post, a random ancient language will be assigned to the poster that must be used ever after.

 

Johann might get Scottish Gaelic.

 

OK. There's Unicode for Ogham. I checked.

 

Right. Scottish Gaelic doesn't, really. But we can stretch a point. From Google:

"Its origins can be traced back as far as the 10th Century and it is believed to have been brought to Scotland by way of Ireland. From these beginnings, Gaelic spread throughout the country, becoming the main language of the medieval kingdom of Alba and remained that way right through until the 18th Century."

Hmm - strikes me it's about as old as Yiddish --- yep.

"Yiddish originated around the year 1000 C.E. It is thus roughly one thousand years old—about as old as most European languages. The history of Yiddish parallels the history of the Ashkenazic Jews."

Both languages are good for kvetching!

 

Very interesting.
I believe most would consider Feeneyism false, no?

My own uneducated opinion is that there is still one Church, and it is not crudely identical to the visible jurisdictional boundaries. All historical Churches are part of it, However, I think it is quite possible for one expression to be a better image of the Church, and I do not think just not wanting to be under someone's authority (eg., Bishop of Rome's) is good enough reason to be out of visible unity with a larger Church body. I trust the Catholic Church more than my original home the EOs, and both - more than "independent" Churches (without really denying any of their validity). Also, the office of the Pope is clearly the highest-ranking episcopal office, and there is at least an undeniable utility in there being a universal Primate. The "immediate ordinary universal jurisdiction" thing, I'm not yet fully on board with - but I can live with it.

I don't fully understand your last point. Surely there are doctrinal/dogmatic elements in both RCC and EO that can be the basis of such a claim? I no longer find the EO version of it all that convincing, but it can be made, nonetheless.

 

@Stanislav A few posts back, we were discussing using ancient languages in the new sub-forum. I realize it's not quite ancient, but maybe
Старослов'янська мова глаголицею (Old Church Slavonic, in the Glagolitic Script) has its place here? No?

For non-Ukrainians (e.g. moi): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glagolitic_script