Cooperation with Grace

I'm taking a Religious Studies course here at the U of I called Intro to Christianity. What a fascinating course this is. We've spent the semester talking about what Christians have done. Just as simply as that. it is taught from an objective perspective and I'm pretty sure the professor himself has no religious affiliation. So while I must protect against slander to the church and things that would be wrong, I welcome the challenge to my faith, and I am getting a chance to see some of the great moments in the 2000 year history of Christianity. A very small number of the things I've learned or had confirmed include...

• The Catholic church was not always the Catholic church by name
• It was however the strong force for Christianity during the years up to the Reformation
• Christianity DID exist in the Middle Ages (that sounds like a stab, but I'm ok with it)
• The Papacy in Avignon was legit...for a while
• Aristotle plays a pretty large role in Christian thought
• The East-West Schism was caused by celibacy, unleavened bread, and "the son"...plus other things, but it seems so trivial to think that these things divide God's Church
• The Church hierarchy took a lot of liberty to anathematize people left and write
• The formation of the Canon of Scripture is far more complex than Protestants would believe...wow I sound SUPER Catholic today
  
• Christian theologians are fantastically deep people

That last point is my point of focus today. We've had to read documents of the Christian Church and a few of these have been from some of the greatest thinkers in the history of the faith. They include Augustine of Hippo, Anselm of Canterbury, Thomas Aquinas, and soon, Martin Luther.

To read the very thoughts of these great men and to see how much their interpretations of Scripture influence the modern church fascinates me. I really look forward to someday taking classes, maybe at a seminary, to better understand these writings from a Christian perspective. To read Aquinas' writings on the Eucharist fascinates me and helps to flesh out the thoughts of the church at that time and what my Catholic background teaches.

My thoughts tonight focus on Augustine and his discussions with his contemporary, Pelagius, laid the groundwork for thinkers like Aquinas, Anselm of Canterbury, and John Calvin.

These two men discussed predestination and Grace's role in salvation. Pelagius has been ascribed with thougths that humanity must work for their salvation, while Augustine presents the opposite extreme speaking of man's inability to earn salvation and it was dependent on Grace completely and he even spoke of predestination.

So, I find myself falling into moderation. I think I am pretty semi-Pelagian at this point in my life. (ICK, I hate labels. And if I totally butcher this, let me know). This concept came as a middle ground between the claimed extremes of the two thinkers. The Synod of Arles, c. 473 lays this out fairly well and says

Mans effort and endeavor is to be united with God's grace; man's freedom of will is not extinct but attenuated and weakened, he that is saved is in danger, and he that has perished could have been saved.

This feels like it still doesn't completely describe how Grace works, and I wouldn't expect it to. However, I think I agree with it. God makes the first move towards us. He draws us in, sometimes even when we don't want it, but he still lets us decide. He allows us to cooperate with him and buy into his plans for the world. I'm also pretty convinced that if we completely set ourselves apart from Him, he will step out of our lives for a while until he comes to draw us to him again, ala in the book of Hosea. So, once Grace presents itself, we must live our lives in cooperation with it. This has definitely become a life verse to challenge me and I'll use it again and again.

James 2:14-17 (The Message)
Dear friends, do you think you'll get anywhere in this if you learn all the right words but never do anything? Does merely talking about faith indicate that a person really has it? For instance, you come upon an old friend dressed in rags and half-starved and say, "Good morning, friend! Be clothed in Christ! Be filled with the Holy Spirit!" and walk off without providing so much as a coat or a cup of soup—where does that get you? Isn't it obvious that God-talk without God-acts is outrageous nonsense?

So, that's a lot of writing and complicated thought. I know it isn't even complete, but it is a working model so to speak. Does it completely address salvation? Not really, and I think it is better that way. We must continue to live worthy, turn to God, and know that The King will bless us. I look forward to continuing to be baffled by God and his ways...

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Oh, and lots of new pics on flickr