...which has just come my way has the rather odd title "A Primer on the Absolute PRIMACY OF CHRIST" with a rather vivid cover. To be honest, I didn't want to read it. Looked a bit nutty, with a picture of Christ is a bright red helmet-style crown and a very yellow halo.
But I did finally dip in, because it came with a sensible letter mentioning a conference about the work and message of Duns Scotus...and that is what the book is really all about.
Essentially, it is posing the question: did Christ, God the Son, become incarnate only because mankind sinned and needed a Redeemer? Or would He have come to live among us anyway, simply because he loved us? Now, if you think that's an obscure question, it isn't really - it raises some very profound issues, connected with the divisions that have emerged in Christianity....I must say, I like the joyful, exuberant notion that God so loved the world that he sent his Son NOT because he had to, but simply because He loved (and loves) us all that much. Think about it, and you see that this is all part of opposition to the Calvinist/Jansenist viewpoint, to the debate about God's omnipotence, and more ...
6 comments:
Thank you very much for that suggestion. I am going to Waterstones next week clutching my birthday book-token!
Hi Joanna, who is the author and publisher as I would like to read this book. My priest first spoke to me about this discussion when he was instructing me in the faith. He believed that Jesus would have come anyway.
See also these videos: http://www.metacafe.com/watch/1336283/fr_maximilian_the_cornerstone_1_a_primer_on_the_absolute_pr/
Fr. Maximilian talking about - The Cornerstone #1: A Primer on the Absolute Primacy of Christ
I might add to my last comment that there looks like some 'unsuitable videos posted on this site' showing the Fr Maximilian videos under 'audience recommendations' - defintiely not recommended!!
Reality check folks! While all the woolly stuff is OK to dwell and ponder on, let us never forget that the enemy is very real....
"What are the greatest needs of the church today?" This was the question that Pope Paul VI put at a general audience on 15 November 1972. He himself gave the answer, which he said should not surprise them as being over simple or even superstitious and unreal: "One of the greatest needs is defense from that evil, which is called the devil."
For when our first parents capitulated to the Tempter and sinned against God, they brought the whole of humanity with them under the domination of the Enemy. Nevertheless God still loved man so much that he promised to send his very own Son, who would crush the head of the Serpent (Gen 3:15; John 3:16). Thus the Son of God appeared to "undo the work of the devil" (1Jn 3:8), to "overthrow the prince of the world" (Jn 12:31), to "rescue us from the ruling force of darkness." and to "transfer us into his kingdom" (Col 1:13).
"The fight with Satan begun in the desert," Pope John Paul II commented on June 3, 1998, "continues throughout the life of Jesus. One of his typical activities is that of exorcist and the people cry out in admiration: He commands even unclean spirits and they obey him" (Mk 1:27). This is how Peter sums up the ministry of Jesus: "God has anointed him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and because God was with him, Jesus went about doing good and curing all who had fallen into the power of the devil" (Acts 10:38).
We so desperately needed The Redeemer then and we so desperately need Him now. Without Jesus Christ we can do nothing.
Joanna, thought I'd pass this on in case you or your guests would like to research this subject more in depth. Father Maximilian has created a new website www.absoluteprimacyofchrist.org
It's very readable and extremely interesting (both the text and the videos).
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