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In his recent Brief History of Christianity, Carter Lindberg suggests that "orthodoxy is the language that preserves the promise character of the gospel, that salvation is received from God, not achieved by humans." By contrast, "heresy is the language that in one way or another vitiates the promise of the gospel by making it contingent on human experience."
He cites Schleiermacher to give flesh to that skeletal definition. According to Schleiermacher, heresies were either anthropological or soteriological, pertaining to the doctrine of man or to Christology. Anthropological heresies "either conceive of human nature as so intrinsically good that redemption is not necessary or as so intrinsically evil that redemption is impossible." Soteriological heresies present a Christ who in one way or another cannot save, either because "the nature of Jesus [is] so like that of humankind that he lacks the power to redeem or as so different from that of humankind that there is no point of contact."
posted by Peter J. Leithart on Thursday, December 08, 2005 at 04:42 PM
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1 & 2 Kings
Brazos Theological Commentary
The Promise Of His Appearing: An Exposition Of Second Peter
A Great Mystery: Fourteen Wedding Sermons
Deep Comedy: Trinity, Tragedy, And Hope In Western Literature
Miniatures & Morals: The Christian Novels of Jane Austen
The Priesthood of the Plebs: A Theology of Baptism
A Son To Me: An Exposition of 1 & 2 Samuel
From Silence to Song: The Davidic Liturgical Revolution
Ascent to Love: A Guide to Dante's Divine Comedy
Blessed Are the Hungry: Meditations on the Lord's Supper
A House For My Name: A Survey of the Old Testament
Heroes of the City of Man: A Christian Guide to Select Ancient Literature
Brightest Heaven of Invention: A Christian Guide To Six Shakespeare Plays
Wise Words: Family Stories That Bring the Proverbs to Life
The Kingdom and the Power: Rediscovering the Centrality of the Church
