The Dictionary of Historical Theology

Top Highlights

“The Ebionites rejected the virgin birth and saw Jesus as the natural son of Mary and Joseph. He was ‘the true prophet’ (cf. Deut. 18:15–22), a second Moses, a teacher and reformer. He perfectly fulfilled the Law, but as a man, not as the Son of God.” (Page 167)

“While early Christian theologians were aware of the work of Aristotle, they did not esteem it. Plato, not Aristotle, was the philosopher of preference.” (Page 31)

“Aristotle’s influence on Christian thought. This influence grew from modest beginnings to dominate the relationship between theology and philosophy among Jews, Muslims and Christians in the Middle Ages. Aristotelian natural philosophy provided the background for the debate between theologians and early modern science in the seventeenth century. Having abandoned his natural philosophy, the modern age continues to be influenced by Aristotle’s metaphysics, logic and ethics.” (Page 31)

“Syrian Christian philosophers introduced the works of Aristotle to Semitic culture, beginning in the fifth century. This began a significant Aristotelian movement among Muslim and Jewish philosophers in the Middle Ages. Because of the interest and use of Aristotle among thinkers in his culture, therefore, *John of Damascus (c. 665–749) used Aristotle more than any prior Greek father. This unity of Aristotelianism and Christian theology was to herald the work of the Latin west, especially *Thomas Aquinas, in the Middle Ages.” (Page 31)

“Melanchthon argued more and more consistently that God justified sinners forensically, based upon the sure declaration of forgiveness on account of Christ alone, without taking into account any intrinsically righteous deeds that may result.” (Page 364)