Required reading
Ante-Nicene Fathers (Vol 4) (Available from Amazon or free here) - Conclude the appendix by reading '5. Five books in reply to Marcion'.
My summary
This week we finish the appendix by reading five books in reply to Marcion.
The books:
(i) affirm Christian doctrine, including the resurrection;
(ii) demonstrate the compatibility of the Old and New Testaments;
(iii) summarise and oppose Marcion's teachings.
What grabbed me
I appreciated the description of Christ at the end of the work:
'Life’s only Hope, the Cleanser of our flesh,
Death’s Router, from th’ Almighty Sire’s empire
At length He came, and with our human limbs
He clothed Him. Adam—virgin—dragon—tree,
The cause of ruin, and the way whereby
Rash death us all had vanquisht! by the same
Our Shepherd treading, seeking to regain
His sheep—with angel—virgin—His own flesh—
And the “tree’s” remedy; whence vanquisht man
And doomed to perish was aye wont to go
To meet his vanquisht peers; hence, interposed,
One in all captives’ room, He did sustain
In body the unfriendly penalty
With patience; by His own death spoiling death;
Becomes salvation’s cause; and, having paid
Throughly our debts by throughly suffering
On earth, in holy body, everything,
Seeks the infern! here souls, bound for their crime,
Which shut up all together by Law’s weight,
Without a guard, were asking for the boons
Promised of old, hoped for, and tardy, He
To the saints’ rest admitted, and, with light,
Brought back. For on the third day mounting up,
A victor, with His body by His Sire’s
Virtue immense, (salvation’s pathway made,)
And bearing God and man is form create,
He clomb the heavens, leading back with Him
Captivity’s first-fruits (a welcome gift
And a dear figure to the Lord), and took
His seat beside light’s Father, and resumed
The virtue and the glory of which, while
He was engaged in vanquishing the foe
He had been stripped; conjoined with Spirit; bound
With flesh, on our part. Him, Lord, Christ, King, God,
Judgment and kingdom given to His hand,
The father is to send unto the orb.'
Next week's reading
Read The Octavius of Minucius Felix.
Now it's your turn
Please post your own notes and thoughts in the comments section below.
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