God
107-415: Schools Relations with: In Christian theology , the beatific vision ( Latin : visio beatifica ) is the ultimate direct self-communication of God to the angel and person . A person or angel possessing the beatific vision reaches, as a member of the communion of saints , perfect salvation in its entirety, i.e., heaven . The notion of vision stresses the intellectual component of salvation, i.e.,
214-481: A human nature and a divine nature can co-exist in one person. The study of the inter-relationship of these two natures is one of the preoccupations of the majority tradition. Teachings about Jesus and testimonies about what he accomplished during his three-year public ministry are found throughout the New Testament . Core biblical teachings about the person of Jesus Christ may be summarized that Jesus Christ
321-809: A famous proclamation of faith among Christians since the 1st century, said, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." Most Christians now wait for the Second Coming of Christ when they believe he will fulfill the remaining Messianic prophecies . Christ is the English term for the Greek Χριστός ( Khristós ) meaning " the anointed one ". It is a translation of the Hebrew מָשִׁיחַ ( Māšîaḥ ), usually transliterated into English as Messiah . The word
428-658: A head over the persons of the Godhead and their relationship with one another. Christology was a fundamental concern from the First Council of Nicaea (325) until the Third Council of Constantinople (680). In this time period, the Christological views of various groups within the broader Christian community led to accusations of heresy , and, infrequently, subsequent religious persecution . In some cases,
535-492: A point of reference for all other Christologies. Most of the major branches of Christianity— Catholicism , Eastern Orthodoxy , Anglicanism , Lutheranism , and Reformed —subscribe to the Chalcedonian Christological formulation, while many branches of Eastern Christianity— Syrian Orthodoxy , Assyrian Church , Coptic Orthodoxy , Ethiopian Orthodoxy , and Armenian Apostolicism —reject it. According to
642-477: A sect's unique Christology is its chief distinctive feature, in these cases it is common for the sect to be known by the name given to its Christology. The decisions made at First Council of Nicaea and re-ratified at the First Council of Constantinople , after several decades of ongoing controversy during which the work of Athanasius and the Cappadocian Fathers were influential. The language used
749-573: A state of unconscious existence until the Last Judgment . Though some claim that he campaigned against the Immaculate Conception , this is far from clear. On 15 January 1336 Benedict requested Philip VI's assistance in bringing about peace in the western Mediterranean, where the crusade was being hampered by conflicts between Aragon and Genoa, Naples and Sicily. This was followed by the pope's letter, two months later, canceling
856-637: Is "eternally begotten of the Father", indicating that their divine Father-Son relationship is not tied to an event within time or human history. In Christianity , the doctrine of the Trinity states that God is one being who exists, simultaneously and eternally , as a mutual indwelling of three Persons: the Father, the Son (incarnate as Jesus), and the Holy Spirit (or Holy Ghost). Since earliest Christianity, one's salvation has been very closely related to
963-478: Is a further concept of infallibility, by suggesting that current biblical text is complete and without error, and that the integrity of biblical text has never been corrupted or degraded. Historians note, or claim, that the doctrine of the Bible's infallibility was adopted hundreds of years after the books of the Bible were written. The authority of the Bible can also be linked to the principle of sola scriptura ,
1070-533: Is a trinity in God's single being, the meaning of which has always been debated. This mysterious "Trinity" has been described as hypostases in the Greek language ( subsistences in Latin ), and "persons" in English. Nonetheless, Christians stress that they only believe in one God. Most Christian churches teach the Trinity, as opposed to Unitarian monotheistic beliefs. Historically, most Christian churches have taught that
1177-435: Is a worldwide religion . Christian theology varies significantly across the main branches of Christian tradition: Catholic , Orthodox and Protestant . Each of those traditions has its own unique approaches to seminaries and ministerial formation. Systematic theology as a discipline of Christian theology formulates an orderly, rational and coherent account of Christian faith and beliefs. Systematic theology draws on
SECTION 10
#17327662656681284-438: Is but as he is reflected in creation and in the saints), dark (God being seen not as he is but as inaccessible light coming from God), earned (God being seen not as he is but according to one's merit), unsatisfactory (one not sharing in God's happiness, which includes - but is not limited to - all of one's wants and needs being fulfilled beyond superabundance), imperfect (one not sharing in God's perfection, whereby one's moral state
1391-450: Is called "Father" in a more literal sense, besides being the creator and nurturer of creation, and the provider for his children. The Father is said to be in unique relationship with his only begotten ( monogenes ) son, Jesus Christ , which implies an exclusive and intimate familiarity: "No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and any one to whom the Son chooses to reveal him." In Christianity, God
1498-685: Is evident in many places, however, the early part of the book of Hebrews addresses the issue in a deliberate, sustained argument, citing the scriptures of the Hebrew Bible as authorities. For example, the author quotes Psalm 45:6 as addressed by the God of Israel to Jesus. The author of Hebrews' description of Jesus as the exact representation of the divine Father has parallels in a passage in Colossians . Pope Benedict XII Pope Benedict XII ( Latin : Benedictus XII , French : Benoît XII ; 1285 – 25 April 1342), born Jacques Fournier ,
1605-421: Is impeccable), or finite (one not sharing in God's life, which is limitless and eternal). The beatific vision is when God, though transcendent, opens himself up to people and angels, giving them the capacity to contemplate God in all His heavenly glory. Contemplation is the prayer of silently focusing on God and heeding His word; in other words, contemplation is the prayer of uniting with God. The beatific vision
1712-465: Is not perfectly happy, so long as something remains for him to desire and seek." But this kind of perfect happiness cannot be found in any physical pleasure, any amount of worldly power, any degree of temporal fame or honor, or indeed in any finite reality. It can only be found in something that is infinite and perfect – and this is God. And since God is not a material thing but is pure spirit, we are united to God by knowing and loving Him. Consequently,
1819-717: Is often misunderstood to be the surname of Jesus due to the numerous mentions of Jesus Christ in the Christian Bible . The word is in fact used as a title , hence its common reciprocal use Christ Jesus , meaning Jesus the Anointed One or Jesus the Messiah. Followers of Jesus became known as Christians because they believed that Jesus was the Christ, or Messiah, prophesied about in the Old Testament , or Tanakh . The Christological controversies came to
1926-402: Is primarily concerned with sensible objects and thus can only infer its conclusions about God indirectly. The theological virtue of faith, too, is incomplete, since Aquinas states that it always implies some imperfection in the understanding. The believer does not wish to remain merely on the level of faith but to grasp directly the object of faith, who is God himself. Thus only the fullness of
2033-571: Is the creator and preserver of the universe . God is the sole ultimate power in the universe but is distinct from it. The Bible never speaks of God as impersonal. Instead, it refers to him in personal terms – who speaks, sees, hears, acts, and loves. God is understood to have a will and personality and is an all powerful , divine and benevolent being. He is represented in Scripture as being primarily concerned with people and their salvation. Many Reformed theologians distinguish between
2140-564: Is the theology – the systematic study of the divine and religion – of Christian belief and practice. It concentrates primarily upon the texts of the Old Testament and of the New Testament , as well as on Christian tradition . Christian theologians use biblical exegesis , rational analysis and argument. Theologians may undertake the study of Christian theology for a variety of reasons, such as in order to: Christian theology has permeated much of non-ecclesiastical Western culture , especially in pre-modern Europe, although Christianity
2247-722: Is the essence of eternal life . God the Son is the second person of the Trinity in Christian theology. The doctrine of the Trinity identifies Jesus of Nazareth as God the Son, united in essence but distinct in person with regard to God the Father and God the Holy Spirit (the first and third persons of the Trinity). God the Son is co-eternal with God the Father (and the Holy Spirit), both before Creation and after
SECTION 20
#17327662656682354-464: Is the revealing or disclosing, or making something obvious through active or passive communication with God, and can originate directly from God or through an agent, such as an angel . A person recognised as having experienced such contact is often called a prophet . Christianity generally considers the Bible as divinely or supernaturally revealed or inspired. Such revelation does not always require
2461-617: Is ultimate union with God. It comes from sharing in God's holy nature via sanctifying grace . Because God is life (fullness, beatitude, and perfection) itself, the beatific vision entails fullness of life (perfect friendship with Jesus and his angels and saints, including a share in Jesus' and the angels' and saints' own glories and honors) and ultimate beatitude and perfection (supreme definitive happiness, including immortality, i.e., freedom from Satan, temptation, sin, error, inconvenience, suffering, death, and every other evil). On Judgment Day,
2568-612: The Angel of the Lord spoke to the Patriarchs, revealing God to them, some believe it has always been only through the Spirit of God granting them understanding, that men have been able to perceive later that God himself had visited them. This belief gradually developed into the modern formulation of the Trinity , which is the doctrine that God is a single entity ( Yahweh ), but that there
2675-405: The Bible as authoritative and as written by human authors under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit . Some Christians believe that the Bible is inerrant (totally without error and free from contradiction, including the historical and scientific parts) or infallible (inerrant on issues of faith and practice but not necessarily on matters of history or science). Some Christians infer that
2782-663: The Catholic Church and later on by various Protestant denominations , including the Lutheran Church and the Methodist Church . Cyprian wrote of the saved's seeing God in the Kingdom of Heaven. How great will your glory and happiness be, to be allowed to see God, to be honored with sharing the joy of salvation and eternal light with Christ your Lord and God... to delight in the joy of immortality in
2889-520: The Collège des Bernardins at the University of Paris . In 1311 he was made Abbot of Fontfroide Abbey and quickly became known for his intelligence and organizational ability. In 1317, Jacques was made Bishop of Pamiers . It was here he undertook rigorous measures against Cathars , assisting Bernard Gui in some investigations. Fournier's investigation captured Guillaume Bélibaste , who
2996-564: The Father , the Son ( Jesus Christ the Logos ), and the Holy Spirit . The Trinitarian doctrine is considered by most Christians to be a core tenet of their faith. Nontrinitarians typically hold that God, the Father, is supreme; that Jesus, although still divine Lord and Saviour, is the Son of God ; and that the Holy Spirit is a phenomenon akin to God's will on Earth. The holy three are separate, yet
3103-782: The Holy Roman Empire had caused havoc; the rebellion of the archbishop of Mainz (1329–1332), disagreements between the Hospitallers, the Teutonic knights and the Francicans, while the secular clergy largely defied it. Benedict again received ambassadors from Louis, after German bishops and the Estates of the Empire implored Louis to find a settlement. An agreement was never reached. In response, at Rhens on 16 July 1338,
3210-649: The Holy Roman Empire to papal supervision came to nothing. Benedict planned on moving the papacy to Bologna by 1 October 1335. He even hired, in August 1335, Jean Poisson to supervise repairs to St. Peter , St. Paul basilicas, and the papal palace in Rome. The cost ran into several thousand florins. Valerie Theis, states the construction in Rome may have been a way of Benedict disguising his true intention of settling permanently in Avignon. Consequently, in 1335, he ordered
3317-513: The Incarnation , the relationship of Jesus's nature and person with the nature and person of God, and the salvific work of Jesus. As such, Christology is generally less concerned with the details of Jesus's life (what he did) or teaching than with who or what he is. There have been and are various perspectives by those who claim to be his followers since the church began after his ascension. The controversies ultimately focused on whether and how
Beatific vision - Misplaced Pages Continue
3424-464: The Son of God through incarnation . The exact phrase "God the Son" is not in the New Testament. Later theological use of this expression reflects what came to be standard interpretation of New Testament references, understood to imply Jesus's divinity, but the distinction of his person from that of the one God he called his Father. As such, the title is associated more with the development of
3531-608: The Vatican Library . His transcription was edited by Jean Duvernoy and has been documented by Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie 's pioneering microhistory , Montaillou, village occitan. In 1326, upon the successful rooting out of the last – it was believed – Cathars of the south, Jacques was made Bishop of Mirepoix in the Ariège, and, a year later, in 1327, he was made a cardinal . Upon his elevation to cardinal, Jacques continued to wear his Cistercian cowl , which garnered him
3638-488: The communicable attributes (those that human beings can also have) and the incommunicable attributes (those which belong to God alone). Some attributes ascribed to God in Christian theology are: Some Christians believe that the God worshiped by the Hebrew people of the pre-Christian era had always revealed himself as he did through Jesus ; but that this was never obvious until Jesus was born (see John 1 ). Also, though
3745-648: The "fullness of the beatific vision " before the Last Judgment . Despite many diplomatic attempts with Emperor Louis IV to resolve their differences, Benedict failed to bring the Holy Roman Empire back under papal dominance. He died 25 April 1342 and was buried in Avignon. Jacques Fournier was born in Saverdun in the County of Foix around 1285. He joined the Cistercian Order and studied at
3852-472: The "traditional" interpretation; Daniel B. Wallace calls the alternative "probably not the best translation." Some modern English versions of the Bible renders theopneustos with "God-breathed" ( NIV ) or "breathed out by God" ( ESV ), avoiding the word inspiration , which has the Latin root inspīrāre - "to blow or breathe into". Christianity generally regards the agreed collections of books known as
3959-634: The 16th-century Protestant Reformation certain reformers proposed different canonical lists of the Old Testament. The texts which appear in the Septuagint but not in the Jewish canon fell out of favor, and eventually disappeared from Protestant canons. Catholic Bibles classify these texts as deuterocanonical books, whereas Protestant contexts label them as the Apocrypha . In Christianity , God
4066-568: The 27-book canon of the New Testament that all use). A definitive list did not come from any early ecumenical council . Around 400, Jerome produced the Vulgate , a definitive Latin edition of the Bible, the contents of which, at the insistence of the Bishop of Rome , accorded with the decisions of the earlier synods. This process effectively set the New Testament canon, although examples exist of other canonical lists in use after this time. During
4173-597: The 3rd century, Tertullian claimed that God exists as the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit—the three personae of one and the same substance. To trinitarian Christians God the Father is not at all a separate god from God the Son (of whom Jesus is the incarnation) and the Holy Spirit, the other hypostases (Persons) of the Christian Godhead . According to the Nicene Creed, the Son (Jesus Christ)
4280-398: The Bible cannot both refer to itself as being divinely inspired and also be errant or fallible. For if the Bible were divinely inspired, then the source of inspiration being divine, would not be subject to fallibility or error in that which is produced. For them, the doctrines of the divine inspiration, infallibility, and inerrancy, are inseparably tied together. The idea of biblical integrity
4387-428: The Bible than his Father, had to be a secondary, lesser, and therefore distinct god. For Jews and Muslims , the idea of God as a trinity is heretical – it is considered akin to polytheism . Christians overwhelmingly assert that monotheism is central to the Christian faith, as the very Nicene Creed (among others) which gives the orthodox Christian definition of the Trinity does begin with: "I believe in one God". In
Beatific vision - Misplaced Pages Continue
4494-632: The Bible, the second Person of the Trinity, because of his eternal relation to the first Person (God as Father), is the Son of God . He is considered (by Trinitarians) to be coequal with the Father and Holy Spirit. He is all God and all human : the Son of God as to his divine nature, while as to his human nature he is from the lineage of David. The core of Jesus's self-interpretation was his "filial consciousness", his relationship to God as child to parent in some unique sense (see Filioque controversy). His mission on earth proved to be that of enabling people to know God as their Father, which Christians believe
4601-508: The Bishop of Porto, if he would only swear in advance to agree not to return the papacy to Rome. Comminges refused to make any promises in order to get elected. The Conclave therefore proposed Jacques Fournier's name, almost as a dare. Owing to his inexperience in politics, it was believed he would not get the votes. Upon Jacques' election the conclave was astonished, while Jacques stated, "You have elected an ignoramus". Jacques Fournier took
4708-528: The Catechism of the Catholic Church , the beatific vision is God opening himself in an inexhaustible way to the saints, so that they can see him face to face, and thereby share in his nature, and therefore enjoy eternal, definitive, supreme, perfect, and ever new happiness. The catechism teaches that this happiness includes not just communion and perfect life with the Trinity and the saints, but also
4815-460: The End (see Eschatology ). So Jesus was always "God the Son", though not revealed as such until he also became the "Son of God" through incarnation . "Son of God" draws attention to his humanity, whereas "God the Son" refers more generally to his divinity, including his pre-incarnate existence. So, in Christian theology, Jesus was always God the Son, though not revealed as such until he also became
4922-527: The Estates passed a new declaration giving the Emperor authority over all rights and goods within the Empire without the need of papal approval and that all decrees against Louis by John XXII were "an offense against God" and illegal. Despite this, Benedict sent his chaplain, Arnaud de Verdale, to entreat with Louis and was assured by the emperor and prince electors of a forthcoming embassy. No ambassadors ever arrived from Louis and Benedict's attempt to restore
5029-475: The Father has a special role in his relationship with the person of the Son, where Jesus is believed to be his Son and his heir. According to the Nicene Creed , the Son (Jesus Christ) is "eternally begotten of the Father", indicating that their divine Father-Son relationship is not tied to an event within time or human history. See Christology . The Bible refers to Christ, called " The Word " as present at
5136-453: The Father's relationship with humanity is as a father to children—in a previously unheard-of sense—and not just as the creator and nurturer of creation, and the provider for his children, his people. Thus, humans, in general, are sometimes called children of God . To Christians, God the Father's relationship with humanity is that of Creator and created beings, and in that respect he is the father of all. The New Testament says, in this sense, that
5243-535: The First Vatican Council in 1870). The Sacred College of Cardinals held a consistory on the problem in January 1334, and Pope John backed away from his novel views to the more standard understanding. His successor, Pope Benedict XII , in the bull Benedictus Deus , taught that the saved see Heaven (and thus, God) before Judgement Day. The Catholic Encyclopedia defines the beatific vision as
5350-512: The French. Using papal sanctions, Benedict secured their release and had the marshal hanged. In 1339, Benedict moved the papal archives from Assisi to Avignon. Unlike his predecessor, he refrained from papal intervention in Italy, issuing a large list of absolutes for Ghibelline cities, including Milan, giving release from interdict and excommunication in exchange for peace. In an effort to secure
5457-539: The Kingdom of Heaven with the righteous and God's friends! Edward A. Pace in the Catholic Encyclopedia (1907) defined the beatific vision: The immediate knowledge of God which the angelic spirits and the souls of the just enjoy in Heaven. It is called "vision" to distinguish it from the mediate knowledge of God which the human mind may attain in the present life. And since in beholding God face to face
SECTION 50
#17327662656685564-574: The Quran, on Judgment Day "some faces will be bright, looking at the Lord." (75:22-23) Ala-Maududi comments that some commentators "have understood this allegorically," and that as for himself, he believes "in the Hereafter the dwellers of Paradise will not see Allah in the specific form in which man sees something in the world, but their nature of seeing will be different, which we cannot comprehend here." Christian theology Christian theology
5671-428: The Son and the Holy Spirit are still seen as originating from God the Father. The New Testament does not have the term "Trinity" and nowhere discusses the Trinity as such. Some emphasize, however, that the New Testament does repeatedly speak of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit to "compel a trinitarian understanding of God." The doctrine developed from the biblical language used in New Testament passages such as
5778-510: The Trinity teaches the unity of Father , Son , and Holy Spirit as three persons in one Godhead . The doctrine states that God is the Triune God, existing as three persons , or in the Greek hypostases , but one being. Personhood in the Trinity does not match the common Western understanding of "person" as used in the English language—it does not imply an "individual, self-actualized center of free will and conscious activity." To
5885-696: The Trinity, is a mark of Catholicism , Eastern and Oriental Orthodoxy as well as other prominent Christian sects arising from the Protestant Reformation , such as Anglicanism , Methodism , Lutheranism , Baptist , and Presbyterianism . The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church describes the Trinity as "the central dogma of Christian theology". This doctrine contrasts with Nontrinitarian positions which include Unitarianism , Oneness and Modalism . A small minority of Christians hold non-trinitarian views, largely coming under
5992-511: The acceptance of papal temporal sovereignty in Italy, Benedict negotiated with Azzone Visconti . Azzo was prepared to renounce Louis of Bavaria, but he refused to accept papal rule over Piacenza, Lodi, and Crema, which were Lombard cities. He would never be forgiven for this rejection, and he died while excommunicated. Nevertheless, Luchino Visconti was appointed by Benedict as Azzo's papal vicar for Milan and ruler of Piacenza and Crema after Azzo's death in 1339. Benedict died 25 April 1342, and
6099-442: The afterlife. In Islamic theology, those who die as believers and enter Jannah will be given the vision of Allah . "Beatific" is derived from the Latin past participle ‘ beatificum ’, made happy. "Vision" comes from the Latin noun ‘ visio ’, sight; so ‘ beatifica visio ’ is 'a sight that makes one happy'. According to Rashi , the face of God is twofold: God's care for Israel ("And I will hide My face on that day, because of all
6206-401: The ancients, personhood "was in some sense individual, but always in community as well." Each person is understood as having the one identical essence or nature, not merely similar natures. Since the beginning of the 3rd century the doctrine of the Trinity has been stated as "the one God exists in three Persons and one substance , Father, Son, and Holy Spirit." Trinitarianism, belief in
6313-496: The baptismal formula in Matthew 28:19 and by the end of the 4th century it was widely held in its present form. In many monotheist religions, God is addressed as the father, in part because of his active interest in human affairs, in the way that a father would take an interest in his children who are dependent on him and as a father, he will respond to humanity, his children, acting in their best interests. In Christianity, God
6420-435: The beatific vision from conception to His ascension into heaven. Despite this, Jesus suffered, was crucified, and died as a human being. Thomas Aquinas defined the beatific vision as the human being's "final end" in which one attains to a perfect happiness. Thomas reasons that one is perfectly happy only when all one's desires are perfectly satisfied, to the degree that happiness could not increase and could not be lost. "Man
6527-448: The beatific vision is attained immediately after death – or after purgatory – yet it is already foretasted in baptism and in the eucharist . The catechism also teaches that the beatific vision is expressed in different ways in the New Testament : the kingdom of God , the vision of God, eternal life, divine adoption, a share in the divine nature, the joy of the Lord, and rest in God. The church has condemned many doctrinal errors about
SECTION 60
#17327662656686634-450: The beatific vision satisfies this fundamental desire of the human soul to know God. Quoting Paul , Aquinas notes "We see now in a glass darkly, but then face to face" ( 1 Cor. 13,12 ). Moreover, 2 Cor. 5,2 affirms that "if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." The beatific vision is the final reward for those saints elected by God to partake in and "enjoy
6741-411: The beginning of God's creation., not a creation himself, but equal in the personhood of the Trinity. In Eastern Orthodox theology, God the Father is the "principium" ( beginning ), the "source" or "origin" of both the Son and the Holy Spirit, which gives intuitive emphasis to the threeness of persons; by comparison, Western theology explains the "origin" of all three hypostases or persons as being in
6848-795: The claim that by scripture alone that the authority of the Bible is more important than the authority of the Church. The content of the Protestant Old Testament is the same as the Hebrew Bible canon , with changes in the division and order of books, but the Catholic Old Testament contains additional texts, known as the deuterocanonical books . Protestants recognize 39 books in their Old Testament canon, while Roman Catholic and Eastern Christians recognize 46 books as canonical. Both Catholics and Protestants use
6955-556: The concept of a triune God, although the Trinitarian doctrine was not formalized until the 4th century. At that time, the Emperor Constantine convoked the First Council of Nicaea , to which all bishops of the empire were invited to attend. Pope Sylvester I did not attend but sent his legate . The council, among other things, decreed the original Nicene Creed. For most Christians, beliefs about God are enshrined in
7062-465: The construction of the Palais des Papes in Avignon , which was finished under Pope Clement VI . Benedict spent most of his time working on questions of theology . He rejected many of the ideas developed by John XXII. In this regard, he promulgated an apostolic constitution , Benedictus Deus , in 1336. This dogma defined the Church's belief that the souls of the departed go to their eternal reward immediately after death, as opposed to remaining in
7169-401: The created intelligence finds perfect happiness, the vision is termed "beatific." Methodist co-founder Charles Wesley , in his 1747 hymn "Maker, in Whom We Live", described union with God through the Holy Spirit as "beatific sight": Spirit of Holiness, let all thy saints adore / thy sacred energy, and bless thine heart-renewing power. / No angel tongues can tell thy love's ecstatic height, /
7276-555: The crusade, citing the belief that Christendom was too crippled by domestic quarrels. On 18 December, Benedict cancelled the six-year tenth crusading tithe. Though born a Frenchman, Benedict felt no patriotism towards France nor its king, Philip VI . From the start of his papacy, relations between him and Philip were frigid. After being informed of Philip's plan to invade Scotland, Benedict hinted that King Edward III of England would most likely win, regardless. In 1340, Benedict's marshal kidnapped English envoys and handed them over to
7383-501: The divine essence . Moreover, by this vision and enjoyment the souls...are truly blessed and have eternal life and rest...Such a vision and enjoyment of the divine essence do away with the acts of faith and hope in these souls, inasmuch as faith and hope are properly theological virtues. And after such intuitive and face-to-face vision and enjoyment has or will have begun for these souls, the same vision and enjoyment has continued and will continue without any interruption and without end until
7490-507: The divine essence itself, a gift given to our intellects when God joins them directly to Himself without any intermediary. And since in seeing this perfect vision of what (and who) God is, we grasp also His perfect goodness, this act of "seeing" is at the same time a perfect act of loving God as the highest and infinite goodness. According to Aquinas, the beatific vision surpasses both faith and reason . Rational knowledge does not fully satisfy humankind's innate desire to know God, since reason
7597-444: The divine nature, which gives intuitive emphasis to the oneness of God's being. Christology is the field of study within Christian theology which is primarily concerned with the nature, person, and works of Jesus Christ , held by Christians to be the Son of God . Christology is concerned with the meeting of the human ( Son of Man ) and divine ( God the Son or Word of God ) in the person of Jesus . Primary considerations include
7704-466: The doctrine of Trinitarianism , which holds that the three persons of God together form a single God. The Trinitarian view emphasizes that God has a will and that God the Son has two wills, divine and human, though these are never in conflict (see Hypostatic union ). However, this point is disputed by Oriental Orthodox Christians, who hold that God the Son has only one will of unified divinity and humanity (see Miaphysitism ). The Christian doctrine of
7811-506: The doctrine of the Trinity than with the Christological debates. There are over 40 places in the New Testament where Jesus is given the title "the Son of God", but scholars don't consider this to be an equivalent expression. "God the Son" is rejected by anti-trinitarians , who view this reversal of the most common term for Christ as a doctrinal perversion and as tending towards tritheism . Matthew cites Jesus as saying, "Blessed are
7918-677: The effects of such inspiration on others. Besides the direct accounts of written revelation (such as Moses receiving the Ten Commandments inscribed on tablets of stone), the Prophets of the Old Testament frequently claimed that their message was of divine origin by prefacing the revelation using the following phrase: "Thus says the LORD" (for example, 1 Kgs 12:22–24;1 Chr 17:3–4; Jer 35:13; Ezek 2:4; Zech 7:9 ; etc.). The Second Epistle of Peter claims that "no prophecy of Scripture ...
8025-481: The evil they have committed, when they turned to other deities.") and God's essence ("Then I will remove My hand, and you will see My back but My face shall not be seen."). According to rabbinic literature , all the prophets of the Tanahk (Old Testament) saw God dimly, as if through nine glass windows - save for Moses, who saw God clearly, as if through one glass window ((Yeb. 49b; Lev. R. i. 14)). Jesus teaches that
8132-536: The foundational sacred texts of Christianity, while simultaneously investigating the development of Christian doctrine throughout history, particularly through the ecumenical councils of the early church (such as the First Council of Nicea ) and philosophical evolution. Inherent to a system of theological thought is the development of a method, one which can apply both broadly and particularly. Christian systematic theology will typically explore: Revelation
8239-424: The fulfillment of all the heart's desires - including, on Judgment Day, the body being glorified, even endowed with impassibility, brightness, agility, and subtlety - and continual cooperation with God's will - including praying for all other people, even proffering one's merits to God for others' sake. The catechism elaborates that the beatific vision is a grace and a privilege intended for everyone to attain, and that
8346-405: The glorious joy unspeakable, the beatific sight. The church believes in the beatific vision because Jesus experienced it from conception to ascension, taught about it and promised it, and makes Catholics foretaste it by faith. Pope Benedict XII taught ex cathedra in the papal encyclical Benedictus Deus that the beatific vision happens immediately after death: [I]mmediately after death...all
8453-495: The heading of Unitarianism . Most, if not all, Christians believe that God is spirit, an uncreated, omnipotent , and eternal being, the creator and sustainer of all things, who works the redemption of the world through his Son, Jesus Christ. With this background, belief in the divinity of Christ and the Holy Spirit is expressed as the doctrine of the Trinity , which describes the single divine ousia (substance) existing as three distinct and inseparable hypostases (persons):
8560-523: The heart's desires). Moreover, the catechism adds, the beatific vision will, on Judgment Day , make the saints' resurrected bodies impassible (free from inconvenience, suffering, and death), bright as the angels, agile (free from the limitations of space-time ), and subtle (as subject to the soul as the soul is subject to God). According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church and the Compendium of
8667-519: The immediate contemplation of God, though it encompasses the whole of the experience of joy, with happiness coming from seeing God finally face to face and not imperfectly through faith. ( 1 Cor 13 :11–12). It is related to the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox belief in theosis , the Wesleyan notion of Christian perfection , and is seen in most church denominations as the reward for Christians in
8774-555: The immediate knowledge of God enjoyed by all the heavenly creatures. It explains that the vision of God is called "beatific" because by seeing God the mind finds perfect happiness, and called "vision" because the sight of God in heaven is not the same as mediate knowledge of God. Saints who have seen or visited heaven do not mention the beatific vision. Instead, they sometimes give materialistic descriptions of heaven (garden, mansion, city, etc.) and sometimes give spiritual descriptions of heaven (joy, peace, lack of time, etc.). According to
8881-469: The last Judgment and from then on forever. According to the Roman Catechism , the saints in heaven see God, whereby they share in God's nature, wherewith they are truly and always happy. The catechism elaborates that the saints' happiness includes not just joy, but also glory (knowledge of one another's dignity), honor (reverence for one another as adopted sons of God), and peace (fulfillment of all
8988-473: The milestones of his pontificate. Following Benedict's election, ambassadors were received from Emperor Louis IV seeking a pardon and an end to the conflict. Benedict, who was entreated by Louis' ambassadors why the emperor should be pardoned, had declared his intentions in favor of Louis. By the end of 1335, however, political maneuvering by both Philip VI of France and Louis IV, had pressured Benedict into delaying negotiations. The interdict placed on
9095-421: The most perfect "ideas" or "images" of God we might generate in our minds) is necessarily finite, it would thus be infinitely less than God himself. The only perfect and infinite good, therefore, is God Himself, which is why Aquinas argues that our perfect happiness and final end can only be the direct union with God Himself and not with any created image of Him. This union comes about by a kind of "seeing" perfectly
9202-455: The name of Benedict XII as the pope on 8 January 1335. From the beginning of his pontificate, Benedict worked to reform the Curia and secular clergy in an effort to curb clerical avarice and nepotism as well as abuses in the granting of benefices. However, the religious orders were the primary target of his major reform efforts. By 1335–1336, Benedict had enacted changes that are viewed as one of
9309-414: The nature of God is a mystery , something that must be revealed by special revelation rather than deduced through general revelation . Christian orthodox traditions (Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Protestant) follow this idea, which was codified in 381 and reached its full development through the work of the Cappadocian Fathers . They consider God to be a triune entity, called the Trinity, comprising
9416-460: The nickname the "white cardinal". He often advised Pope John XXII on doctrinal matters, which included the heretical nature of magic. Jacques was tasked by the pope with examining the works of Peter John Olivi , Meister Eckhart , William of Ockham and Michael of Cesena . The Conclave opened on 13 December 1334 , and it appeared that there might be a quick election. A two-thirds majority were prepared to elect Cardinal Jean-Raymond de Comminges,
9523-407: The pains and temptations of a mortal man, yet he did not sin. As fully God, he defeated death and rose to life again. Scripture asserts that Jesus was conceived, by the Holy Spirit, and born of his virgin mother Mary without a human father. The biblical accounts of Jesus's ministry include miracles , preaching, teaching, healing , Death , and resurrection . The apostle Peter, in what has become
9630-535: The peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God (5:9)." The gospels go on to document a great deal of controversy over Jesus being the Son of God, in a unique way. The book of the Acts of the Apostles and the letters of the New Testament, however, record the early teaching of the first Christians– those who believed Jesus to be both the Son of God, the Messiah, a man appointed by God, as well as God himself. This
9737-495: The presence of God or an angel. For instance, in the concept which Catholics call interior locution , supernatural revelation can include just an inner voice heard by the recipient. Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) first described two types of revelation in Christianity: general revelation and special revelation . The Bible contains many passages in which the authors claim divine inspiration for their message or report
9844-731: The pure of heart will see God (Matthew 5:8) and that children's angels see the face of God the Father (Matthew 18:10). The Apostles teach that "[f]or now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face” (1 Corinthians 13:12), that without holiness "no one will see the Lord” (Hebrews 12:14), and that God's people "will see his face” (Revelation 22:4). In Christianity , the Bible states that God "dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has even seen or can see" ( 1 Timothy 6:16), but when God reveals himself to us in heaven we will then see him face to face ( 1 Corinthians 13:12). This concept has been termed "the beatific vision of God" by theologians of
9951-447: The saints will experience the beatific vision with their bodies as well. Their bodies will be as deified as their souls. Deification entails: The beatific vision is a grace and a privilege intended for every person and angel, since God created people and angels to enjoy the beatific vision. The beatific vision is the ultimate purpose of each person's and angel's life. Because Jesus is considered God and man, His human nature experienced
10058-429: The saints...have been, are and will be with Christ in heaven, in the heavenly kingdom and paradise, joined to the company of the holy angels...these souls have seen and see the divine essense with an intuitive vision and even face to face, without the mediation of any creature by way of object of vision; rather the divine essence immediately manifests itself to them, plainly, clearly and openly, and in this vision they enjoy
10165-579: The same 27-book New Testament canon. Early Christians used the Septuagint , a Koine Greek translation of the Hebrew scriptures. Christianity subsequently endorsed various additional writings that would become the New Testament. In the 4th century a series of synods , most notably the Synod of Hippo in AD 393, produced a list of texts equal to the 46-book canon of the Old Testament that Catholics use today (and
10272-566: The same happiness wherewith God is happy, seeing Him in the way which He sees Himself" in the next life. Pope John XXII (1316–1334) caused a controversy involving beatific vision, saying — not as Pope but as a private theologian — the saved do not attain the beatific vision until Judgment Day , a view more consistent with soul sleep . The general understanding at the time was that the saved attained Heaven after being purified and before Judgment Day. He never proclaimed his belief as doctrine but rather as an opinion (see ex cathedra , as defined at
10379-692: The scriptures have been known by Timothy from "infancy" (verse 15). Others offer an alternative reading for the passage; for example, theologian C. H. Dodd suggests that it "is probably to be rendered" as: "Every inspired scripture is also useful..." A similar translation appears in the New English Bible , in the Revised English Bible , and (as a footnoted alternative) in the New Revised Standard Version . The Latin Vulgate can be so read. Yet others defend
10486-529: The three "Persons"; God the Father , God the Son , and God the Holy Spirit , described as being "of the same substance" ( ὁμοούσιος ). The true nature of an infinite God, however, is commonly described as beyond definition, and the word 'person' is an imperfect expression of the idea. Some critics contend that because of the adoption of a tripartite conception of deity, Christianity is a form of tritheism or polytheism . This concept dates from Arian teachings which claimed that Jesus, having appeared later in
10593-452: The union with God is the most perfect human happiness and the ultimate goal of human life. But we cannot attain to this happiness by our own natural powers; it is a gift that must be given us by God, who strengthens us by the "light of glory" so that we can see Him as he is, without any intermediary. (Thomas quotes Psalm 36 :9 on this point: "In your light we shall see light.") Further, since every created image or likeness of God (including even
10700-413: The very idea of family, wherever it appears, derives its name from God the Father, and thus God himself is the model of the family. However, there is a deeper "legal" sense in which Christians believe that they are made participants in the special relationship of Father and Son, through Jesus Christ as his spiritual bride . Christians call themselves adopted children of God. In the New Testament, God
10807-516: The vision of God. As a result, it teaches that the beatific vision is not natural (like a feeling, thought, dream, idea, desire, or mental image), indirect (like an apparition , locution , voice of God , Tabor light , odor of sanctity , religious ecstasy , or some other private revelation ), mediate (involving a mediator between God and oneself, like how people saw, heard, felt, and otherwise perceived Jesus' humanity during his lifetime, including after resurrection), relative (God being seen not as he
10914-484: Was a cardinal and inquisitor, later head of the Catholic Church from 30 December 1334 to his death, in April 1342. He was the third Avignon pope and reformed monastic orders and opposed nepotism . Unable to remove his capital to Rome or Bologna, Benedict started the great palace at Avignon. He settled the beatific vision controversy of Pope John XXII with the bull Benedictus Deus , which stated that souls may attain
11021-530: Was and forever is fully God (divine) and fully human in one sinless person at the same time, and that through the death and resurrection of Jesus , sinful humans can be reconciled to God and thereby are offered salvation and the promise of eternal life via his New Covenant . While there have been theological disputes over the nature of Jesus, Christians believe that Jesus is God incarnate and " true God and true man " (or both fully divine and fully human). Jesus, having become fully human in all respects, suffered
11128-655: Was burned at the stake in 1321. Motivated by Philip V's edict against lepers , Jacques also investigated the supposed leper water-poisoning conspiracy and tortured the director of the Pamiers leprosarium, Guillaume Agasse, into giving a confession to the charges. His efforts against the Cathars of Montaillou in the Ariège were carefully recorded in the Fournier Register , which he took to Rome and deposited in
11235-472: Was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit" The Second Epistle of Peter also implies that Paul's writings are inspired ( 2 Pet 3:16 ). Many Christians cite a verse in Paul's letter to Timothy, 2 Timothy 3:16–17, as evidence that "all scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable ..." Here St. Paul is referring to the Old Testament, since
11342-400: Was fully divine and also human. What it did not do was make clear how one person could be both divine and human, and how the divine and human were related within that one person. This led to the Christological controversies of the 4th and 5th centuries of the Christian era. The Chalcedonian Creed did not put an end to all Christological debate, but it did clarify the terms used and became
11449-499: Was that the one God exists in three persons (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit); in particular it was affirmed that the Son was homoousios (of one substance) with the Father. The Creed of the Nicene Council made statements about the full divinity and full humanity of Jesus, thus preparing the way for discussion about how exactly the divine and human come together in the person of Christ (Christology). Nicaea insisted that Jesus
#667332