0:07

Welcome

0:07

back to another episode of 5 Minutes in Church

0:09

History. On this episode, we are talking

0:11

about John of Damascus. Now

0:14

we know Damascus. Today it is

0:16

the capital city of Syria, a largely

0:18

Muslim city and a largely Muslim

0:21

country. In Bible times, we

0:23

find the first reference to Damascus back

0:25

in Genesis 14. And

0:28

then there's the book of Acts, Acts chapter 9 specifically,

0:31

and Paul's visit there with his

0:33

vision on the road to Damascus, his

0:36

conversion in that

0:37

city, and then his rather dramatic

0:40

exit

0:41

at night in a basket over

0:43

the wall. So we know all about

0:45

Damascus, but who is John

0:47

of Damascus? Well, he was born

0:50

in that city in either the year 675 or

0:52

the year 676. And

0:56

we think he died in the year 749 and

0:59

likely in a monastery near

1:02

Jerusalem. He is a significant

1:04

figure in the Eastern Orthodox

1:07

tradition. And 635,

1:11

before John's birth, Damascus

1:13

came under Muslim rule. And

1:15

John's grandfather and father were

1:17

both Arab Christians who

1:20

held various roles in that

1:22

Muslim government. And

1:25

John apparently followed in their footsteps.

1:28

He had been privately educated by tutors.

1:30

He knew Arabic and Greek. He would have

1:32

had what we would call today a

1:35

classical education. And

1:38

he

1:38

started off his life as

1:40

a civil servant.

1:42

But sometime in the first decade

1:44

of the eighth century, right around the

1:46

year 705 or 706, it

1:49

appears that John left behind that

1:51

civil service and entered the monastery

1:54

and was ordained. And

1:56

from there he left his mark.

1:58

We can say three things

1:59

of note regarding John of Damascus

2:02

and his legacy. First, he

2:04

wrote what would become a major

2:07

and long-standing textbook on theology

2:10

for the Greek or Eastern Orthodox

2:13

tradition. This book was

2:15

the standard text for centuries. It was

2:17

called The Fountain of Knowledge. Fontes,

2:21

Latin for fountain, means in this context

2:23

source. So this is the source

2:26

of knowledge. It has three parts. First,

2:28

he entitled Philosophical Headings.

2:30

It's about logic, Aristotelian logic,

2:33

and good old classical theism. It

2:36

is the foundation for good theological

2:38

thinking. The second part he entitled Concerning

2:41

Heresies. And he goes through all

2:43

those heresies from the early church, but

2:45

he adds a lengthy discussion at the very

2:48

end of what he calls the Ishmaelite heresy.

2:51

And that, of course, is Islam. This is one

2:53

of the first apologetic works

2:56

against Islam, these pages

2:58

in part two of John's book.

3:00

And then we get to part three. It

3:03

was entitled An Exact

3:06

or an Accurate Exposition

3:09

of the Orthodox Faith. This

3:12

borrows on the church fathers, borrows

3:14

on the early creeds, and both

3:16

the baptismal creeds like the Apostles' Creed

3:19

and the confessional creeds and the material that came

3:21

out of that. And this part is

3:24

basically one of the early,

3:26

one of the first, systematic theology.

3:28

So it is a systematic theology. This

3:31

book has the foundation of logic and

3:34

clear thinking. Then it moves on to

3:36

look at all the bad approaches to theology

3:39

and the missteps by looking

3:41

at the heresies and then sets forth that

3:44

ortho, which you know means straight,

3:47

that straight path of thinking.

3:50

So that's his first legacy. His second that in addition

3:52

to that book, he wrote many poems,

3:54

letters, and books on a whole range of subjects.

3:57

So quite the literary output

3:59

for John of the Damascus. And then thirdly, finally,

4:02

he is a major figure in what we call the iconoclast

4:05

controversy. This relates to two things,

4:07

the making of religious images

4:10

or icons, and then the use of

4:12

those images in worship. John

4:14

actually defended the making of icons, especially

4:17

related to Jesus, arguing that when

4:19

Jesus took on flesh, the incarnation,

4:22

the commandment of graven images of the

4:24

divine being did not apply. John

4:26

wrote this in three lengthy treatises

4:29

against the decrying of holy images.

4:31

Icons would become a significant

4:34

part of Eastern Orthodox churches and

4:36

worship from then on, as well

4:38

as in the Roman Catholic tradition. So

4:41

Damascus, that ancient and important

4:43

city, and John thereof,

4:46

an ancient and important figure in the

4:48

Eastern Orthodox Church. That's

4:50

John of Damascus, and I'm Steve Nichols, and

4:53

thanks for joining us for five minutes in

4:55

Church History.