SMU Catholic Weekly Blogs

Patriarchs and Pagans

For Catholic Christians, "tradition" or "the rule of faith" existed before the scriptures were written, contributed to their composition, and continued as a parallel stream of information about who God is, most readily identifiable in creeds, sacraments, dogma, doctrine, and liturgy. On several occasions the scriptures, especially Paul's letters, reference oral teachings that appear to be a coherent set of beliefs about Christ and the Church. The renowned Dominican preacher and theologian Yves Congar described Church tradition as "the sharing of a treasure, which itself remains unchanging; it represents a victory over time and its transience, over space and separation caused by distance." The story of Christ's descent into the grave and hell, or "hades," is part of early church tradition, echoed in 1 Peter 3:19. The Apostle's Creed, the Nicene Creed, and several local creeds pre-dating any universal professions of faith reference Jesus's descent prior to the resurrection. Why did he make the descent? Medieval commentators suggested Christ's passing through the realm of the dead solidified his identity as completely human, since all people suffer death of the body, while other theologians thought Christ might have made the journey to ransom the Hebrew patriarchs and virtuous pagans. Although church tradition drew the line at emphasizing his descent into the grave, patriarchs and pagans played a critical role in the church's interpretation of the events surrounding Christ's death and resurrection.

Francisco de Vitoria

The conquest of the Americas, the Protestant Reformation, and conflict with the Turks were together upending European society and the Church when Francisco de Vitoria became chair of theology at the University of Salamanca in 1526. Vitoria was born in Spain in 1486, and after becoming a Dominican friar he studied law, philosophy, and theology in Paris. He returned to Spain in 1523 and three years later became chair of theology at Salamanca. In 1532 he penned "De Indis" ("Concerning the Indians"), a treatise in which he argued that, contrary to popular opinion, Indians in the Americas were not necessarily damned by their social structures, religion, or lack of Christianity. De Indis was a crucial landmark in the history of human rights as well as constituting the origins of international law. Vitoria also wrote about the requirements for a just war, asserting that no war was just if it endangered the world or Christendom.

Sources: Richard P. McBrien. Catholicism. San Francisco: HarperCollins, 1994. P 1318.

Hosius of Cordova

In a fourth-century letter describing the unorthodox teachings of Arian Christians--who believed that Jesus was not equal to God the Father--Athanasius of Alexandria referred to a western opponent of the Arians, Hosius of Cordova, as "one who on account of his age, his confession, and the many labors he has undergone, is worthy of all reverence." Hosius was born in Hispania, the Roman province of Spain, in about 256 CE, and during the late third century he became one of many Christian "confessors" who refused to reject their faith during state-led persecutions of the church. In about 295 CE Hosius became bishop of Cordova in southern Spain. When Constantine convened the council of Nicea in 325 CE as a response to the Arians, Hosius was one of only three western bishops who helped forge the Nicene Creed in concert with several hundred Greek- and Latin-speaking bishops from North Africa, the Middle East, and Asia Minor.

Sources: “Hosius of Cordova.” Catholic Encyclopedia. www.newadvent.org

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Simon Peter

Most Roman Catholics recognize Peter as the first bishop of Rome and favored apostle of Jesus Christ. During the fourth century the papacy emerged as a privileged post with theological authority over bishops in the east and west, and on several occasions, working in concert with the eastern Roman emperor, the bishop of Rome successfully intervened in theological debates to shape the course of orthodox Christianity.

Yet Peter was a Galilean fisherman with a Jewish faith bereft of pageantry and splendor, and his deep struggle to remain faithful to the Good News mirrored the profundity of his humanity. Peter denied Jesus three times after his arrest, and the Gospel of Mark recounts how Peter rebuked Jesus when he told the apostles the Son of Man would die and rise after three days (Mark 8:32). Like the other male apostles Peter fled Roman authorities after the crucifixion. Paul's letter to the Galatians describes how he bickered with Peter over doctrinal matters, motivating Paul to write, "I opposed him to his face because he clearly was wrong (Galatians 2:11)."

What are Christians to make of Peter's inconsistencies coupled with his status as a prominent leader of the first Christian communities in Palestine? The pomp and majesty of later popes is hard to reconcile with the Gospel's image of the impulsive fisherman from Galilee. It is hard to believe that early Christians depended on Peter to settle crucial church matters. Yet it is in the seeming contradictions of Peter's rich humanness that Christians can find strength in weakness, stability in chaos, and faith in hopelessness. If the brash man that the Gospels depict went on to become the first bishop of Rome, then our capabilities to serve God are truly limitless.