08 April 2006

More Genus Maiestaticum...

...another important thought on the Genus Maiestaticum is that it is not possible to teach this if there is not an ontological distinction between the attributes (energies) and essence of God. For it is the attributes of the divine nature which are communicated to the human nature, NOT the divinity itself. Thanks to Father Gregory Hogg for pointing this out to me a while ago. To go back to the iron and fire analogy that the Fathers loved so much and which Chemnitz relies upon quite heavily: the heat of the fire is what communicates the properties of the fire to the iron, but the heat that is communicated is an energy of the fire and not the fire itself. All of which leads one to cry out: Glory to Your condescension, O Lover of Man!

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