For Further Reading: Frank

Public prayer is appropriate in a thousand places such as grace before meals, dedication of buildings, formal or informal ceremonies, official

The doctrine of purgatory was taught by such Catholic divines as Gregory the Great, Bon-aventura, and Aquinas. It was professed at the Council of Lyons (1274), the Union of Florence (1445), and reaffirmed against Protestant denials at the Council of Trent (1545-63).

Although Gregory contended that this purg­atorial punishment consisted of both absence from God and burning by fire, it was the con­tention of St. Catherine of Genoa that the fire of purgatory was nothing other than God's love, burning away whatever in us had not been cleansed away prior to death.

Protestant thinkers have raised four strong ob­jections to the doctrine of purgatory: (1) It is without true scriptural basis, since 2 Mace. 12:39-45 is not accepted as inspired; (2) if Christ's gospel promises full forgiveness, then there is no need for purgatory; (3) moreover, the doctrine retains the necessity of punishment af­ter forgiveness; and (4) it implies that the atoning death of Christ was not sufficient to purchase man's full justification and cleansing from sin. To these, the Wesleyan theologian would add a fifth objection on the basis of his belief in in­stantaneous sanctification by faith following re­generation and occurring during the believer's lifetime.

See HEAVEN, HOLINESS, PROBATION, CATHOLICISM (ROMAN).

For Further Reading: Bigham, "Purgatory," ER, 628; Boettner, "Purgatory," Baker's DT, 430; Harvey, Handbook of Theological Terms, 200; Wiley, CT, 3:230.

Ross E. Price

In the OT any contact with that which is un­clean results in defilement and requires puri­fication. The following are sources of defilement: (1) unclean animals; (2) dead bodies; (3) leprosy; (4) bodily secretions associated with reproduc­tion, and (5) idol worship in all of its forms.

The need for purification preceded the giving of Mosaic law (Gen. 35:2; Exod. 19:14); but a strong emphasis on ceremonial purification be­gan with the establishment of Israel as the cov­enant people of God. The covenant ceremonial law provided for purification, including the idea of expiation for certain sins. This ceremonial law sets the standard for purification in the OT. While some religions regarded purification as be­ing completely ceremonial and nonethical in character, for Israel purification had both cere­monial and ethical significance. These two con­siderations grew side by side in the OT. It is true that in the Psalms, Prophets, and Wisdom litera­ture of the OT there is a tendency to emphasize moral purity; but the ceremonial aspect is not de­nied.

However, it is not until after the Exile that the Jews developed an elaborate system of rules for ceremonial purification deduced from those stated in the OT. Significantly, the largest of the six sections of the Mishnah deals with puri­fication. Such a ballooning of ceremonial puri­fication led Jesus to declare, "'You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God, in order to keep your tradition!'" (Mark 7:9, rsv).

An important principle of biblical theological thought is that God's people should reflect His character. This includes personal moral purity in response to the holiness of God (Lev. 19:2; 1 Pet. 1:15). The NT emphasizes moral and spiritual purification with little interest in ceremonial con­siderations. Likewise in the NT, impurity does not come from external sources, but is moral and from within. Purity then begins in the heart of man and extends outward to encompass the entire life. This moral purification is part of the redeeming work of Christ (1 John 1:7). Jesus' teachings on moral purification are well sum­marized in Matt. 5:8, where purity of heart is a prerequisite to seeing God.

In the NT, purification is thus personal and evangelical, completing the development of the concept begun in the prophetic and devotional writings of the OT. The external and ceremonial emphasis recedes into the background, and puri­fication becomes the work of God in human hearts, so that man becomes partaker of the di­vine nature (2 Pet. 1:4). To deny the objective re­ality and impartation of this nature of holiness in favor of a mere imputation of holiness as our standing or position in Christ is to deny NT puri­fication and to return to the OT concept of exter­nal ceremonial purification.

See TALMUD, CLEANSING, HOLINESS, IMPARTED RIGH­TEOUSNESS, ERADICATION, HEART PURITY, PROGRESSIVE REVELATION.

For Further Reading: IDB, 1:641-48; The New Schaff­

Many who had been exiled under Queen Mary had come under the influence of Swiss Protes­tantism and had returned filled with admiration for its thoroughgoing commitments. They were men with deep religious earnestness upon whom Elizabeth had to depend in her conflict with Rome. However, they drove hard to purge from the worship services what they believed to be remnants of the Roman church. In particular, the Puritans objected to the prescribed clerical dress, to kneeling at the reception of the Lord's Supper, the use of the ring in marriage as continuing the view of matrimony as a sacrament; and they strongly disliked using the sign of the Cross in baptism, believing it to be superstitious. Doc­trinally, the Puritans were (for the most part) Calvinistic and insisted on the primacy of the Bi­ble as the basis of authority.

Furthermore, the Puritans saw in the NT a definite pattern of church government quite un­like the Church of England. They came to believe in effective discipline maintained by elders. And they wanted ministers in office with the consent of the congregation.

By the end of Queen Elizabeth's reign all of the Separatists, or radical Puritans, had been driven underground or had gone into exile in places like Leyden in Holland, from which the Pilgrims sailed to the New World.

See PROTESTANTISM, WESLEYANISM, PIETISM (ENGLISH EVANGELICAL), WORSHIP, METHODISM, CHURCH GOV­ERNMENT.

For Further Reading: Sweet, Religion in Colonial America; Faughan, ed., The Puritan Tradition in America; Walker, A History of the Christian Church.

Leslie Parrott

PURITY AND MATURITY. The distinction between purity and maturity has been a basic postulate of the holiness movement. Failure to make this dis­tinction, says Wiley, "lies at the base of practically every objection to entire sanctification" (CT, 2:506).

Purity is a matter of the heart, of present soundness, integrity, and rectitude; maturity is a matter of growth and development, in knowl­edge, strength, and skill. Purity is a condition of freedom from sin, of singleness of mind, of entire devotement to God. As soon as a believer becomes convicted of his remaining double-mindedness, the correction of the condition is both his privilege and obligation. His self-cleans-ing should be immediate (2 Cor. 7:1; Heb. 12:1, 12-15; 1 John 3:3), and his appropriation of the inner cleansing of the Spirit must be, and can only be, by faith (Acts 15:8-9; 26:18; Gal. 3:2-3). Time is not the purifying agent. But maturity and growth are correlates, both dependent upon time and process. Maturity is an advanced degree of understanding and establishment in spiritual things.

"No Christian is cleansed into maturity, nor do any grow into purity," writes J. A. Wood (Perfect Love, 85). Wood is typical of the leading author­ities of the last century, who carefully insisted on the preservation of the distinction between pu­rity and maturity.

Some ambiguity appears in the writings of Wesley, who often seemed to associate Christian perfection with spiritual adulthood. However, this is a relative stage of attainment, which, while beyond spiritual infancy, is only the threshold of what shall be. When tracing the stages of spiritual progress, he reaches entire sanctification with the words, "in another in­stant, the heart is cleansed from all sin, and filled with pure love for God and man." Then immedi­ately he adds: "But even that love increases more and more ... till we attain 'the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ'" (Works, 6:509). In his sermon "On a Single Eye" he declares that those with a single eye, who walk in all the light they have, "cannot but 'grow in grace.'" Such persons will "continually advance in all holiness, and in the whole image of God" (Works, 7:299).

Even more serious confusion is introduced by the substitution of "mature" for "perfect" as the translation of teleios by modern versions (e.g., Niv has "mature" at 1 Cor. 2:6; Eph. 4:13; Phil. 3:15; Col. 4:12; and Heb. 6:1 [teleiotes]). Since teleios is more qualitative than quantitative in import, such substitution is at least questionable. Doubtless it is justified in Eph. 4:13 since maturi­ty is the obvious goal. It is less certain in the oth-



QUIETISM—RABBINIC THEOLOGY

435

QUIETISM. Historically Quietism has been an un­derstanding of Christian perfection which em­phasizes union with God not by asceticism and aggressive personal devotion but by passive sur­render of the senses, intellect, and will to the di­vine. As a result God, not oneself, is responsible for one's life and actions. Avid espousal of this theory often led to both an antinomianism which disclaimed moral responsibility and an interior kind of holiness which separated one from con­cern for sin in any social sense.

Specifically the term may be applied to a school of Catholic mystics in France and Italy in the late 17th century. Miguel de Molinos empha­sized passivity of the soul to such an extent that his enemies had his doctrines condemned by the church. The same fate fell on the French Quietist, Madame Guyon, whose emphasis was more on "surrender" than "passivity." Later Catholic scholars have largely exonerated the Quietists of any major doctrinal error.

Although their influence upon Roman Cathol­icism has not been great, the Quietists have had an enduring influence upon revivalism and Wes­leyanism in particular. Molinos and Guyon to­gether with other Catholic mystics have become strong witnesses to the experience of perfection in love in the American holiness tradition, es­pecially through the writings of Thomas C. Up-ham.

See mysticism, perfect (perfection), perfect love, perfectionism.

For Further Reading: Daniel-Rops, The Church in the 17th Century, 367-93; Upham, life of Madame de la Mothe Guyon; Dieter, The Holiness Revival of the 19th Century, 53-56. melvin EASTERDAY DlETER

RABBINIC THEOLOGY. Basically, rabbinic theol­ogy is the orthodox system of doctrine which Jewish people of pious nature have held from an­cient times. The Maccabean revolt of 160 b.c. was led by priests known as Hasidim, "pious ones," who rejected Greek culture. In NT times, the pro­ponents of keeping the ancient laws and customs were the Pharisees. Their spiritual heirs were the Rabbinites of the 8th—10th centuries a.d. and the Hasidim of the 18th century.

All these groups held to doctrines that were based on the OT and elaborated in the Talmud. Yet, rabbinic theology was more than doctrine; it was also a way of life. It was more than doctrine believed in by individuals, for doctrine and life were tied to national customs that were retained even during the dispersal of Jewish people around the world.

The basic doctrine of rabbinic theology is the existence of God as the Creator of the universe and all its creatures. All things were created out of nothing as an act of God's will. God is also the Ruler of the world and of the history of mankind. Extending from this doctrine is the belief in God as eternal and spiritual, omnipresent and omni­scient. He is one God, and besides Him is none other. His resolutions are unchangeable, and His will is constant.

This theology also holds that God's will in­cludes His intent both to punish the wicked and to provide merciful forgiveness for those who re­pent of their sins. He also wills to hear and an­swer the prayers of the penitent.

A second basic doctrine is the genuineness of the revelation of God through the Torah, i.e., the



first five books of the Bible, known as the Pen­tateuch. The Torah was given to Moses at Mount Sinai and has been preserved intact. It is to be obeyed by applying its regulations to every as­pect of life. Man must obey the law in freedom of choice and with wholehearted commitment.

After death, man continues to exist and will know punishment or reward for his deeds. A be­lief in the resurrection is common.

Rabbinic theology also believes that the Jewish people are the Chosen People and will be re­stored to their land by a Messiah who will come when the people are ready for him.

See JUDAISM, JUDAISTIC CONTROVERSY.

For Further Reading: Cohen, Judaism: A Way of Life: Markowitz, Jewish Religion, History, Ethics, and Culture; Heschel, God in Search for Man; "Theology," The Jewish Encyclopedia, 128-37.

George Herbert Livingston

RACIAL SIN. See original sin.

RACISM. This is the belief that some races are inherently superior to others, and the attitudes, policies, and practices which express this belief. Hitlerism with its doctrine of the Aryan super-race is a glaring modern example. The belief in the inferiority of the black races is an equally odi­ous form of racism.

Yet not all adverse value judgments can be la­beled racism. Distinctions can be made between advanced or primitive cultures which acknowl­edge a sociological retardation without the impli­cation that the backwardness is due to inherent racial inferiority.

While racism has been a sociological phenom­enon throughout human history, it has been en­couraged by Darwinism, with its doctrine of the survival of the fittest. It has also provided a ratio­nale for war. Arlie J. Hoover says: "Racism asserts that struggle, not cooperation, is the normal, yea even the desirable, state of race relations and that competition proves some races superior to others in intelligence, creativity, and cultural capacity."

Racism is not biblical. Over and over God re­minds the Israelites that His choice of them was not due to any superiority in them, but that all nations might be blessed through them. The de­struction of the Canaanites was not on racist principles but on moral grounds: their deci­mation was a divine judgment on them for their sins. While separatism was demanded, the pur­pose was not to safeguard them from inferior peoples but to prevent their religious corruption.

However, the Jews did tend to become infected with a racist mentality, contrary to God's inten­tention. An example might be Peter's reluctance to eat with Cornelius. However, on the other hand, perhaps a purely ceremonial connotation should be seen in his "common or unclean" (Acts 10:14), rather than racism as such. At least Peter sincerely, though mistakenly, believed such so­cial separation from the Gentiles to be a divine requirement; so his reluctance was prompted by a desire to obey God, not necessarily by a belief in his personal superiority.

According to the NT, the gospel levels all men, assuming for all races equal need and equal ac­cess to all the benefits of the Atonement, includ­ing the fullness of the Holy Spirit (Matt. 25:31-46; 28:19; John 1:9; Acts 2:17; 10:28, 34-35; Rom. 3:9-30; 11:16-23; 1 Cor. 1:24; Gal. 3:28; Eph. 2:11-17; 1 Tim. 2:1-6; Rev. 7:9-10).

Christian love alone is the antidote for the dis­ease of racism. Love acknowledges all men as human beings created by God, all as the subjects of God's love and the objects of redemption. Yet love does not extinguish cultural differences, nor does love condemn them. While love creates a kindred feeling, and prompts equal respect to all regardless of race, it does not demand external uniformity. Furthermore, a very natural prefer­ence for one's own kind on a social plane is not in itself proof of either prejudice or racism; though love will gladly transcend this preference in the interests of community or evangelism.

See JUDAISM, MISSION (MISSIONS, MISSIOLOGY), MAN, GOSPEL, REDEMPTION.

Directory: sites -> default -> files -> publications
publications -> Table of Content forward introduction
publications -> Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center for Wireless Technologies Georgia Institute of Technology
publications -> Housing Counseling Research in Chicago
publications -> Communicating with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Audiences
publications -> New Brunswick Info Sheet on First Nations Child Welfare
publications -> Paap’s Electronic Newsletter 14 November 2008 Volume 11 Number 22 towards ‘smart’ subsidies in agriculture: lessons from recent experience in malawi
publications -> Information support of pedagogical process for the children experiencing difficulties with acquisition of preschool educational programs
publications -> Asus’ ZenFone ar has Google’s augmentted and virtual reality baked in — but not combined
publications -> School Readiness and Early Grade Success Consultation Memo Atlanta, ga

Download 6.66 Mb.

Share with your friends: