hello Heroes today I am continuing Series 2 or whatever day you're hearing it and it is lecture three of series two it's called Orthodoxy and orthopraxy under the Orthodoxy section I will look at scholasticism and Thomas aquinus and under orthopraxy Francis of aisi you can see your required or recommended reading as as well as supplemental reading as well if you can find it the movie brother son sister Moon which is about Francis of aisi at Franciscan media.org I found the following information about three Frances of AI Bible verses along with some helpful application questions so
this is the devotional recall and that's the beginning of the quotation recall the three texts that St Francis read when he went to the Church of St Nicholas with brother Bernard and open the Bible three times the order in which the text appeared is Matthew 19:21 then Luke 9:3 and then Matthew 16:24 if you look at them in that order you see that the first text says to get rid of everything which Francis did the second one says not to take anything along for the journey which was the case with Francis and the third one
says simply follow me which I would have put first it's a rather nice progression as given in bonaventure's account of francis's life which is kind of how it happened with him let's go back to the first text they found if you will be perfect go sell all that you have and give to the poor for and that's what is quoted in Bonaventure just those words here are the questions so that's close quote here are the questions and comments that are posed for each of us after noting we are to answer our call and Christ comes
first how are you following Christ how are you being faithful to Christ and are you getting over yourself am I getting over myself actually before looking at Orthodoxy though it's somewhat related I would like to look at the Christian Crusades during the Middle Ages Christians do not use that word much these days Billy Graham called his large Gatherings Crusades it was not meant to be militant against Islam but his son Frank now uses the word Festival though Greg Lori whom I greatly admire continues to call his large Gatherings Harvest Crusades for most people the word
Crusade is benign however for many Muslims it is offensive because of the military campaigns that took place in the Name of Christ but it is important to realize that the Crusades as very flawed as they were sought to take back land that Muslims had conquered themselves by military force of course Jesus is the Prince of Peace who would not have any of it or support either side when it came to the military but for each action there is an equal and opposite reaction so in response to Islam conquering many public areas there were many counterattacks
that came to be known as Crusades while Walton chart number 23 lists seven Crusades I find more interesting and instructive to look at his chart number 24 it is entitled the Muslim conquest and the Crusades a comparison the dates of the Muslim Conquest were between 633 and 732 while the Crusades were between ad. 1095 and 1291 the initiation when it started when they started the Muslim Conquest beyond what Muhammad did took place after the death of Muhammad and the Crusades began after the Council of Claremont the termination took place the Battle of Tours for Muslim
conquests and later the Battle of Vienna and for the Crusades it was the fall of Acra in 1299 and today that is the northern area of modern Israel the motivation is that Muslims wanted to spread what they called the true Faith among the infidels by means of jahad or Jihad or holy war the Crusaders sought to protect pilgrim and the glory of God and to recapture the holy places of Christendom from the Infidel Turks here are the inducements that were offered for Muslims immediate entrance to Paradise was promise to those who die for crusaders plenary
or complete Indulgence see the Reformation especially the reaction to indulgences paid for building of St Peter Pet's Basilica in Rome but plenary indulgent was offered this means forgiveness of sins past present and future for those who died immediate entrance into heaven in other words no time in purgatory which is not taught in the Bible for all others forgiveness of debts and freedom from taxation next the treatment of enemies for Muslims pagans were required to convert or die Jews and Christians were allowed to keep their religion but were required to pay tribute and refrain from proling
Crusaders conquered Muslims whom they indiscriminately put to the sword while inhabitants of Jewish ghettos were slaughtered the results Muslims conquered Palestine Syria Asia Minor which is modern turkey Egypt North Africa and Spain Greek learning was preserved through what some call the Dark Ages by learning it means the philosophers and history and other things for the Crusaders there was no permanent territorial gains classical Greek and Roman culture was rediscovered there was increased enity between eastern and western churches and among Christians Jews and Muslims so the Crusaders gained no ground permanently while the Muslims kept most of
their land now I'm going to look at Pope Innocent III as he restores the authority and power of the papacy he was born on February 22nd 1161 and died July 16th 12 1216 he was born lotario deti de segy with loar uh being anglicized as segy he was the head of the Catholic church and ruler of the paple States from January 8th 1198 until his death when it says paple States it does mean that the pope was in charge of ground and land beyond the Vatican until centuries later now it is just the area of
land called the Vatican continuing with Wikipedia Pope Innocent was one of the most powerful and influential of the Medieval popes he exerted a wide influence over the Christian states of Europe claiming Supremacy over all of Europe's Kings he was Central in supporting the Catholic Church is reforms of ecclesiastical Affairs through his decretals which were decrees and the fourth l in Council this resulted in a considerable refinement of Western Canon or church law he is furthermore notable for using interdict and other centures to compel princes of or rulers of land to obey his decisions although these
measures were not uniformly successful innocent greatly extended the scope of the Crusades directing Crusades against Muslim Iberia which would be today's Spain and Portugal mainly Portugal perhaps and The Holy Land as well as the alenzi and Crusade against the cathars in southern France he organized The Fourth Crusade of 122 to 124 which ended in the sack of Constantinople although the attack on Constantinople went against his explicit orders and the Crusaders who did that were subsequently excommunicated innocent and the head of the Eastern Church excommunicated each other so it wasn't very good uh for relations between
the two groups of churches and the subsequent period of Franco ctia heightened the hostility between the Latin and Greek churches the Byzantine Empire was restored in 1261 although it was in a much weaker State and that's close quote of Wikipedia here are some other ways that innocent 3 led the Roman Catholic Church involvement in Imperial elections feudal power in in areas of Europe suppression of heresy religious orders in addition to the Franciscan monks and the fourth letter in Council which was considered to be the most important Church Gathering during the Middle Ages Orthodoxy means right
belief a group during the Middle Ages sought to Define and continue right belief was the Scholastics here is some of what Wikipedia says about scholasticism it was a medieval School of philosophy that employed a critical organic method of philosophical analysis predicated upon aristotelianism and the 10 categories Christian scholasticism emerged within the monastic schools that translated Scholastic judeo Islamic philosophies and quote unquote rediscovered the collected works of Aristotle endeavoring to harmonize his metaphysics and its account of a prime mover with Latin Catholic dogmatic trinitarian theology these monastic schools became the basis of the earliest European medieval
University so they started with strong Christian Studies and thus became the Bedrock for the development of modern science and philosophy in the Western World scholasticism dominated education in Europe from about 1100 to 1700 the rise of scholasticism was closely associated with these schools that flourished in Italy France Portugal Spain and England Thomas aquinus was called the Christian Aristotle Aristotle you might know was a Greek philosopher who lived several centuries before Jesus was born they both liked to organize their thoughts and further Thomas tried to simpath synthesize the teachings of Aristotle with the Christian faith it
is kind of easy to remember because they both have A's in their name Aristotle and Thomas aquinus and that had to do with where he was from here is something of Thomas's background he lived from 1225 until March 2nd 1274 he was the Italian Dominican frier and an influential philosopher and theologian and a jurist in the tradition of scholasticism from the country of aino in the Kingdom of Sicily Wikipedia continues Thomas was a proponent of natural Theology and the father of a school of thought encompassing both Theology and philosophy known as Tom ISM named after
him he argued AR that God is the source of the light of natural reason and the light of Faith he embraced several ideas put forward by Aristotle and attempted to synthesize Aristotelian philosophy with the principles of Christianity he has been described as the most influential thinker of the medieval period and the greatest of the medieval philosopher theologians according to the English philos philosopher Anthony Kenny Thomas was one of the greatest philosophers of the Western World Thomas's best known works are the unfinished Suma theologica or Suma theologi 1265 to 1274 the disputed questions on truth and
the Suma Contra Gentiles against the non-christians his commentary on Christian scripture and on Aristotle also form an important part of his body of work he is also notable for his Eucharistic hymns which form a part of the church's liturgy colen Brown who for many years was the head of the PHD program at Fuller writes the following by Common consent the greatest Phil philosophical theologian in of the Middle Ages was Thomas aquinus he is also perhaps the most misunderstood especially by Evangelical Protestants the study of philosophy aquinus observed is not done in order to know what
men have thought but rather to know how truth herself stands in this lecture I will focus on Thomas's Suma theologica as far as Thomas's Works translated into English as the summary of theology it is often referred to Simply as the Suma the best known of aquinas's Works he was a Scholastic Theologian as I've said and doctor of the church it is a compendium of all of the main theological teachings of the Catholic Church intended to be an instructional guide for theology students including seminarians and the literate Ley presenting the reasoning for almost all points of
Christian theology in the west topics of the Suma follow the following cycle God creation man man's purpose Christ the sacraments and back to God although unfinished it is one of the classics of the history of philosophy and one of the most influential works of Western literature it remains aquinus is most perfect work the fruit of his mature years in which the thought of his whole life is condensed throughout the Suma aquinus cites Christian Muslim Hebrew and Pagan sources including cluding but not limited to the Christian sacred scripture Aristotle Augustine of Hippo aachen aaro Al gazali
budus John of Damascus Paul the Apostle pseudo dianus mamades andom of Canterbury Plato cisero and John scotus aru Gina almost every one of those people I just named could be worthy of a lecture in itself if you would like to follow up at Wikipedia or any other place feel free to do so Colin Brown writes the following about Thomas and theuma Thomas's way of proceeding does not exactly make for light bedtime reading but it has a rigor and succinctness which few have emulated as its indicates the Suma theologia is a work of theology philosophy certainly
enters into it Aristotle is referred to not by name but simply as the philosopher but in all this Thomas does not see philosophy as an alternative tract of theology which enables him to prove rationally and intellectually items of Faith which ordinary people have to accept simply by faith rather it is a tool for clarifying issues despite its size the Suma theologi was not a definitive system in which theological truth was set in concrete for all generations it was more a series of exercises and thinking allowed in current questions it took into account different views both
ancient and modern and resolved questions by showing how they could be analyzed and answered here are a few quotations from Thomas of aquinus the great greatest kindness one can render to any man consists in leading him from error to truth next the things that we love tell us what we are next for those with faith no evidence is necessary for those without it no evidence will suffice and next the next one Echoes blz Pascal in the future quotation centuries later on how only God can fill the vacuum in our hearts Thomas of aquinus writes nothing
created has ever been able to fill the heart of man God Alone can fill it infinitely and a Augustine also said my heart was Restless until it found its rest in thee again for shattering P Pascal on the danger of overdoing emotions in watching plays and we would say later movies Thomas writes fear is such a powerful emotion for humans that when we allow it to take us over it drives compassion right out of of our hearts next better to illuminate than merely to shine sounding like Francis of aisi Thomas aquinus prays give us O
Lord a steadfast heart which no unworthy affection May drag downwards give us an unconquered heart which no tribulation can wear out give us an upright heart which no unworthy purpose May tempt aside bestow upon us also O Lord Our God understanding to know you diligence to seek you wisdom to find you and a faithfulness that may finally embrace you through Jesus Christ Our Lord during his life Thomas aquinus had mystical experiences this led to a perspective near near the end of his life on December 6 1273 another mystical experience took place according to Wikipedia while
Thomas was celebrating mass or what we would call communion or the Lord's Supper he experienced an unusually long ecstasy because of what he saw he abandoned his routine and he refused to dictate uh another work that he was working on to Reginal of peperno when Reginal begged him to get back to his work Thomas replied Reginal I cannot because all that I have written seems like straw to me as a result the Suma theologica would remain uncompleted what exactly triggered Thomas's change in behavior is believed by some to have been some kind of Supernatural experience
of God after taking to his bed he did recover some strength uh he eventually within a couple years did die Thomas aquinus had quite a legacy many churches and schools have been named for him but most importantly Thomas of aquinus helped us like Aristotle with the way to proceed with critical thought or critical thinking for ourselves he was an academic and a Mystic and with that I turned to orthopraxy or right living Francis of aisi was a Mystic and a leader of people orthopraxy means right living or becoming more like Jesus he lived from 1181
until 1226 at the age of 45 but in his last 24 years he made such a difference that his following of Christ and organization of The Franciscan order and more have continued to affect many people including myself in a positive way through the centuries here are his early years he was born into a wealthy family in the town of aisi which is in the middle of what is today Italy in a mountainous area known as the appenine in 238 a excuse me 1238 ad aissi was converted to a deeper version of Christianity by Bishop rufino
who was mared at costano according to tradition his remains rest in the Cathedral Church of San rofino in Ace he loved he lived what would be considered a normal life until he became a follower of Christ he engaged in Warfare uh and around 1202 he joined a military Expedition against Perugia and was taken as a prisoner at castrada he spent a year as a captive during which time an illness caused him to re-evaluate his life however upon his return to aisi in 123 Francis returned to his Carefree life in 1205 Francis left for aulia to
enlist in the army of Walter III count of Brienne a strange Vision made him return to a Cece and lose interest in worldly living according to accounts very sympathetic to him thereafter he began to avoid the sports and feasts of his former companions a friend asked him whether he was thinking of marrying to which he answered yes a fairer bride than any of you have ever seen meaning his lady poverty in the movie brother son sister Moon Francis goes to the second floor of his father's home and starts throwing out the very expensive clothing that
his father was in the business of and he just cried out throw it all away and the people down below who were poorer took the clothing and what he was wearing he put around a uh what we might call a homeless man and then he went to the local church where the bishop put his robe around him Francis was a poet he wrote uh a poem that was turned into a song in the movie brother son sister moon it's called the canle or song of brother son and sister Moon the full poem and pedia form
can be found at catholic.org here are the opening verses most high all powerful all good Lord all praise is yours all glory all honor and all blessings to you alone most high do they belong and no mortal lips are worthy to pronounce your name praised be you my Lord with all your creatures especially sir brother son who is the day through whom you give us light who is beautiful and radiant with great Splendor of you most high he bears is the likeness praised be you my lord through sister moon and the stars in the heavens
you have made them bright precious and fair praised be you my lord through Brothers wind and air and fair and stormy all weather's moods by which you cherish all that you have made you can see a little bit of what Francis wrote here in the lord of the rings with the use of Light by toking and how the stars are associated with the elves and then there is a hymn that is found in many Protestant hym books and probably in the Catholic missiles which are their song books or hym books it is found in everything
from maratha music which is an outgrowth of Calvary Chapel to the Catholic hym Books here are some of the verses from it and the first B verse Bears similarities to brother son and sister Moon it is called All Creatures of our God and King I will spare you my singing at this time all creatures of our God and King lift up your voice and with us sing Oh Praise Him Allelujah thou burning Sun with golden beam thou Silver Moon with softer gleam Oh Praise Him Oh Praise Him Allelujah Allelujah Allelujah just pe's praising the Lord
trinitarian praising of the Lord let all things their creator bless verse two begins and worship him in humbleness Oh Praise Him hallelujah praise praise the father praise the son praise the spirit three in one Oh Praise Him Oh Praise Him Allelujah all Allelujah Allelujah verse three all the redeemed Washed by his blood come and rejoice in his great love oh praise him all Allelujah Christ has defeated every sin cast all your burdens now on him Oh Praise Him Oh Praise Him Allelujah Allelujah Allelujah he shall return in power to Reign Heaven and Earth will join
to say Oh Praise Him Allelujah then who shall fall on bended knee All Creatures of our God and King Oh Praise Him Oh Praise Him Oh Praise Him Allelujah Allelujah Allelujah so you see how as in many hymns he progresses through cre creation through worship of God and God the Creator and God the Trinity and then the Redemption by his blood and then his return as we have recently looked at in Philippians chapter 2 near the end of 5- 11 did you know that for a while Francis became a missionary to Egypt it apparently was
a short time I've read different accounts of it in September of 1219 St Francis of isisi boldly crossed the line of the fifth crusade to preach the gospel of Christ to the sultan or ruler of Egypt this famous episode came during a stalemate as the Crusaders were besieging the port of damietta in the Nile Delta of Egypt and here's a picture of the sultan as portrayed in a PBS documentary in late 2016 sulan Mal Al camil it is the story from online of the saint leaving aisi to cross Enemy Lines and meet with the suan
in Egypt the two discussed interface Faith conflict War and the search for peace according to PBS but I believe that Francis also directly preach the gospel of to the sultan who put a CCE in prison then would let him out for discussions like was done with John the Baptist the following is from medievalists.net and the sultan Francis of aisi's Mission to Egypt this article combines different possibilities of what happened it is written by John Tolen in the European review volume 16 2008 here is the introduction to the article quote September 129 as the armies of
the fifth crusade besieged the Egyptian city of d ETA Francis of aisi and frier illuminatus crossed over to the Egyptian Camp to preach to the sultan al-malik Al camil after a number of days the two Friars returned to the Crusader Camp having apparently spoken with the sultan though we know very little about what was said this has not prevented writers from the 13th through the 20th centuries unencumbered by mere facts tollen writes from portraying Francis alternatively as a new Apostle preaching to the infidels a Scholastic Theologian proving the truth of Christianity a champion of the
crusading ideal a naive and quick sodic Wanderer a crazed religious fanatic or a medieval Gandhi preaching peace love and understanding as for Al camil he is various presented as an enlightened Pagan Monarch hungry for Evangelical teaching a cruel Oriental desperate or a worldly libertine so basically this there are various things that the different stories agree on Francis was with the fifth crusade he crossed the lines he talked with the sulan and he returned return to the fifth crusade what was said is not known I don't believe that Francis became a new a preg Gandhi I
believe he did preach the gospel of peace to the sultan it is clear as far as we know that the sultan did not at least on the spot become a Christian but he did preach the gospel to a Muslim leader of that I am sure Francis of aissi was also the Builder of church structures there are scenes in the movie where Franc is uh in great poverty and very cold points at a stone and says that would make a good Cornerstone for the church that he was rebuilding the movie includes a song by Donovan that
says inch by inch Stone by Stone heartfelt dreams grow slowly which you may have found in your own life but Francis was a builder of churches but also of men he was a founder of religious orders and also had an encounter with Pope Pius III and again you can see the movie scene the one I found ended before the complete end and I might show that in a later lecture but here's what Wikipedia has to say in 1209 Francis of aisi LED his first 11 followers to Rome to seek permission from Pope Innocent III to
found a new religious order which was ultimately granted upon entry to Rome the brothers encountered Bishop Guido of a who had in his company Giovani D San Pao the Cardinal Bishop of Sabina the Cardinal who was the Confessor of Pope Innocent III was immediately sympathetic to Francis and agreed to represent Francis to the pope reluctantly Pope Innocent agreed to meet with Francis and the brothers the next day after several days the pope agreed to admit the group inform adding that when God increased the group and Grace in number they could return for an official admittance
the group was tonsured which is the practice of cutting or shaving some or all of the hair on the scalp as a sign of religious devotion and humility this was important in part because it recognized Church Authority and protected his followers from possible accusations of heresy as it happened to the waldenian decades earlier though Pope Innocent initially had his doubts following a dream in which he saw Francis holding up the Basilica of St John ladder in the Cathedral of LOM thus the home Church of all Christendom he decided to endorse francis's order this occurred according
to tradition on April 16th of 1210 and constituted the official founding of The Franciscan order the group and then the Lesser or brothers order of Friars minor also known as The Franciscan order that showed their humility preached on the streets and had no possessions they were centered in porun Cola and preached first in Umbria before expanding throughout Italy and ultimately the world after his death Francis founded the men's order of friers minor the women's order of St CLA the third order of St Francis and the custody of the Holy Land once his community was authorized
by Pope Innocent III he withdrew increasingly from external Affairs and focused on his relationship with God here are some interesting things about francis's life and encounter with the Pope the movie conflates or puts two things into one event at the very end as Francis is withdrawing uh and being taken out of the Pope's presence Pope pasus points upward in an and ambivalent way of pointing towards God but he doesn't say anything in the movie also Claire was a friend of francis's in aisi so the women's order of St CLA Francis ofisi was also a prayer
Warrior listen to this Prayer of St Francis as I mentioned it and uh Prayer by Thomas aquinus sounds rather similar and you may well have said this you might have heard this I used this in my churches a time if there were need if there was great conflict in the world like after 9/11 or sadly conflict within a church I served I would have every and say together with me and you may if you wish also Lord make me an instrument of your peace where there is hatred let me so love where there is injury
pardon where there is doubt Faith where there is despair hope where there is Darkness light and where there is sadness Joy oh Divine Master grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to cons soul to be understood as to understand to be loved as to love for it is in giving that we receive it is in pardoning that we are pardoned and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life amen and I will tell you that when I saw brother son sister moon when I was still in seminary
I believe it was my first of three years I was deeply affected in a good way I secured uh the book of all of his writings and the writings that took place afterwards and then my second year when I lived served and taught and led in inner city Boston I asked permission and was granted to create a little prayer area in the loft of o the second flooor there was a letter that came down and people could go up and pray there and a friend of mine who worked on the project with me I forget
her name and she's probably forgotten mine she was a friend I called her Claire and she called me Francis so Heroes I have hope you have a great week of right learning and right living and seek to become more and more like Jesus amen
