Author: Rev. Ioan Mircea (Theological Institute of Bucharest)
Keywords: Bible, Jesus Christ, Dogmatics, Christology, Soteriology, redemption, eschatology
Abstract:
The way in which the redemptive work of the Son of God was performed and has taken shape in the life of His Apostles and Holy Fathers generally has its roots in the Holy Gospels. The Holy Apostles did not limit themselves to make a simple history of the life of Jesus Christ, but were the ones that, together with their Savior formed the basis of the Holy Tradition, who rejoiced in the salvific work of Christ and put into writing both His life and works, and their experience. Thus, New Testament writings formed the basis of Church teachings. Function of different goals, Church theologians expressed these teaching in different manners. The study of Father Ioan Mircea, a respected Romanian biblical scholar from the 80’s, is a strong contribution to the Romanian biblical theology. He focuses on the New Testament Christology and soteriology using extensively hundreds of biblical citations arranged in a systematic and/or thematic manner (e.g. Gods names, His Birth from the Holy Theotokos, Baptism, His Eucharistic presence, His Second Coming and others). He does not follow the scholarly protestant trends – that is using the Bible cut off from the Holy Tradition, as if the Bible itself is not part of the Tradition – and passes to the Holy Fathers’ interpretations or commentaries. Holy Apostles are not a category distinct from the Holy Fathers, the only difference between them is that they were eye-witnesses of God’s work, but “blessed are those who did not see but have believed”, says the Lord. Father Mircea’s study can be considered a small introduction into Biblical Theology, as it covers all the aspects of Gods redemptive work. What strikes most in the text is the intense use of the biblical citations and the way in which they are thematically-arranged. He dismissed the modern protestant manner of interpretation (the Bible considered in itself, separated for the Holy Tradition and experience of Saints) and took as his help the Fathers’ commentaries.
(Republished from Ortodoxia XXXV (1983), issue 1, pp. 10-34)
Pages: 80-107