December 18, 2004
The Medieval Religious Right
There is a great, great article on 12th century political and religious battles over at salon right now. The parallels are uncanny.Especially interesting are the explanations about reason being applied to religion, and how this was what led to the coining of the word "theology" (God logic).
It's a small point and I hesitate to bring it up for fear of sounding pedantic, but "Theology" is not broken down as "God Logic". The word theology comes the greek word "theologi", which is itself comes from two words, "theos" and "logos". Theos does of course translate as "god", but Logos translates as "word thought". It's pretty obvious that the word logic also comes from the word "logos", but the two words are not synonymous. (For instance "logic doesn't translate back directly into Greek). Theology thus encompases more than simply applying logic to the knowledge of God. It entails the entire system of acquiring knowlege of God. It's also interesting to note if we're discussing the word logos in the root of theology that Jesus Christ was refered to as "the word" or "logos" in John 1:1. Sorry, I can't find a greek translation and I have to walk out the door for a Christmas thing. I must say that it's an interesting article though. Thanks.
Posted by: issachar at December 24, 2004 11:32 AM