http://trinities.org/blog/archives/681 theories about the father, son, and holy spirit Mon, 30 Jan 2012 22:44:18 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 http://trinities.org/blog/archives/681/comment-page-1#comment-90452 Kenny Pearce Mon, 23 Feb 2009 02:35:56 +0000 http://trinities.org/blog/?p=681#comment-90452 With regard to Exhibit A: it seems to me (based on the little that you said) that the author could establish that Matthew believes in the pre-existence of Christ with a conclusion that still falls short of claiming literal, numerical identity. When people say that they identify Obama with Lincoln, they mean that Obama and Lincoln share certain important characteristics. We can ask a question like 'how <i>strongly</i> do these people identify Obama with Lincoln?' i.e. which and how many characteristics do they share. If Matthew takes Wisdom to be a fictional character (or personification) with whom Jesus shares a variety of characteristics, then we will ask this question. If the correct characteristics are shared (or if the author wants to claim that Matthew believes Jesus to have <i>all</i> of the characteristics attributed to Wisdom in Proverbs 8), then the thesis will be established. With regard to Exhibit A: it seems to me (based on the little that you said) that the author could establish that Matthew believes in the pre-existence of Christ with a conclusion that still falls short of claiming literal, numerical identity. When people say that they identify Obama with Lincoln, they mean that Obama and Lincoln share certain important characteristics. We can ask a question like ‘how strongly do these people identify Obama with Lincoln?’ i.e. which and how many characteristics do they share. If Matthew takes Wisdom to be a fictional character (or personification) with whom Jesus shares a variety of characteristics, then we will ask this question. If the correct characteristics are shared (or if the author wants to claim that Matthew believes Jesus to have all of the characteristics attributed to Wisdom in Proverbs 8), then the thesis will be established.

]]> http://trinities.org/blog/archives/681/comment-page-1#comment-90450 James Sat, 21 Feb 2009 00:50:20 +0000 http://trinities.org/blog/?p=681#comment-90450 No quip about "suffering an identity crisis"? I'm disappointed! No quip about “suffering an identity crisis”? I’m disappointed!

]]>