Understanding Patristic Exegesis: A Systematic Process - Essay Sample

Introduction

Exegesis is a systematic process through which a person finds a coherent sense and reasonable meaning and content of the biblical context. A standard exegete has often learned the nature of questions to ask so as to come to sense and find reasonable answers for them. However, the patristic period commenced sometime at the end of the first century that is, towards the completion of the new testament and then came to an end in the eighth century. The patristic or rather early church fathers established an interpretive delineation system as a means to make sense of the scriptures and this formed the four scriptural exegesis levels. Many theological scholars have been concerned with the interpretation of the meanings of different passages in the bible but English speakers have been using the word exegesis to refer to an interpretation or explanation of the biblical scriptures beginning early seventeenth century. Some of the patristic fathers include Ignatius of Antioch, Polycarp of Smyrna, Pope Clement I, Justin Martyr, Clement of Alexandria, Irenaeus of Lyons, Origen, John of Damascus, Isaac of Nineveh, Maximus the Confessor, Cyril of Alexandria, Vincent of Lerins, Augustine of Hippo, Jerome, Gregory of Nyssa, Basil of Caesarea, Athanasius, Cyprian of Carthage, Irenaeus of Lyons and Tertullian but for this research, the discussion will be based on Cyprian of Carthage and Tertullian. For one to be a church father, be must be able to explain the scriptures and defend the church as was the orthodoxy in doctrine, notoriety, holiness, and antiquity. For the readers or to understand the spiritual exegesis, they should read the biblical passages aloud paying attention to each word in the context, take notes, read other literature on the passage and then form the basis for the essay. This research on spiritual exegesis will give a summary of each father's reading that is Cyprian of Carthage and Tertullian, compare and contrast the two readings and then critically evaluate the fathers' readings of the scripture.

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Summary of Father Cyprian's Lord's Prayer

This treatise was composed at the begging of the year 252, it is somehow familiar with Tertullian's piece on prayer that was authored for catechumens was majorly concerned with the explanation of Lord's prayer but also added interpretation of the ceremonies for baptism. However, father Cyprian's work is wider and is basically concerned with the prayer itself and solely intended for the edification of individuals. The argument of Saint Cyprian on the lord's prayer consists of three parts and in each part, he copies Tertullian in his commentary 'on the prayer.' In the beginning, he suggests that the Lord's prayer is the most significant of all the prayers, deeply spiritual, and most effective for getting our petitions done. In the second section, saint Cyprian undertakes the lord's prayer explanation but still follows the footsteps of Tertullian. Saint Cyprian explains the seven major clauses of his book and finally considers the prayer conditions and explains to us how prayer ought to be done. In the beginning, Saint Cyprian puts emphasis on the completeness and conciseness of the prayer and how it stands for participation in the intimate connection of unity between God the father and the son. He poses a question so as to reflect and come and generate sensible responses concerning the Lord's prayer. Saint Cyprians asks, "Why should we be amazed brothers in Christ, that this the kind of prayer taught by God considering the fact that he shortened all our prayer into a common saving sentence of his teachings?

The lord's prayer foretold by prophet Isaiah under the influence of the holy spirit, he talked of the loving nature of God and His majesty "completing and shortening his word in righteousness, because God will make a shortened word in the whole earth..." When the word of God our Lord Jesus Christ was known to everyone putting together both the learned and the unlearned and offered salvation to every sex and age, he made a resounding principle that the memories of his Children should not be overloaded by the demands of heaven but that may quickly understand that which was more significant for a simple faith. Therefore, when the Lord taught about eternal life, he made the life sacrament in a one embracing and divine summary "...This is eternal life, to know you, the one true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent." And also said in the law and through prophets, "Hear, O Israel: the Lord your God is one God, and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your mind, and with all your strength. This is the first commandment, and the second is like it..." God did not only teach prayer through His words but also through His actions for himself prayed often and meaningfully suggesting to us an exemplary life that we should follow as written "But he himself went off to a solitary place and prayed..." the Lord prayed and asked not only for himself but also or our flaws just as he made it open to Peter "...See, Satan wants to sift you as if you were wheat: but I have prayed for you so that your faith should not fail. The lord later pleaded with the Father to also forgive those who will trust in him with their words. In the lord's prayer, saint Cyprian also suggests that god's desire and mercy for human salvation is so great that he is not limited to redeem our sins through his righteous blood and prays for us forever. From this prayer we can now identify what it was Jesus was praying for just as the son and the father are united so human being s should be beneficiaries of the same unity. This lord's prayer comprises divine teachings that lay a foundation on which hope is established and faith strengthened to obtain salvation.

Summary of Father Tertullian's "On Prayer"

Tertullian thrived as leader of the African church making use of his talents to instruct the faithful and unbaptized seekers as an apologist of Christian practices and beliefs. Jerome viewed Tertullian as an ordained priest whose major concern was the explanation of the lord's prayer and also added the interpretation of baptism ceremonies, unlike saint Cyprian's woks which were lengthy and only focused on the prayer. Just like other commentators, Tertullian also believed that lord's prayer is a summary and he gives a concise sample as below "The honor of God in the 'Father,' the testimony of faith in the 'name,' the offering of obedience in 'will,' the commemoration of hope in the 'kingdom,' the petition for life in the 'bread,' the full acknowledgment of debts in the prayer for their 'forgiveness,' the anxious dread of temptation in the request for 'protection.'" (Tertullian chapter 9).From the above summary of the lord's prayer, it is evident that it comprises of several aspects of Christianity if just pause a little to reflect on it, it is indeed a realm of our faith. Tertullian's "On Prayer" consists of twenty-nine chapters with chapter one being an introduction. Chapter two carries the first clause of the lord's prayer preceded by the rest of the clauses in their consecutive chapters. Tertullian says that in the word of god and the spirit of god and the reason of God, the spirit of the word, the reason of word, Jesus Christ has identified for us the followers of the new testament and a new version of prayer. It was on this basis, a new wine was to be put on new skins and to a new garment, a new breadth was to be sewn. The new grace of God has transformed everything from carnal to spiritual by reviving the gospel. Jesus Christ has been endorsed as the spirit of God, the reason of God and the word of God through the spirit by which he was supreme and by the word he taught and the reason for which he came. Therefore the prayer of Christ is divided into three sections, in speech, spirit and that which john taught his disciples. A man should believe and have confidence that the hearing and sight of the almighty God is present and extends even in hidden places but calls for modesty in faith to grant its religious homage and make brevity of prayer a third grade off wisdom as compressed in words and diffused in meaning. We should embrace the special prayer duties be its petition for the man or God's veneration and all ways of the Lord, each record of his discipline so that it can stand out as an epitome of the true gospel.

Comparison Between Father Cyprian's Lord's Prayer and Father Tertullian's "On Prayer"

At the time, Tertullian wrote his treatise in Africa in a rich and highly occupied pagan family. He ventured a distinguished carrier that is law rhetorician and instead his discontentment with this way of life resulted into his conversion way back 246 AD and having been recruited into the diaconate and presbyterate he took from Donatus as the Carthage bishop in 249 and later suffered martyrdom for nine years while Saint Cyprian major work was De Ecclesiae Unitate that was immediately composed after the Decian persecution between 250-251 bearing in mind the schism of Novation and that of Felicissimus Carthage. Saint Cyprian's prayer doctrines are mostly found and well articulated in his treatise De Dominica Oratione which both external and internal shreds of evidence revealed to have been written briefly after or before the De Unitate. We can make references to prayer in other contexts mentioned elsewhere by Saint Cyprian.

In his former latter to Donatus, He had instructed him to be consistent both in prayer and reading that "...now speak to God, now let God speak to you." And in Epistle 7, saint Cyprian advises the clergy to be quick in their prayers and to add their prayers with tears and fastings. Epistle 56 as well agitates for consistent prayers and Cyprian says to readers of epistle 15 that he is usually praying for them. The rule of the prayer discussed by Lex orandi in De Unitate is connected to the urge for the forgiveness of brothers so as to be in harmony with them before thinking of prayer. This rule appears repeatedly in De Dominica Oratione but Espitle 11 puts more weight on the intimate relationship between the unanimity (Concordia) and the church unity.

Saint cyprian's De Dominica Oratione emerged the most recognized standard treatise on the prayer of the lord in Latin west. In fact, Hilary of Poitiers in the middle of the fourth century wrote a hundred years after Cyprian considered it irrelevant to comment on the Lord's prayer in amid his exposition on Matthew, he suggested for his readers to refer to cyprian's work. Augustine was as well tied to this work mentioning it freely in his anti-Pelagian work referring to saint Cyprian as "superlatively victorious" since he in his anticipation dispersed heresies as unborn in Christ. Cyprian focuses more on actions more than letters and almost everything he writes has a connection with some practical issues in his life and age. Saint Cyprian is mostly interested in the destination of souls than in mere theological speculation, a truth that is clear from the valid issues discussed in his letters an treatise particularly De Unitate and De Lapsis and justified in his treatise on the prayer of the lord .he is a bishop in control of his flock whom he must inspire and give directions even though his personality is totally different from that of Tertullian being more gentle and prudent. Saint Cyprian never the fewer banks on Tertullian for his theologies.

According to Jerome, saint Cyprian was obsessed with Tertullian's work and never could a day pass without him reading the works of Tertullian and he often told his secretary 'Da magisterium' loosely translated as this Tertullian. He adopted several ideas from Tertullian as well as his general considerations of the doctrines of prayer. For instance, this evident in their corresponding definitions of the lord'...