The Unbound God by De Wet Chris L

Author:De Wet, Chris L.
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Publisher: Taylor & Francis (CAM)

In this spiritual hierarchy the Holy Spirit is subject to the Son, who is subject to the Father. The angels afford a position below the Spirit in Eunomius’ spiritual order, and in this regard we see Eunomius’ spiritual taxonomies and hierarchies most clearly. “Again, when God is called ‘Spirit’ this does not imply that he is of the same nature as other beings called ‘spirit’ …. Rather, in each case we preserve the proportionate relationship [analogon],” writes Eunomius. “The Son is the ‘offspring’ and ‘thing made’ of the Unbegotten and Unmade, while heaven and angels and every other ‘thing made’ whatsoever are things made by this ‘thing made,’” Eunomius continues, “‘made through him’ at the command of the Father.”43 The heavens and the angels occupy a different rank in the spiritual hierarchy, and are not by any means equal to the Son or the Spirit, since they are made through the One who is Himself made by the Unmade One. As Eunomius admits, the success of the argument depends on upholding this complex and precise analogy. Like Hermas, there is a place for every spiritual being, and every spiritual being must be in its place.

In most cases, then, Eunomius prefers to use positive servant titles rather than slave titles to describe the Son and the Spirit and their relationship to the unbegotten Father; he also seems to rely on differing ranks of free servants in order to justify the subordination of the Spirit to Christ and the subordination of the angels and other heavenly bodies to the Son. His doulological classifications are complex and highly nuanced, and, if one considers the centrality of precision (akribeia) in Eunomius’ thought, this specific choice of language is probably not coincidental. Eunomius considered himself one of the experts, or periti, of religious discourse, with the implication that his selections of titles and hierarchical formulations are not haphazardly constructed.44 Eunomius seems to avoid explicit terms related to slavery. His use of other terms is strategic.

According to Vaggione, it is only in Eunomius’ response to Basil and his other critics, in his second apology, the “Apologia apologiae,” at least from what can be reconstructed of the document, that Eunomius uses language directly related to slavery, such as douleia, douleuō, and doulos.45 But these were mostly used in reference to Phil. 2:7, which states that Christ emptied himself and took the form of a slave—a verse that Basil quotes several times in Against Eunomius. However, Eunomius’ Apology is not totally bereft of explicit slavery language. In chapter 20 he states:

[I]t seems to us that those who presume to compare the essence which is unmastered [adespoton], superior to all cause, and unbound by any law to that which is begotten and serves [douleuousē] the law of the Father, have neither really examined the nature of the universe, nor made judgements about these things with clear minds.46

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