Scholars have long recognized the literary dependence of Cyprian of Carthage’s late treatise De bono patientiae upon Tertullian’s De patientia.
Less commonly noted has been the extent to which Cyprian expands upon
the Christological material of Tertullian’s text, relative to his
extension of other topics. While retaining the general framework of his
predecessor, Cyprian crafts an account of patience as the virtue
underlying both Christ’s redemptive work (as the Father’s sending of the
Son and the Son’s endurance of human existence and death itself) and
the Church’s participation in it (as a community founded on the
endurance of worldly troubles for the sake of fidelity to its Lord). Yet
Cyprian’s treatise culminates in a corresponding expansion of
Tertullian’s brief statements on the Last Judgment; in Cyprian’s work,
the entire discussion of patience leads to consideration of the
long-deferred return of Christ as Judge, in which all the injustices
inflicted by the wicked and suffered by the Church are given their
recompense. This dialectical interplay between Christ as patient
sufferer and Christ as Judge should be seen as one of the most
distinctive features of Cyprian’s Christology, as attested by its
appearance not only in De bono patientiae but also in his epistles. This framing around the two foci
of patience and judgment offers a key instance in which Cyprian’s
Christology is shaped in response to the climactic persecutions,
plagues, and controversies of his episcopal career.
No comments:
Post a Comment