>>93383135I've already learned quite a bit. The introduction makes a succinct yet compelling case for the church being the original, continuous church established by Christ and the apostles, and for the legitimacy of liturgical sacramentalism, veneration of icons, an apostolic succession of clergy, theosis, the use of ecumenical councils to resolve theological disputes, and more - mostly by illustrating that this was exactly how the church functioned from its earliest days. I also already knew that Christ gave many of His sermons in Greek, but what I didn't know is that even when Christ recited scripture to the crowds, He did so not in Hebrew from the Masoretic text, but from the Greek Septuagint translation, as apparently it had been universally accepted for three whole centuries before Christ's birth.
The footnotes of Genesis, meanwhile, make loads of interesting points that relate Genesis to modern theology and Christology. For example, it points to Adam, Eve and Seth's respective origins as analogous to those of the persons of the Trinity - Adam was unbegotten (because he had no human father); Seth was begotten of Adam, his father; and Eve, while originating from Adam, was not begotten by him, but *proceeds* from him. I'm starting to understand why the filioque dispute with Rome was such a huge deal... did you know that the Pope tried to excommunicate the Patriarch of Constantinople in 1054? Absolutely fascinating stuff!
