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Document Details : Title: Apostolic Continuity , Apostolic Succession and Ministry from a Reformation Perspective Author(s): MEYER, Harding Journal: Louvain Studies Volume: 21 Issue: 2 Date: summer 1996 Pages: 169-182 DOI: 10.2143/LS.21.2.583431 Abstract : God's saving act in Christ was performed once, at a certain point in history, and yet it was performed for all time. Both its historicity – the 'once' – and its finality – the 'for all time' – become fused in the eschatological 'once and for all,' the 'eph' hapax' of the event (Heb 7:27). This eschatological 'once and for all,' however, does not leave behind time and history. It is not elevated to an a-historical and metaphysical level or realm. Its continuity is not the continuity of a nunc aeternum. It rather remains embedded in our human time and history. In this way God's saving act in Christ becomes the object of a process of transmission by which the 'once' is continually converted into 'for all times' and the 'there and then' into 'here and now.' |
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