Faith, Reason, and Theosis / edited by Aristotle Papanikolaou and George E. Demacopoulos.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Papanikolaou, Aristotle, editor.

Demacopoulos, George E., editor.

Series:

Orthodox Christianity and contemporary thought.

Orthodox Christianity and Contemporary Thought Series

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Orthodox Eastern Church--Doctrines.

Orthodox Eastern Church.

Deification (Christianity).

Physical Description:

1 online resource (319 pages)

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Fordham University Press 2023

New York : Fordham University Press, [2023]

Summary:

Theosis shapes contemporary Orthodox theology in two ways, positively and negatively. In the positive sense, contemporary Orthodox theologians made theosis the thread that bound together the various aspects of theology in a coherent whole, but also their interpretation of patristic texts, which experienced a renaissance in the twentieth century, even in Orthodox theology. In the negative sense, contemporary theologians used theosis as a triumphalistic club to beat down Catholic and Protestant Christians, claiming that they rejected theosis in favor of either a rationalistic or fideistic approach to Christian life. The essays collected in this volume move beyond this East-West divide by examining the relation between faith, reason, and theosis from Orthodox, Catholic, and Protestant perspectives. A variety of themes are addressed, such as the nature-grace debate and the relation of philosophy to theology, through engagement with such diverse thinkers as Thomas Aquinas, John Wesley, Meister Eckhart, Dionysius the Areopagite, Symeon the New Theologian, Panayiotis Nellas, Vladimir Lossky, Martin Luther, Martin Heidegger, Sergius Bulgakov, John of the Cross, Delores Williams, Evagrius of Pontus, and Hans Urs von Balthasar. The essays of this book are situated within a current thinking on theosis that consists of a common, albeit minimalist, affirmation amidst the flow of differences. The authors in this volume contribute to the historical theological task of complicating the contemporary Orthodox narrative, but they also continue the “theological achievement” of thinking about theosis so that all Christian traditions may be challenged to stretch and shift their understanding of theosis even amidst an ecumenical celebration of the gift of participation in the life of God.

Contents:

Cover

Series

Title Page

Copyright

Contents

Introduction: Faith, Reason, and Theosis / Aristotle Papanikolaou and George E. Demacopoulos

Part I: Theotic Existence

Waking the Gods: Theosis as Reason's Natural End / David Bentley Hart

Does Aquinas Have the Orthodox Concept of Theosis? / Jean Porter

Deification as Christification and Human Becoming / Philip Kariatlis

Theosis as Kenosis: The Paradox of Holy Intimacy in the Theology of Hans Urs von Balthasar / Carolyn Chau

Martin Luther on Faith and Union with God: Speculations on Theosis / Kirsi Stjerna

Differentiation as Disfigurement: A Womanist Polemic against the Co-optation of the Divine Essence / Michele E. Watkins

Part II: Theotic Knowing

Revelation, Reason, and Holiness: A Wesleyan Perspective / William J. Abraham

The Ambiguous Meanings of Theosis in Modern and Postmodern Discourse / Andrew Prevot

Speculation and Theosis in Vladimir Lossky and Meister Eckhart / Robert Glenn Davis

Knowing Through Unknowing: The Qualified Necessity of Human Reason in Dionysius / Peter Bouteneff

Knowing in Theosis: A Byzantine Mystical Theological Approach / Ashley Purpura

Deification in Evagrius Ponticus and the Transmission of the Kephalaia Gnostika in Syriac and Arabic / Stephen J. Davis

The Embodied Logos: Reason, Knowledge, and Relation / Rowan Williams

Acknowledgments

List of Contributors

Index.

Notes:

Includes index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

1-5315-0414-0

1-5315-0303-9

1-5315-0304-7

OCLC:

1395948913