Search Results (5)

The notion that God is present in creation has long featured in Eastern Christian thought, appearing as early as Origen (3rd century) and Evagrius of Pontus (4th century). Two major philosophical principles underlay the theology of divine immanence in creation: creation ex nihilo (the physical world is not eternal, but has a beginning, and it was created by God “out of nothing”) and nothing can exist totally separate from God, from a divine act of creation. The difficulty in ancient and modern times is to articulate this theology without falling into pantheism, a fusion or identification of God and creation. This is typically achieved by the simultaneous affirmation of divine immanence and divine transcendence: God is more, infinitely more, than creation; indeed, the divine essence is beyond human comprehension, the basis of apophatic theology. This essay explores these notions in Orthodox thought, especially in modern times. Modern Orthodox theologians (notably Sergius Bulgakov, Georges Florovsky, Alexander Schmemann, Kallistos Ware, and John Zizioulas) draw on the patristic theologies of the logoi (“reasons”) of things in Maximus the Confessor (7th century) and the divine energies of Gregory Palamas (14th century) to develop a robust theology of creation which affirms human relationship with the rest of creation and human responsibility for the care of creation. These notions coalesce in the philosophical–theological position of panentheism, to which several modern Orthodox theologians adhere, providing a solid grounding for positive affirmations of the world as God’s creation. Full article

The paper’s aim is to provide a synthetic and at the same time critical reading of the official theological dialogue, known as the “dialogue of truth”, between the Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church. The paper will cover the period from the dialogue’s preparation, also known as the “dialogue of charity”, to the present day. It will analyse the ecclesiological aspects of this dialogue, focusing on sacraments, church ministries, primacy, synodality, and other related issues such as “Uniatism”. The essay will provide an overall evaluation of the dialogue, examining its reception and the need for concrete criteria of unity. Also, the paper will highlight the synodal and sacramental roots of episcopacy and their significance for the unity of the Church. The article will present insights from leading theologians, such as Joseph Ratzinger and John Zizioulas, to better understand the meaning and functions of primacy in the universal Church. Full article

This paper makes use of leading New Testament scholar NT Wright’s presentation of the biblical understanding of the kingdom to assess—on the basis of Orthodox Christian theologian John Zizioulas’ own critique—the Orthodox liturgical enactment of the kingdom and age to come. We will explore how Wright and Zizioulas describe the principles of a properly kingdom-oriented worship. Finally, we will examine Wright’s critical realism as a potential model for understanding how enacting the age to come in worship could shape the kingdom narrative of its participants. Thus, while Wright’s immediate goal in his engagement of the theme of the kingdom of God may be to correct a longstanding misreading of the New Testament, his teaching ultimately enables us to propose a way of accomplishing Zizioulas’ hope of renewing the full narrative of the age to come in Orthodox worship. Full article

This article is born out of a deep concern for our current ecological crisis and serves as a beginning foundational work for how the Christian tradition can address global climate change. Our current way of being gives precedence to the autonomous individual, whose freedom is characterized by disregard for other creatures. John Zizioulas’ communal ontology demonstrates that as the world was created out of God’s loving will, it is comprised of relationship. Living into individuation and division is a refusal of this communion with other creatures and God, but the Eucharist serves as the ritual that brings Christians into communion through the remembrance of Christ. Ian McFarland’s work on the theology of creation provides the helpful nuance that creaturely movement in communion must include the full diversity of creatures. I then turn to Bruce Morrill’s work to demonstrate that the Eucharistic practice must have bearing beyond the walls of the church. It leads practitioners to live into eschatological hope and kenotic service to the world. John Seligman’s ritual theory demonstrates that ritual practice can accomplish these goals because it creates a subjunctive ‘as-if’ world in the face of the world that is perceived as chaotic. Through the continuous practice of the ritual, participants are then formed to live into this subjunctive ‘as-if’ world without ritual precedence. In this way, the Eucharistic practice can prepare practitioners to live into the kenotic service to a world broken by individuation that has led to global climate change and creaturely destruction. Full article

This article proposes a re-examination of the institution of marriage in light of the eschatology of the Eastern Church and the theological discourse on the topic developed by three thinkers of the Reformed tradition, namely Kierkegaard, Barth, and Bonhoeffer. In doing so, I take into consideration the relationship of marriage with: (1) sacramental theology; (2) philosophical anthropology; (3) politics; and (4) the question of human sexuality. Such a re-examination of marriage has been made highly urgent and relevant today in the wake of the recent debate on same-sex marriage. This fourfold examination illustrates marriage’s ambivalent position within the Christian tradition insofar as, if taken as normative, marriage diminishes the subversive claim of Christian eschatology. Furthermore, Christian theology refuses marriage an absolute merit, by demanding that it is always qualified in relation to the Church’s eschatological vision. Full article