Analogical Identities The Creation Of The Christian Self

"A book about the possibility of retrieving a concept of selfhood from Patristic theology, beyond the dichotomies of mind and body, or person and nature. Is it possible for nihilism and an ontology of personhood as will to power to be incubated in the womb of Christian Mysticism? Is it possible that the modern ontology of power, which constitutes the core of the Greek-Western metaphysics, has a theological grounding? Has Nietszche reversed Plato or, more likely, Augustine and Origen, re-fashioning in a secular framework the very essence of their ontology? Do we have any alternative Patristic anthropological sources of the Greek-Western Self, beyond what has been traditionally called "Spirituality" or "Mysticism"? Patristic theology seems to ultimately provide us with a different understanding of selfhood, beyond any Ancient or modern, Platonic or not, Transcendentalism. This book strives to decipher, retrieve, and re-embody the underlying mature Patristic concept of selfhood, beyond the dichotomies of mind and body, essence and existence, transcendence and immanence, inner and outer, conscious and unconscious, person and nature, freedom and necessity: the Analogical Identityof this Self needs to be explored."

The Prologue of the Gospel of John identifies Jesus Christ as the eternal Word or Logos of the Father, who became flesh for the salvation of the world. Yet the world that Christ saves is his world from the beginning, for he is also the Logos of creation, the one “through whom all things were made” (John 1:3). This divinely revealed claim has profound implications not only for theology but also for metaphysics, whose relation to Christian doctrine was undermined over the course of the twentieth century, such that the Christian faith has become an increasingly private affair rather than a credible account of reality and an invitation to participate more fully in it. With Christ, the Logos of Creation, John Betz seeks to recover a Christ-centered, analogical metaphysics and to establish the indispensability of such metaphysics for Christian theology and the Christian vision of reality. In Part I, he dispels the fog of confusion about analogical metaphysics and addresses the ecumenical issues posed by Karl Barth’s famous rejection of the analogia entis. Part II demonstrates how analogical metaphysics helps to explain Christian doctrine and sheds new light on the interrelationship between individual doctrines, including Trinitarian theology, Christology and soteriology, and theological anthropology. In Part III, Betz explores how this analogical perspective can aid in resolving a number of theological disputes, including the metaphysical relationship between nature and grace and the issue of divine humility. Finally, Part IV outlines further directions toward a fully Christological metaphysics that is proportionate both to the challenges of modern theology and the reality of our life in Christ the Logos.

I think that fr Sophrony’s theology has greatly contributed, in our times, to edify a Christian anthropology, which while respecting the Patristic tradition, at the same time expresses itself in a uniquely personal contemporary way. And even more than that: St Sophrony became himself a living flame of God’s Grace, by realising in himself this analogical consubstantiality described above. (From the Editorial) Contents: 1. The Dialogue of Elder Sophrony with his generation within his biography of Saint Silouan, ARCHIMANDRITE ZACHARIAS, 2. Theology as a Spiritual State in the life and the writings of St Sophrony the Athonite, ARCHIMANDRITE PETER, 3. Godforsakenness according to St Sophrony the Athonite, ARCHIMANDRITE EPHRAIM, 4. St Sophrony’s ‘Testament’: The Trinity as a model for monastic community, HIEROMONK NIKOLAI SAKHAROV, 5. The experience of temporality according to St Sophrony, GEORGIOS I. MANTZARIDIS, 6. Ecstasy as Descent: The Palamite and Maximian bedrock of the theology of St Sophrony, NIKOLAOS LOUDOVIKOS, 7. St Sophrony’s image of Christ in a liturgical perspective, NUN GABRIELA

The book explores ancient interpretations and usages of the famous Delphic maxim “know yourself”. The primary emphasis is on Jewish, Christian and Greco-Roman sources from the first four centuries CE. The individual contributions examine both direct quotations of the maxim as well as more distant echoes. Most of the sources included in the book have never previously been studied in any detail with a view to their use and interpretation of the Delphic maxim. Thus, the book contributes significantly to the origin and different interpretations of the maxim in antiquity as well as to its reception history in ancient philosophical and theological discourses. The chapters of the book are linked to each other by numerous cross-references which makes it possible to compare the different views of the maxim with each other. It also helps readers to notice relationships and trajectories within the material. The explorations of the relevant sources are also set in the context of ongoing debates about the shape and nature of ancient conceptions of self and self-knowledge. The book thus demonstrates the wide variety of philosophical and theological approaches in that the injunction to know oneself could be viewed and how these interpretations provide windows into ancient discourses about self and self-knowledge.

“…post-modern thought allowed the emergence of the question of Metaphysics again. This also makes possible a rethinking of the science-theology relation in a new light. The aim of this volume is precisely to shed a glimpse of this new light upon this ongoing conversation, by now involving Orthodox Theology in it. The possible contribution of Orthodox Theology to this discussion, in the context of the Christian Greek-Western world, can be path-breaking…” (From the Note of the Senior Editor) Contents: 1. Patristic Views On The Nature And Status Of Scientific Knowledge, JEAN-CLAUDE LARCHET, 2. The Dialogue between Orthodox Theology and Science as Explication of the Human Condition, ALEXEI NESTERUK, 3. Actor-Network Theory and Byzantine Philosophy, GEORGI KAPRIEV, 4. The Cosmos in the Bible and science, GEORGIOS GOUNARIS, 5. Quantum Physics and Christian Faith, JOHN BRECK, 6. Exploring Analogy of Debates to Approach the Encounter between Orthodox Theology and Quantum Physics, STOYAN TANEV, 7. Logic of Mystery: Reading Wittgenstein in parallel to Orthodox theology and quantum theory, TIM LABRON, 8. Psychoanalysis And Eschatology, NIKOLAOS LOUDOVIKOS, 9. Theology and the Discovery of the Unconscious: Preliminary Remarks, NIKOLAOS LOUDOVIKOS, 10. Ways of Comprehending, ATHANASIOS FOKAS, 11. Evolution, Genetics, and Nature: Implications for Orthodox, GAYLE E. WOLOSCHACK

Building on Charles Taylor's Sources of the Self, this book explores lived Christian identity through the ages. Beginning with such Old Testament figures as Abraham, Moses, and Daniel and moving through the New Testament, the early church, the Middle Ages, and onward, 40 short biographical chapters illustrate how Christian identity has been formed by history, society, and God. Among the many historical subjects are Justin Martyr, Augustine, Julian of Norwich, Dante, John Calvin, Teresa of Avila and C. S. Lewis - all of whom boldly lived their Christian identities in the world. Sources of the Christian Self shows how Christian identity has evolved over time and, in so doing, offers deep insight into our own Christian selves today. -- ‡c From publisher's description.

In many ways, we seem to be living in wintry times at present in the Western world. In this new book, Rowan Williams, former Archbishop of Canterbury and a noted scholar of Eastern Christianity, introduces us to some aspects and personalities of the Orthodox Christian world, from the desert contemplatives of the fourth century to philosophers, novelists and activists of the modern era, that suggest where we might look for fresh light and warmth. He shows how this rich and diverse world opens up new ways of thinking about spirit and body, prayer and action, worship and social transformation, which go beyond the polarisations we take for granted. Taking in the world of the great spiritual anthology, the Philokalia, and the explorations of Russian thinkers of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, discussing the witness of figures like Maria Skobtsova, murdered in a German concentration camp for her defence of Jewish refugees, and the challenging theologies of modern Greek thinkers like John Zizioulas and Christos Yannaras, Rowan Williams opens the door to a 'climate and landscape of our humanity that can indeed be warmed and transfigured'. This is an original and illuminating vision of a Christian world still none too familiar to Western believers and even to students of theology, showing how the deep-rooted themes of Eastern Christian thought can prompt new perspectives on our contemporary crises of imagination and hope.