Christification

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 and also interpreted 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 in 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.

The enneagram has become popular among evangelical Christians as a spiritualized personality typology that claims to help people better understand themselves and others. Several influential evangelical Christian leadership ministries have promoted the enneagram as a tool in forming and maintaining effective ministry teams, and the personality typology is now taught and embraced at several Christian universities. But uncertainty exists about the appropriateness of referring to the Enneagram as a Christian tool. Are pastors and Christian institutional leaders aware of the theology associated with the Enneagram? Enneagram Theology: Is It Christian? provides a biblical critique of the Enneagram’s underlying theology and exposes not only its foundational theological contradictions with orthodox evangelical theology but also some potential dangers to the church.

In the Lord’s recovery during the past five hundred years the church’s knowledge of the Lord and His truth has been continually progressing. This monumental and classical work by Brother Witness Lee builds upon and is a further development of all that the Lord has revealed to His church in the past centuries. It is filled with the revelation concerning the processed Triune God, the living Christ, the life-giving Spirit, the experience of life, and the definition and practice of the church. In this set Brother Lee has kept three basic principles that should rule and govern every believer in their interpretation, development, and expounding of the truths contained in the Scriptures. The first principle is that of the Triune God dispensing Himself into His chosen and redeemed people; the second principle is that we should interpret, develop, and expound the truths contained in the Bible with Christ for the church; and the third governing principle is Christ, the Spirit, life, and the church. No other study or exposition of the New Testament conveys the life nourishment or ushers the reader into the divine revelation of God’s holy Word according to His New Testament economy as this one does.

The Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1983, volume 2, contains messages given by Brother Witness Lee from April 28 through December 16. At the beginning of the fourth week in April, Brother Lee traveled from Anaheim, California, to Irving, Texas, and he remained there until the middle of May. During this period he visited Houston, Texas, for a weekend conference. From Irving he traveled to Europe and ministered in Stuttgart, Germany, until the end of May. At the end of his time in Germany, Brother Lee also visited Tubingen. At the beginning of June he returned to the United States, visiting New York City during the first week in June and then traveling to Irving and remaining there for two weeks before proceeding to Anaheim. Brother Lee remained in Anaheim until the middle of July, and then he visited Berkeley and San Jose, California, before returning to Anaheim at the end of July. From the beginning of August until the end of the third week in November Brother Lee ministered in Anaheim. He then traveled to Irving and remained in Irving until he returned to Anaheim at the beginning of 1984. The contents of this volume are divided into four sections, as follows: 1. Seven messages given in Irving, Texas, on April 28 through June 8. They were previously published in a book entitled Concerning the Lord's Recovery and are included in this volume under the same title. 2. Five messages given in Chinese in Houston, Texas, on May 5 through 8. They were previously published in a book entitled Christ in His Excellency and are included in this volume under the same title. 3. Six messages given in Stuttgart, Germany, on May 17 through 30. These messages are included in this volume under the title Endeavoring to Learn and Propagate the Divine Truth for the Advance of the Lord's Recovery. 4. Twenty-eight messages given in Stuttgart, Germany; New York City; Irving, Texas; and Berkeley, California, on May 20 through December 16. These messages were previously published in a forty-three-chapter book entitled The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity and are included in this volume under the same title.

This issue of The Ministry contains the first nine messages given during the 2006 spring term of the full-time training in Anaheim, California. The general subject of this series of messages is "Knowing and Experiencing the Intrinsic Constitution of the Building of God." The building of God is the corporate expression of the processed and consummated Triune God in and through His chosen, redeemed, regenerated, renewed, sanctified, transformed, and glorified people. It is the corporate expression of the Triune God produced by the mingling of God and man and by the building of God into man and man into God. God's goal is to build up the Body of Christ to consummate the New Jerusalem, which is the consummate building of God. This glorious, consummate building has a number of outstanding characteristics. However, the highest characteristic of the building of God is that it is a personal building, that is, a person, the corporate God-man. When our Lord Jesus Christ came through incarnation to be a man, the God-man, He Himself was a building (John 1:14; 2:19, 21). The Lord Jesus Himself, as the mingling of God and man, was God's building in miniature. As an individual man, He was both the tabernacle and the temple. However, God's goal is to enlarge this individual building by multiplying Christ through death and resurrection and then working this Christ into our whole being until we are the same as He is in every way except in the Godhead. The result will be a corporate building, which is a corporate person--the bride of Christ and the wife of the Lamb. God's goal in the whole universe is to gain such a spiritual, organic, and personal building. Last of all, we include a report concerning a recent international blending conference in Accra, Ghana, West Africa.

The doctrine of theosis has enjoyed a recent resurgence among varied theological traditions across the realms of historical, dogmatic, and exegetical theology. In Christification: A Lutheran Approach to Theosis, Jordan Cooper evaluates this teaching from a Lutheran perspective. He examines the teachings of the church fathers, the New Testament, and the Lutheran Confessional tradition in conversation with recent scholarship on theosis. Cooper proposes that the participationist soteriology of the early fathers expressed in terms of theosis is compatible with Luther's doctrine of forensic justification. The historic Lutheran tradition, Scripture, and the patristic sources do not limit soteriological discussions to legal terminology, but instead offer a multifaceted doctrine of salvation that encapsulates both participatory and forensic motifs. This is compared and contrasted with the development of the doctrine of deification in the Eastern tradition arising from the thought of Pseudo-Dionysius. Cooper argues that the doctrine of the earliest fathers--such as Irenaeus, Athanasius, and Justin--is primarily a Christological and economic reality defined as "Christification." This model of theosis is placed in contradistinction to later Neoplatonic forms of deification.

Modern Orthodox theology represents a continuity of the Eastern Christian theological tradition stretching back to the early Church and especially to the Ancient Fathers of the Church. This volume considers the full range of modern Orthodox theology. The first chapters of the book offer a chronological study of the development of modern Orthodox theology, beginning with a survey of Orthodox theology from the fall of Constantinople in 1453 until the early 19th century. Ladouceur then focuses on theology in imperial Russia, the Russian religious renaissance at the beginning of the 20th century, and the origins and nature of neopatristic theology, as well as the new theology in Greece and Romania, and tradition and the restoration of patristic thought. Subsequent chapters examine specific major themes: - God and Creation - Divine-humanity, personhood and human rights - The Church of Christ - Ecumenical theology and religious diversity - The 'Christification' of life - Social and Political Theology - The 'Name-of-God' conflict - The ordination of women The volume concludes with assessments of major approaches of modern Orthodox theology and reflections on the current status and future of Orthodox theology. Designed for classroom use, the book features: - case studies - a detailed index - a list of recommended readings for each chapter

A book that gives a profound explanation of how one can relate with the Immaculate by means of "the Marian Vow" of total consecration to the Immaculate that is transformative and life-changing. This book is a treatise on total consecration to the Immaculate, conceived initially by St. Maximilian M. Kolbe and has developed into the distinctive charism of the Franciscans of the Immaculate. Such charism finds its consummation in the profession of this Marian consecration in the form of a religious vow, known as, "The Marian Vow." Finding its original inspiration in St. Maximilian Kolbe who envisioned of a "fourth vow" of consecration that puts no limit to the missionary work of the religious, Fr. Stefano Manelli, the founder of the Franciscans of the Immaculate continued with the same inspiration and develop it to include both Marian and missionary character. This book is the theological and ascetical explanation of this Marian Vow. The book is not, by all means, exclusive to the Franciscans of the Immaculate. One can find universal insights based on solid spiritual theology of how one can relate in a more personal way with the Immaculate who ceases to be just a mere figure of veneration; she becomes alive and present to one's soul in a unique way that is transformative and life-changing. This book is utterly unique and inspired. As the Founder and Father General of the entire family of the Franciscans of the Immaculate (Friars, Sisters, Poor Clares, Tertiaries, and M.I.M.), Fr. Stefano has distilled, and put into writing for his children, the illumination he has received about the Marian Vow over the past decades. This work is the fruit of his life of prayer, study, and missionary activity. It is the fruit of his profound union with the Immaculate Heart of Mary.