Faith, Reason, and Theosis

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.

Aristotle Papanikolaou is professor of theology, the Archbishop Demetrios Chair of Orthodox Theology and Culture, and a Co-Director of the Orthodox Christian Studies Center at Fordham University. He is also McDonald Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Emory University Center for the Study of Law and Religion. He is the author of two monographs and numerous scholarly articles on Orthodox theology, as well as co-editor of ten volumes.Demacopoulos George E. :

George E. Demacopoulos is Fr. John Meyendorff & Patterson Family Chair of Orthodox Christian Studies and Professor of Theology at Fordham University. He is also a Co-founding Director of the Orthodox Christian Studies Center at Fordham University. He serves as a Senior Fellow at Dumbarton Oaks and as President of the Byzantine Studies Association of North America. He is the author of five monographs and dozens of scholarly articles of the history of Christianity in the premodern period.Bouteneff Peter C. :

Peter C. Bouteneff is Professor of Systematic Theology at St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary, where he also directs the Institute of Sacred Arts and the Arvo Pärt Project. He is the author of Arvo Pärt: Out of Silence (SVS Press, 2015).Davis Stephen J. :

Stephen J. Davis s Professor of Religious Studies, Yale University, and author of Christ Child: Cultural Memories of a Young Jesus (Yale, 2014) and Monasticism: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford, 2018).Prevot Andrew :

Andrew Prevot is an associate professor of systematic theology at Boston College. He is the author of Theology and Race: Black and Womanist Traditions in the United States (Brill, forthcoming) and Thinking Prayer: Theology and Spirituality amid the Crises of Modernity (Notre Dame University Press, 2015). He is the coeditor of Anti-Blackness and Christian Ethics (Orbis, 2017). He has published articles on various aspects of spiritual, philosophical, and political theology in journals such as Horizons, Pro Ecclesia, Spiritus, Heythrop, Tijdschrift voor Theologie, Transversalités, Political Theology, and the Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion.Purpura Ashley M. :

Ashley M. Purpura is an associate professor of religious studies in the School of Interdisciplinary Studies at Purdue University. She publishes on gender and Orthodoxy, and is the author of God, Hierarchy, and Power: Orthodox Theologies of Authority from Byzantium (2018).Purpura Ashley M. :

Ashley M. Purpura is an associate professor of religious studies in the School of Interdisciplinary Studies at Purdue University. She publishes on gender and Orthodoxy, and is the author of God, Hierarchy, and Power: Orthodox Theologies of Authority from Byzantium (2018).Papanikolaou Aristotle :

Aristotle Papanikolaou is professor of theology, the Archbishop Demetrios Chair of Orthodox Theology and Culture, and a Co-Director of the Orthodox Christian Studies Center at Fordham University. He is also McDonald Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Emory University Center for the Study of Law and Religion. He is the author of two monographs and numerous scholarly articles on Orthodox theology, as well as co-editor of ten volumes.Aristotle Papanikolaou (Edited By)
Aristotle Papanikolaou is Professor of Theology, the Archbishop Demetrios Chair of Orthodox Theology and Culture, and the Co-Director of the Orthodox Christian Studies Center at Fordham University. He is also Senior Fellow at the Emory University Center for the Study of Law and Religion. He is the author of Being with God: Trinity, Apophaticism, and Divine–Human Communion and The Mystical as Political: Democracy and Non-Radical Orthodoxy.

George E. Demacopoulos (Edited By)
George E. Demacopoulos is Fr. John Meyendorff & Patterson Family Chair of Orthodox Christian Studies and Professor of Theology at Fordham University. He is the author of Colonizing Christianity: Greek and Latin Religious Identity in the Era of the Fourth Crusade and Gregory the Great: Ascetic, Pastor, and First Man of Rome.

Demacopoulos and Papanikolaou have brought together a cast of distinguished authors from a broad range of theological traditions to offer their reflections on the multiple meanings of ‘becoming divine’, the human transformation that we have learned to call theosis. Perspectives rooted in patristic thought, Byzantine and Western Medieval mystical experience, and modern theological and philosophical discourse converge to present an astonishingly rich concept whose potential to revitalize contemporary theology has still not been exhausted. This important book is a tour de force that deserves to be widely read.---Norman Russell, Honorary Research Fellow of St Stephen’s House, University of Oxford, and author of The Doctrine of Deification in the Greek Patristic Tradition.