Juan José Calvo Ayan: God's creative hand.

1. Entity type Lemma
2. Original titleJuan José Calvo Ayan: Mâna creatoare a lui Dumnezeu.
3. Language term Romanian
4. lemma author Stavinschi, Alexandra
5. lemma category Orthodox theological tradition and practice > Patristic studies - Key thinkers - Orthodox theological tradition and practice > Status of theology - Ecumenism and dialogue
6. Publication date 24-1-2017
7. lemma work Bădiliţă, Cristian [Author]. Juan José Calvo Ayan: God's creative hand.
8. lemma manifestations Stiinta dragoste credinta. Convorbiri cu patrologi europeni. [Science faith love. Conversations with European patrologists]
9. Keywords Early Church Fathers - Spain - Orbe, Antonio
10. Citations
    1. 80-99
11. Lemma body

    1. This is the fourth dialogue of Cristian Badilitas’s book Science love faith. It is based on a conversation with Juan José Calvo Ayan, a prominent Spanish patrologist. Calvo Ayan, born in 1955, was awarded a BA in letters and philosophy and a PhD in theology. He taught at the Faculty of Theology in Granada and Burgos. At the time of the interview he was teaching patristics at the San Dámaso Faculty of Theology in Madrid and was the director of the Diocesan Institute of Classical and Oriental Philology San Justino, as well as director of the Scientific Committee of the Patrísticas Fuentes series. At the beginning of the dialogue he states that, unlike Badilita, he does not believe that "the Catholic Spain" has a great tradition in patristic studies. This has a deep-seated explanation. When, in the sixteenth century, the Central European humanists were conducting major projects aimed at publishing patristic texts, Spain never got involved, although some Spaniards took part in these projects (e.g. Juan Luis Vives from Valencia and Francisco Torres from Palencia). But the most important Spanish scholar was Father Antonio Orbe, who started to get familiar with patristics in Oña (Burgos), under the guidance of Father J. Madoz, a specialist in the so-called "Hispanic patrology". Calvo Ayan confesses that Patristics had no prestige in their theological circles. In most universities, it wasn’t studied at all. There were two other factors that contributed to that. On the one hand, the lack of sensitivity on the part of many Church officials, who saw the study the Fathers as a waste of energy, and on the other hand, the anticlericalism originated in the nineteenth century in lay universities where patristic studies were ignored. However, thanks to Antonio Orbe, a handful of researchers got together and tried to create suitable frameworks for true patristic science. Calvo Ayan is invited to talk about the method and style of work, especially the vision of Early Christianity that he learned from Antonio Orbe. His works do not concern, as is known, only the writings of the Fathers, but also deal with gnosis, with the relationship between traditions, and with apocryphal literature. After the death of Franco, the Spanish Catholic Church was confronted with new requests and demands. Calvo Ayan talks about the effects of this change on theology in general, and on patristics in particular. He also worked on Justin's texts and on his "disciple", Irenaeus of Lyon; he talks at length about life and faith in the writings of Justin. He also analyses the role of Justin in costructing Christian demonology. In what follows, he explains how we should understand the concept of "history" in the work of Irenaeus. According to Calvo Ayan, there are now no theologians in Spain who can be compared to Daniélou, Marrou or Cullmann. He then goes on to discuss the role of the Gnostics, especially of the Marcionites, in imposing a canon of the Church. In what follows, he is invited to estimate the prospects of Spanish patristics, in terms of institutions, collections and young researchers. According to him, while in the past there was no interest in the topic, things began to change in 1990 and a number of promising names can now be mentioned. At the end of the interview, Calvo Ayan praises the efforts of two religious orders: the Federation of Spanish Augustinians, which promotes the complete works of St. Augustine and the Order of Saint Jerome, in charge of the bilingual edition of the complete works of the Saint.