Christological symphony of man and world: Principles of a Neopatristic Orthodox theology in the work of Dumitru Stăniloae

1. Entity type Lemma
2. Original titleChristologische Symphonie von Mensch und Welt: Grundzüge einer neupatristischen orthodoxen Theologie im Werk von Dumitru Stăniloae
3. Language term Greek, Modern (1453-)
4. lemma author Koutalis, Vangelis
5. lemma category Orthodox theological tradition and practice > Eschatology - Key thinkers - Orthodox theological tradition and practice > Cult and spirituality - Concepts of knowledge and modes of reasoning > Orthodox gnosiology - Orthodox Anthropology - Concepts of knowledge and modes of reasoning > Mysticism and Orthodox spiritual experience - Concepts of knowledge and modes of reasoning
6. Publication date 23-11-2017
7. lemma work Jitianu, Liviu [Author]. Christological symphony of man and world: Principles of a Neopatristic Orthodox theology in the work of Dumitru Stăniloae
8. lemma manifestations Christologische Symphonie von Mensch und Welt: Grundzüge einer neupatristischen orthodoxen Theologie im Werk von Dumitru Stăniloae - Freiburg: Albert-Ludwigs-Universität zu Freiburg, Theologische Fakultät, 2006.
9. Keywords Staniloae, Dumitru - Personalism - human personhood - anthropology - cosmology - Orthodox cosmology - ecclesiology - deification
10. Citations
    1. <p>Jitianu, L.(2006). <em>Christologische Symphonie von Mensch und Welt: Grundzüge einer neupatristischen orthodoxen Theologie im Werk von Dumitru Stăniloae</em> (Doctoral dissertation). Albert-Ludwigs-Universität zu Freiburg, Theologische Fakultät.</p>
11. Lemma body

    1. This dissertation is concerned with the theology of the Romanian Orthodox Christian Dumitru Stăniloae (1903-1993). Its first part, consisting of three chapters, offers a survey of the life and work of Stăniloae, in the context of the discussion on modern metaphysics and the tension between philosophy and Patristic studies, in the early 20th-century East European intellectual milieus, and with emphasis on Stăniloae’s contributions to the Orthodox dogmatic theology, to the modern Orthodox understanding of the notion of ‘person’, and to the doctrine of deification. Theology is conceived as a reflection on the inherited revelation handed down by the Holy Scripture and the Apostolic tradition. Instead of being a process of interpretation of words, however, this reflection on the divine revelation is the participation in a process initiated by hope leading to the communion between God and human beings. Present-day theology has to creatively continue the Patristic tradition, but it must also be oriented toward the actuality of life, rendering the revelation of the dynamic communion with God lively and living. A ‘theology of the experience’ is here envisioned, modelled after the Patristic and Byzantine theology, which was inspired by the ecclesiastical, liturgical and mystical-ascetical experience. Drawing much from the theology of Maximus the Confessor and Gregory Palamas, Stăniloae’s conception of deification brings together the doctrine of hope, the Christian anthropology, Christology, pneumatology and ecclesiology. Deification is regarded both in moral terms, as a restitution of the communion with God, a struggle to live in the image of God, and in realistic terms, as a participation in the life of God, living in the likeness of God by achieving a union with the divine energies, albeit not with the essence of God.

       The second part of Jitianu’s dissertation is focused on the Orthodox anthropology and cosmology proposed by Stăniloae. After examining the way Orthodox theology traditionally regarded the attribute of being in the image of God, not as an element inherent in human nature, but as the presence of God in human beings, which can be summoned into existence, the author reviews various modern approaches to the concept of ‘person’, such as those suggested by Vladimir Solovjov, Nikolai Berdiaev, Ioannis Zizioulas, Christos Yannaras, Ioannis Panagopoulos, Vladimir Lossky and André de Halleux, and then he enters into the concept of ‘person’ as articulated by Stăniloae himself. In the theological anthropology of Stăniloae, a human being only in tha state of communion can attain the reality of its personhood. This communion, however, is not to be reduced to a relation between individuals forming an aggregate of separate units. It has a twofold character: in its vertical dimension, it is a communion with God, and in its horizontal dimenstion, a communion with the other human beings and the world. Becoming a person amounts to the struggle for the constitution of this twofold communion. Anthropology is inextricably linked with ‘theognosia’, the knowledge of God, and deification, and by the same stroke, personology is inextricably linked with ecclesiology.