Theology and culture (the Bulgarian case)

1. Entity type Lemma
2. Original titleБогословие и култура (Българският опит)
3. Language term Bulgarian
4. lemma author Nachev, Ivaylo
5. lemma category Culture and national identities
6. Publication date 31-10-2018
7. lemma work Павлов, Павел [Author]. Богословие и култура (Българският опит)
8. lemma manifestations Православие и постмодернизъм (сборник от международна научна конференция "Православната църква и очакванията на съвременното общество) - София: Омофор, 2010.
9. Keywords Bulgarian culture - Cappadocian Fathers - Early Christian Cappadocian Fathers
10. Citations
    1. Богословие и култура (Българският опит), In: Православие и постмодернизъм, 2010, 169-177.
11. Lemma body

    1. The author’s point of departure in this article is that theology is not for internal use in the Church, it is always aimed at the world. Pavel Pavlov’s theological approach is aimed towards the “'interplay and dialogue” between theology and culture, and it should be noted that the article used on several occasions the word “dialogue” which is not very common one in Bulgarian publications. The current situation can be described as a “lack of dialogue” between the two spheres and all attempts to modelling modern culture by theology are deemed to fail. At the same time the attempts for dialogue with modern philosophy and arts, “new technologies and discoveries in the spheres of modern sciences” are critical because otherwise theology would be “marginalized” as it could say nothing to modern man. The author argued that the relations between Christianity and culture should not be considered abstractly as the culture in focus is always a specific one. The article thus examined two examples for the exchange between culture and theology. The first part handled relations between Hellenistic traditions and the experience of the Cappadocian Fathers (the Three Cappadocians), a situation which is not very different than the current one. The second part focussed on Christianity in the Second Bulgarian Kingdom. The Bulgarian synthesis included several periods of direct confrontation and creative synergy. An example for synergy between creative theology and culture gives the time of the third quarter 9^th century – the first half 10^th As a result of this synthesis was created theological language which is still in use up to present day. A second such period is the second half of the 14^th century, a time of cultural renaissance driven by the theology of Saint Gregory Palamas. Since then there have been no such peaks due to provincialism and regionalism in theology and culture. Today, both culture and theology miss authenticity, according to the author.  Pavel Pavlov argued in favour of a meaningful dialogue with contemporary culture (including philosophy, arts, technologies), and for creative theology that could create “new language and new models of dialogue” between theology and culture