 |
| Author | Post |
|---|
David W. Emery
Network Helper
| Joined: | Fri Sep 29th, 2006 |
| Location: | Brownsville, Texas USA |
| Posts: | 1793 |
| First Name: | David | | Gender: | Male | | Faith History: | Catholic |
| Status: |
Online
|
|
Posted: Sat Jan 20th, 2007 12:32 am |
|
Sometimes the internet’s treasures are hidden away in an unlikely corner. Some time ago I stumbled across a multilingual Greek Orthodox library that has some real gems available in English. Last night I took some time to read some of this library’s contents. One of these works is an essay by Fr. Russell Norman, an Englishman, a Catholic Oratorian priest, and a Greek scholar (he’s translated or collaborated in a number of major Byzantine Christian works, such as The Lives of the Desert Fathers and The Philokalia, both of which are included in my own spiritual library), on the topic of 2 Peter 1:4, where Christians are described as “partakers of the divine nature.”
This brief work is a surprisingly rich exposition, based primarily on the Greek Fathers of the Church, of the eastern Christian notion of theosis, or what in the western tradition is sometimes referred to as “divinization.” Sometimes Christians are scandalized when they see the Fathers of the Church saying things like, “The Son of God became man so that man might become God” (a quote from St. Athanasius, cited in the Catechism §460 along with similar comments by St. Irenaeus and St. Thomas Aquinas).
Norman’s exposition of this doctrine is one of the most lucid I’ve seen. It can be read at this site. Several years after writing this essay, he published his doctoral thesis on the same subject. It is considered the modern masterpiece on the subject. This “semi-scholarly” essay is not at all intimidating and makes a good introduction to a doctrine of the Church, both east and west, that is often misunderstood.
David
|
|
|
pamflute
Member
| Joined: | Thu Jan 18th, 2007 |
| Location: | Tampa, Florida USA |
| Posts: | 24 |
| First Name: | Pam | | Gender: | Female | | Faith History: | Baptist to Presbyterian to United Methodist to Catholic |
| Status: |
Offline
|
|
Posted: Sat Jan 20th, 2007 09:32 am |
|
David:
I have been a lurker and very infrequent poster in the past but I wanted to comment on your post. Have you read anything by Frederica Matthewes-Green, the wife of an Orthodox priest? I read her book "At the Corner of East and Now" and it was a catalyst to get me thinking in the direction of the ancient church. She also has a book where she briefly delves into your topic. It is called "Illumination of the Heart" or something like that and is a rather simple introduction to early Christian teachings on some subjects, theosis being one of them. I look forward to reading your recommended internet websites about the subject!
|
|
|
CajunRick
Network Helper
| Joined: | Fri Sep 29th, 2006 |
| Location: | Houma, Louisiana USA |
| Posts: | 5080 |
| First Name: | Rick (& Kermie) | | Gender: | Male | | Faith History: | Lifetime Catholic, Latin Rite |
| Status: |
Online
|
|
Posted: Sat Jan 20th, 2007 10:16 am |
|
| Hi, Pam, welcome back. We missed you!
____________________
Understanding is the reward of faith. Therefore seek not to understand that you may believe, but believe that you may understand. - Augustine
Rick Luquette
Luquette Lane
|
|
|
David W. Emery
Network Helper
| Joined: | Fri Sep 29th, 2006 |
| Location: | Brownsville, Texas USA |
| Posts: | 1793 |
| First Name: | David | | Gender: | Male | | Faith History: | Catholic |
| Status: |
Online
|
|
Posted: Sat Jan 20th, 2007 05:28 pm |
|
Hello, Pam. Yes, I remember you.
Have you read anything by Frederica Matthewes-Green, the wife of an Orthodox priest?
I hadn’t until you prompted me to look her up. Now I’ve read several chapters of this and that on her website. She has quite a background, from nominal Christian childhood to feminist scoffer to Hindu to Episcopalian to Antiochian Orthodox, and her novelesque writing style is quite descriptive and engaging. The book you wanted to refer me to is probably The Illumined Heart: The Ancient Christian Path of Transformation. What I found in the sample chapters is traditional Christian spirituality as I know it. All her publications seem to be on a more or less popular level — nothing erudite, although I can tell from her careful writing that she has read the erudite stuff and is attempting to “translate” it for the non-expert.
Since he is a scholar rather than a popularizer, you will find Fr. Norman Russell much less “popular” in his style, but still quite easy to understand. If you are really into traditional (ancient) Christian spirituality, the two works I mentioned above would be the ones to look at, along with The Sayings of the Desert Fathers, a version of the Verba Seniorem by Benedicta Ward and The Conferences by John Cassian.
David
|
|
|
pamflute
Member
| Joined: | Thu Jan 18th, 2007 |
| Location: | Tampa, Florida USA |
| Posts: | 24 |
| First Name: | Pam | | Gender: | Female | | Faith History: | Baptist to Presbyterian to United Methodist to Catholic |
| Status: |
Offline
|
|
Posted: Sun Jan 21st, 2007 08:01 pm |
|
Thanks David for the reply. I will try to find the books you recommend. Sometimes I am intimidated by heavy theology which is strange since I have a master's degree in music and you'd think I could understand scholarly writings in theology. I was thinking a little about theosis or divinization and wondering if you think that partaking of the Eucharist can lead to this along with other spiritual practices. The reason I say this is a quote from Ignatius of Antioch about the Eucharist being the medicine of immortality. I am always intrigued by that quote and obviously his understanding goes beyond the symbolic view of communion which leads me to my second question which I will post in another forum.
|
|
|
David W. Emery
Network Helper
| Joined: | Fri Sep 29th, 2006 |
| Location: | Brownsville, Texas USA |
| Posts: | 1793 |
| First Name: | David | | Gender: | Male | | Faith History: | Catholic |
| Status: |
Online
|
|
Posted: Sun Jan 21st, 2007 09:17 pm |
|
I was thinking a little about theosis or divinization and wondering if you think that partaking of the Eucharist can lead to this along with other spiritual practices. The reason I say this is a quote from Ignatius of Antioch about the Eucharist being the medicine of immortality.
Oh, absolutely. This is affirmed by numerous Fathers and Doctors of the Church.
“Heavy theology” is not what I think of when I am reading the ancient spiritual works. Most of them do presuppose neoplatonism, which was the predominant philosophy of the period, but the theology is mostly practical and biblical, so once you familiarize yourself with the terminology (usually explained in the introductions), the rest is a matter of lived faith. If a person is a prayerful Christian with a Catholic, Orthodox or perhaps even a high-church Protestant background and reasonably literate, he should find few obstacles to understanding these things. Of course, this is my view of things; I studied language arts and classical philosophy, and have had a lifelong interest in spiritual theology. Others are free to disagree.
The last time I checked, all the books I’ve mentioned here are still in print and are available from Amazon and similar sources. The Philokalia (the Orthodox spiritual compendium) is a multi-volume work, of which the first two volumes contain material from the pre-schism period. The other works are all single volumes, although Cassian’s Conferences, in the edition I have, is huge, bulked up by a lengthy introduction and notes.
Happy reading.
David
|
|
|
Current time is 04:26 am | |
|
|
|
|
|
