DOCSLIB.ORG

The Glory of God Is Humanity Fully Alive: Exploring Eastern Orthodoxy As a Resource for Human Development in Conversation with the Capability Approach’

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Glory of God Is Humanity Fully Alive: Exploring Eastern Orthodoxy As a Resource for Human Development in Conversation with the Capability Approach’ ‘The Glory of God is Humanity Fully Alive: Exploring Eastern Orthodoxy as a resource for human development in conversation with the capability approach’ Dana Bates OCMS, Ph.D Abstract This dissertation argues that Eastern Orthodox theology is a framework for multidimensional social change or improvement and can inform, and be informed by the multi-disciplinary social science field of development studies. This claim will be examined by analyzing the Trinitarian theology of the Orthodox theologian Dumitru Staniloae in relation to the writings of Nobel Economist Amartya Sen and his ‘capability approach’. The argument begins by justifying EO’s interaction with development studies based on her anthropological optimism. Critical is that supernatural revelation stands very close to and builds on natural revelation. A Trinitarian theological anthropology then provides a rationale for, and integration of, three key concepts in the social sciences: agency, solidarity, and structures. This analytical framework is then used to assess the challenges of post-Communist contexts, where most Orthodox live. The Communist downfall, it is argued, involved a failure to incorporate each of these dimensions in human development. This analysis then serves to test the adequacy of, and reveal weaknesses in, Amartya Sen’s freedom-focused social evaluation framework known as the capability approach. The dissertation proceeds with examining Orthodox salvation as movement from Being, to Well- being, to Eternal-being where Well-being is, notably, the exercise of agency to develop the potentials given in Being. Agency is not individualistic, but is structured into the virtues of solidarity and incorporates the related notion of phronesis (practical reason). The virtue tradition is then postulated as a promising link between theology and development studies. The virtue tradition is analyzed in its classical background, modern human development, as well as both Protestantism and Catholicism to facilitate a comparison with Eastern Orthodoxy. This analysis shows that Orthodoxy offers a theological framework for human development in that she gives priority of practical reason to contemplation, makes virtually no separation between grace and nature, and provides a relevant method for synergizing salvation history with action on behalf of human development. ‘The Glory of God is Humanity Fully Alive: Exploring Eastern Orthodoxy as a resource for human development in conversation with the capability approach’ by Dana Bates B.A. (Gordon College) M-Div (Gordon-Conwell) A thesis submitted in fulfillment of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the University of Middlesex May 22, 2013 Oxford Centre for Mission Studies DECLARATION This work has not previously been accepted in substance for any degree and is not being concunently submitted in candidature for any degree. tl 4 {"" Signed ,-kw ft{ (Candidate) Date /' l-lWn --- *-,'I )o ,f STATEMENT 1 This thesis is the result of my own investigations, except where otherwise stated. Where correction services have been used, the extent and nature of the correction is clearly marked in a footnote. Other sources are acknowledged by midnotes or footnotes giving explicit references. A bibliography is appended. Signed (Candidate) Date frr* //'Z,:t ,j STATEMENT 2 I hereby give consent for my thesis, if approved, to be available for photocopying by the British Library and for Inter-Library Loan, for open access to the Electronic Theses Online Service (EthoS) linked to the British Library, and for the title and summary to be made available to outside or ganizations. /) Signed /h-o, (Candidate) Date ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This thesis was envisioned, obviously in a much more primitive state, at the Capabilities Conference in Pavia Italy, September 2004. There I first saw the basic connection between the image-likeness (Eastern Orthodoxy) and capability-functioning (capabilities approach) distinction that sparked this study. It was also there that I met one of my supervisors, Severine Deneulin, who has not only been a fantastic academic advisor, but a wonderful friend and support. I also want to thank Roland Hoksbergen of Calvin for his encouragement over the years, as well as my supervisor for Staniloae, Silviu Rogobete. Thanks are due to Young Life for allowing me to pursue this, as well as Northwestern (and especially Dave Nonnemacher’s work along with Doug Carlson) and other colleges such as Calvin (and especially Jeff Bouman there) and Gordon who have sent their students to our Romania semester abroad, trusting that I would finish this project. I would also like to thank the many volunteers who have worked in various capacities with our organization, but especially the semester-abroad program administrators: Janelle Vandergrift, Daniel Heffner, Kadie Becker, and Alice McFarlane. I would also like to thank the SG Foundation and Patricia Beville for funding the first and final years of this research. Thanks are also due to OCMS and the staff there for their support. This PhD was built largely on late evenings, weekends, and vacation-time at the beach. Thanks and deep gratitude are due especially to my wonderful wife Brandi, daughter Briana and son Gabriel for their sacrifices and patience as this process endured much longer than any of us hoped. I promise to make up for it in the next few years by taking many real vacations together. Heartfelt thanks are also due to my colleagues at New Horizons, especially those that have been the long-term pillars, Diana Certan, Maria Neagu, and Ilie Popescu. The leadership team has kept me from a lot of busy-work and demonstrated remarkable independence of judgement and leadership, without which this research simply would not have been possible. This has been such a gift to me personally, and to our family life, and is the actual lived theology of “Bearing one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ”. I hope and pray this investment in academic research will advance the youth development we all believe so strongly in. iii Table of Contents ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................................. III LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS .............................................................................................................. VI 1. INTRODUCTION: EASTERN ORTHODOXY AND DEVELOPMENT STUDIES ................................. 1 2. JUSTIFYING THE DIALOGUE BETWEEN EO AND DS (METHODOLOGY) .................................. 17 2.1 EO Natural Theology ...................................................................................................... 17 2.2 God as Supreme Reason and Person ............................................................................... 26 2.3 Recovering “nature” in the Trinity and bridging with the social sciences ...................... 30 2.4 Development Studies: “Change for the Better”.............................................................. 37 2.5 Transcending Liberalism (and Communitarianism) ........................................................ 42 3. THE DIALOGUE IN CONTEXT: THEOLOGY AND THE SOCIAL SCIENCES ................................. 51 3.1 Background Considerations ............................................................................................ 51 3.2 The Marxist Precedent .................................................................................................... 62 3.2.1 Liberation Theology .............................................................................................. 63 3.2.2 Marxist inspired Communism ............................................................................... 66 3.2.3 Marxist Structuralism ............................................................................................ 72 3.3 The Communist Catastrophe ........................................................................................... 79 4. THE CAPABILITY APPROACH OF AMARTYA SEN .................................................................... 87 4.1 Equality of What? ............................................................................................................ 87 4.2 Communism and the relevance of the CA ..................................................................... 100 4.3 Beyond Individual Freedoms: a Trinitarian imaging of human development .............. 104 4.3.1 Agency (Person) .................................................................................................. 105 4.3.2 Solidarity (Communion) ..................................................................................... 108 4.3.3 Structures (Nature) .............................................................................................. 113 4.4 Conclusion ..................................................................................................................... 124 5. INCARNATION AND HUMAN DEVELOPMENT ........................................................................ 127 5.1 Theosis: deification as ‘humanification’ ...................................................................... 128 5.2 Change for the Better: Image to Likeness .................................................................... 129 5.3 Maximus’s Triadic Movement ...................................................................................... 134 5.3.1 Being (Existence) ................................................................................................ 136 5.3.2 Well-being (Good Existence) .............................................................................
Load more

Recommended publications
  • TO the HISTORICAL RECEPTION of AUGUSTINE Volume 3
    THE OXFORD GUIDE TO THE HISTORICAL RECEPTION OF AUGUSTINE Volume 3 EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: KARLA POLLMANN EDITOR: WILLEMIEN OTTEN CO-EDITORS: JAM ES A. ANDREWS, A I. F. X ANDER ARWE ILER, IRENA BACKUS, S l LKE-PETRA BERGJAN, JOHANN ES BRACHTENDORF, SUSAN N EL KHOLI, MARK W. ELLIOTT, SUSANNE GAT ZEME I ER, PAUL VAN GEEST, BRUCE GORDON, DAVID LAMBERT, PETERLlEB REGTS, HILDEGUND MULLER, HI LMAR PABEL,JEAN-LOUlS QUANTlN, ER IC L. SAAK, LYDIA SC H UMACHER, ARNOUD VISSER, KONRAD VOSS l NG, J ACK ZUPKO. OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS 1478 I ORTHODOX CHURCH (SINCE 1453) --, Et~twickltmgsgesdLiclite des Erbsiit~dendogmas seit da Rejomw­ Augustiniana. Studien uber Augustin us Lmd .<eille Rezeption. Festgabefor tiall, Geschichtc des Erbsundendogmas. Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte Willigis Eckermmm OSA Z llll l 6o. Geburtstag (Wiirzburg 1994) des Problems vom Ursprung des Obels 4 (Munich 1972 ). 25<,> - 90. P. Guilluy, 'Peche originel', Ca tl~al icis m e 10 (1985) 1036-61. R. Schwager, Erbsu11de und Heilsd,·ama im Kontcxt von Evolution, P. Henrici, '1l1e Philosophers and Original Sin', Conm1Unio 18 (•99•) Gcntechnology zmd Apokalyptik (Miinster 1997 ). 489-901. M. Stickelbroeck, U.-s tand, Fall 1md HrbsLinde. ln der nacilaugusti­ M. Huftier, 'Libre arbitrc, liberte et peche chez saint Augustin', nischen Ara bis zum Begimz der Sclwlastik. Die lateinische Theologie, Recherches de tlu!ologie a11 ciwne et medievale 33 (1966) 187-281. Handbuch der Dogmengeschichte 2/3a, pt 3 (Freiburg 2007 ) . M. F. johnson, 'Augustine and Aquinas on Original Sin; in B. D. Dau­ C. Straw, 'Gregory I; in A. D. Fitzgerald (ed.), Augusti11e through the phinais, B.
    [Show full text]
  • 2. the Sacrament of Marriage and Its Impediments
    THE SACRAMENT OF MARRIAGE AND ITS IMPEDIMENTS I. On Orthodox Marriage 1. The institution of the family is threatened today by such phenomena as secularization and moral relativism. The Orthodox Church maintains, as her fundamental and indisputable teaching, that marriage is sacred. The freely entered union of man and woman is an indispensable precondition for marriage. 2. In the Orthodox Church, marriage is considered to be the oldest institution of divine law because it was instituted simultaneously with the creation of Adam and Eve, the first human beings (Gen 2:23). Since its origin, this union not only implies the spiritual communion of a married couple—a man and a woman—but also assured the continuation of the human race. As such, the marriage of man and woman, which was blessed in Paradise, became a holy mystery, as mentioned in the New Testament where Christ performs His first sign, turning water into wine at the wedding in Cana of Galilee, and thus reveals His glory (Jn 2:11). The mystery of the indissoluble union between man and woman is an icon of the unity of Christ and the Church (Eph 5:32). 3. Thus, the Christocentric typology of the sacrament of marriage explains why a bishop or a presbyter blesses this sacred union with a special prayer. In his letter to Polycarp of Smyrna, Ignatius the God-Bearer stressed that those who enter into the communion of marriage must also have the bishop’s approval, so that their marriage may be according to God, and not after their own desire.
    [Show full text]
  • Appendix I: an Extended Critique of Ecumenist Reasoning
    This is a chapter from The Non-Orthodox: The Orthodox Teaching on Christians Outside of the Church. This book was originally published in 1999 by Regina Orthodox Press in Salisbury, MA (Frank Schaeffer’s publishing house). For the complete book, as well as reviews and related articles, go to http://orthodoxinfo.com/inquirers/status.aspx. (© Patrick Barnes, 1999, 2004) Appendix I: An Extended Critique of Ecumenist Reasoning Preliminary Remarks Before beginning our analysis, a few words need to be said about the term “ecumenist.” First, we Orthodox opposed to the more aberrant forms of ecumenism are not against ecumenism in its true and proper form—i.e., activities proper to the Apostolic mark of the Church (to be “sent out”), conducted in ways that do not violate Orthodox canonical guidelines. “Ecumenist” and “ecumenism” carry both positive and negative connotations which should be respectively qualified by words such as “true“ or “political“. In this book “ecumenist” is employed in its negative connotation, referring to a person “infected“ with what the Holy Fathers call the bacterium of an ecclesiological heresy. The chief symptoms of this disease are statements and activities that contradict or compromise the unity and uniqueness of the Church, and which expand Her boundaries in ways that are foreign to Her self-understanding. At an advanced stage, these symptoms often include an open espousal of various forms of the heretical Branch Theory of the Church, accompanied by an open disdain for those Faithful who stand opposed to the erosion of Holy Tradition and the Patristic mindset which so often characterizes Orthodox involvement in the ecumenical movement.
    [Show full text]
  • The Sacrament of Marriage and Its Impediments
    The Canadian Journal of Orthodox Christianity Volume XI, Number 2, Spring 2016 The Sacrament of Marriage and Its Impediments The Synaxis of Primates of Local Orthodox Churches1 1. Orthodox Marriage 1) The institute of family is threatened today by such phenomena as secularization and moral relativism. The Orthodox Church asserts the sacral nature of marriage as her fundamental and indisputable doctrine. The free union of man and woman is an indispensable condition for marriage. 2) In the Orthodox Church, marriage is considered to be the oldest institution of divine law since it was instituted at the same time as the first human beings, Adam and Eve, were created (Gen. 2:23). Since its origin this union was not only the spiritual communion of the married couple – man and woman, but also assured the continuation of the human race. Blessed in Paradise, the marriage of man and woman became a holy mystery, which is mentioned in the New Testament in the story about Cana of Galilee, where Christ gave His first sign by turning water into wine thus revealing His glory (Jn. 2:11). The mystery of the indissoluble union of man and woman is the image of the unity of Christ and the Church (Eph. 5:32). 1 The document is approved by the Synaxis of the Primates of Local Orthodox Churches on January 21 – 28, 2016, in Chambesy, with the exception of representatives of the Orthodox Churches of Antioch and Georgia. 40 The Canadian Journal of Orthodox Christianity Volume XI, Number 2, Spring 2016 3) The Christ-centered nature of marriage explains why a bishop or a presbyter blesses this sacred union with a special prayer.
    [Show full text]
  • V. an Evaluation of Heterodox Baptism
    This is a chapter from The Non-Orthodox: The Orthodox Teaching on Christians Outside of the Church. This book was originally published in 1999 by Regina Orthodox Press in Salisbury, MA (Frank Schaeffer’s publishing house). For the complete book, as well as reviews and related articles, go to http://orthodoxinfo.com/inquirers/status.aspx. (© Patrick Barnes, 1999, 2004) V. An Evaluation of Heterodox Baptism Given that Holy Baptism is the “doorway into the Church,” the question of the validity of heterodox sacraments is crucial to our topic. Non-Orthodox Christians who wrestle with this issue often phrase it in this way: If I (speaking as a Protestant) have put on Christ through Baptism (Gal. 3:27), and am therefore a member of His Body (Eph. 5:30); and if His Body is the Church (Eph. 1:22- 23), then am I not also a member of the Church? And if the Orthodox Church is the ‘one True Church,’ how can I not be a member of it in some sense?56 A full treatment of how Orthodox should view the sacraments of heterodox Christians is beyond the scope of this work. What follows is merely a brief summary of what has been stated so eloquently and thoroughly by others.57 Although certain Orthodox would argue differently today, the traditional teaching is that the Church does not recognize the spiritual “validity” or efficacy of heterodox sacraments per se—i.e., in and of themselves, apart from the Church. Baptism is only given by and in the Church, “the eternal keeper of [ecclesial] grace” (Saint Seraphim of Sarov).
    [Show full text]
  • God Is Perfect
    Scholars Crossing The Three-in-One File Theological Studies 2-2018 God is Perfect Harold Willmington Liberty University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/three_one Part of the Biblical Studies Commons, Christianity Commons, and the Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion Commons Recommended Citation Willmington, Harold, "God is Perfect" (2018). The Three-in-One File. 25. https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/three_one/25 This God Is is brought to you for free and open access by the Theological Studies at Scholars Crossing. It has been accepted for inclusion in The Three-in-One File by an authorized administrator of Scholars Crossing. For more information, please contact [email protected]. GOD IS PERFECT God is perfect: “As for God, his way is perfect: the word of the Lord is tried: he is a buckler to all those that trust in him” (Psa. 18:30). “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect” (Matt. 5:48). “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning” (James 1:17). The word perfect means “complete,” without the slightest flaw. This states, therefore, that anything God is, has, or does is perfect. • Perfection as related to God A. His various characteristics (attributes) are perfect. His love is a perfect love, His grace is perfect, His holiness is perfect, etc. B. His law is perfect. “The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple” (Psa.
    [Show full text]
  • The Concept of “Sister Churches” in Catholic-Orthodox Relations Since
    THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA The Concept of “Sister Churches” In Catholic-Orthodox Relations since Vatican II A DISSERTATION Submitted to the Faculty of the School of Theology and Religious Studies Of The Catholic University of America In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree Doctor of Philosophy © Copyright All Rights Reserved By Will T. Cohen Washington, D.C. 2010 The Concept of “Sister Churches” In Catholic-Orthodox Relations since Vatican II Will T. Cohen, Ph.D. Director: Paul McPartlan, D.Phil. Closely associated with Catholic-Orthodox rapprochement in the latter half of the 20 th century was the emergence of the expression “sister churches” used in various ways across the confessional division. Patriarch Athenagoras first employed it in this context in a letter in 1962 to Cardinal Bea of the Vatican Secretariat for the Promotion of Christian Unity, and soon it had become standard currency in the bilateral dialogue. Yet today the expression is rarely invoked by Catholic or Orthodox officials in their ecclesial communications. As the Polish Catholic theologian Waclaw Hryniewicz was led to say in 2002, “This term…has now fallen into disgrace.” This dissertation traces the rise and fall of the expression “sister churches” in modern Catholic-Orthodox relations and argues for its rehabilitation as a means by which both Catholic West and Orthodox East may avoid certain ecclesiological imbalances toward which each respectively tends in its separation from the other. Catholics who oppose saying that the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church are sisters, or that the church of Rome is one among several patriarchal sister churches, generally fear that if either of those things were true, the unicity of the Church would be compromised and the Roman primacy rendered ineffective.
    [Show full text]
  • The Orthodox Church in the 21St Century Radovan Bigović Predicted That Six Billion People Will Be Put Under Bio- Metrical Supervision by Year 2013
    The Orthodox Church in the 21 st Century Radovan Bigović 1 Author Radovan Bigović Published by Foundation Konrad Adenauer Christian Cultural Center For the Publisher Henri G. Bohnet Editor Jelena Jablanov Maksimović, M.A. Reviewers Thomas Bremer , ThD ., professor of Ecumenical Theology and Peace Studies at the Faculty of Catholic Theology , Uni - versity of Münster, Germany Davor Džalto, Associate Professor and Program Director for Art History and Religious Studies The American University of Rome, PhD ., professor of History of Art and Theory of Creativity at the Faculty of Art , Universities of Niš and Kragujevac, Serbia Proof reader Ana Pantelić Translated into English by Petar Šerović Printed by EKOPRES, Zrenjanin Number of copies: 1000 in English Belgrade, 20 13 2 The Orthodox Church in the 21 st Century 3 4 Contents FOREWORD TO THE THIRD EDITION 7 THE CHURCH AND POSTMODERNISM 9 FAITH AND POSTMODERNISM 21 THE CHURCH, POLITICS, DEMOCRACY 27 The State-Nation Ideal 41 The Church and Democracy 46 ORTHODOXY AND DEMOCRACY 69 CHRISTIANITY AND POLITICS 81 THE CHURCH AND THE CIVIL SOCIETY 87 PRINCIPLES OF THE ORTHODOX CHURCH SOCIAL DOCTRINE 95 ORTHODOXY AND RELIGIOUS TOLERANCE 103 THE ORTHODOX CHURCH AND THE NATION 117 ECUMENISM 121 CHRISTIANITY AND SCIENCE 125 CHRISTIAN CULTURE 131 INDEX 136 BIOGRAPHY 145 5 6 Foreword to the Third Edition The book that is before you is of great value for many a reason, but we will emphasize just two: the first is the theme it is dealing with, and the second is the uniqueness of the person whose pen served as the medium for the outpour of those very themes.
    [Show full text]
  • 2Maccabees 163 Acacian Schism 127 Acephaloi 146 Adversus Eunomium
    Index 2Maccabees 163 Chrysostom, John 3n14, 4n17, 5n21, 10n54, 153 Acacian schism 127 Church Acephaloi 146 politicisation 126, 127 Adversus Eunomium 71, 108 unity 128, 158 Agathon, archdeacon 154, 155 communicatio idiomatum 168, 177 agon communication, between Greek- and Syriac- centrality of 56 speakers 33 agona 48, 49n11, 56, 59 Constantine i, Pope 155 akribeia 4 Constantine the Great 124, 140 Alexandria 3, 5, 5n20, 9, 11, 32, 65, 160 Constantine v, emperor 156, 157 Anastasius i, emperor 7, 8, 125, 127, 130 Constantinople ii 139 Anastasius ii, emperor 156 Contra Damianum 65 Andrew of Crete 155 Council of Ephesus 142 Anthimos of Constantinople 132, 133, 135 Cyril of Alexandria 1, 2, 4, 5, 5n20, 6–11, 68, Antioch 1, 1n1, 2, 2n4, 2n5, 4–7, 7n35, 8, 8n36, 176, 187 9, 9n49, 11, 14, 22, 65, 128, 160, 170 Antiochene exegesis 11 Damian of Alexandria 65 apatheia 59, 60 De Principiis 175 Aphrahat 56 Diodore of Tarsus 22, 132 Aphrodite 150 Diodorus 176 Arianism 3 Dyophysites 39 Arius 134 Dyophysitism 128 Ark of the Covenant 169 ascetic 5–7 Egypt 1, 128 ascetical 5, 6 Egyptian monasticism 6 asceticism 7, 38, 56, 59, 63 Endemousa 126 imagery of 47, 50, 57 Enkyklion 126 askesis 49, 60 Ephrem 56 ataraxia 60 Ephrem of Amida 134 Athanasius 2, 3, 3n8, 4, 7, 68, 175 Eusebius of Caesarea 14 athletes 51 Eustathius of Antioch 68 athletes 58 Eutyches 104, 108, 113, 129 Eutychius, patriarch 141, 155 Basil the Great 2, 3, 12, 25, 41, 47, 51, 52, 107, 131, 171, 179 fasting 5, 6 Basiliskos 126 Beatitudes 174 Germanus, patriarch 139, 155 Beirut 5, 178 Gregory 41
    [Show full text]
  • THE CHALLENGES and POTENTIAL of ORTHODOX ECUMENICAL DIALOGUE Paraskeve (Eve) Tibbs, Doctoral Student, Fuller Theological Seminary - 2003
    THE CHALLENGES AND POTENTIAL OF ORTHODOX ECUMENICAL DIALOGUE Paraskeve (Eve) Tibbs, Doctoral Student, Fuller Theological Seminary - 2003 1. “Ecumenical Baptism” "Do not be afraid. Do not be afraid because of your Orthodoxy; do not be afraid because of being isolated and always in a small minority. Do not make compromises but do not attack others; do not be either defensive or aggressive; simply be yourself." 1 This could have been the advice given to me by my spiritual father as I began taking Master's level classes at Fuller, an Evangelical Seminary, as one of only two Orthodox students (the other a recent convert,) but it was not. It could have been the advice given me prior to preparing my response paper for the Society for Pentecostal Studies, but it was not. This was the wise counsel given to Bishop Kallistos Ware over thirty years ago by Father Amphilochios of Patmos (who had never himself been in the West) upon the approaching inevitability of Bishop Ware's departure from Orthodox monastic life to begin university teaching at Oxford. As a highly esteemed Orthodox teacher and ecumenist, Bishop Ware has obviously followed this advice. From my own extremely limited experience in theology, the Divine reassurance "Do not afraid!" of the Biblical call narratives is appropriate of the "call" to ecumenical dialogue as well. The late Protopresbyter Alexander Schmemann (1921-83) formerly Dean of St. Vladimir's Orthodox Seminary, goes much further than most in calling the ecumenical encounter between Orthodoxy and the West a "failure" which cannot be concealed by the massive presence of Orthodox officials at ecumenical gatherings.
    [Show full text]
  • Spring 2015 | Number 42
    CIRCA News from the University of Chicago Divinity School Found In Translation At Wednesday lunch on February 18, 2015 in the Common Room we held a Dean’s Forum on Professor Anthony C. Yu’s four-volume tome, The Journey to the West (University of Chicago Press, 2012), which comprises an extended introduction and thoroughly revised translation of the classic sixteenth-century Chinese novel. Professor Yu’s work is a masterpiece of wrong (human) prey or Cinderella-like motifs translation, history of religions analysis, one is dealing with “always available, never and deft and keen literary criticism; indeed, copyrighted folklore.” it is a work of Religion and Literature— In the second response, Professor Brook the signature field of the Divinity School in Letter Ziporyn, translator of the Zhuangzi and which Professor Yu received his PhD and other Chinese texts, noted the monumental served as distinguished professor—at its scholarly achievement this revision finest. When the original four-volume set from the constitutes, and its “sleekness of tone, was completed, in a review in 1983 in the briskness of rhythm” and proximity to the New York Times, Professor David Lattimore “comic allegro of the original.” The Journey of Brown University said the work completes Dean to the West, Ziporyn echoed with Yu, “one of the great ventures of our time in emphasizes the paradoxes of the public humanistic translation and publication.” and private, the obedient and rebellious, How can one improve on that? the attempt to use language and culture to In his opening remarks, Professor Yu seek the truth, and the ultimate acceptance described some of the challenges facing that the truth will always transcend them.
    [Show full text]
  • VI. Can the Non-Orthodox Be Called “Christians”?
    This is a chapter from The Non-Orthodox: The Orthodox Teaching on Christians Outside of the Church. This book was originally published in 1999 by Regina Orthodox Press in Salisbury, MA (Frank Schaeffer’s publishing house). For the complete book, as well as reviews and related articles, go to http://orthodoxinfo.com/inquirers/status.aspx. (© Patrick Barnes, 1999, 2004) VI. Can the Non-Orthodox Be Called “Christians”? It should be apparent by now that knowledgeable Orthodox Christians employ the term “Christian” rather loosely when referring to the heterodox. This is akin to referring respectfully to a Roman Catholic clergyman as a “Priest” or to a Lutheran confessional body as a “church.” In a way, we are using these terms according to oikonomia. When, however, the term “Christian” is used with attention to theological accuracy and consistency—i.e., according to akribeia—, it means an organic union with Christ, which is inseparably linked to membership in the Church—His Body. Just as “falling in love” is quite different from being united in marriage as “one flesh” (Eph. 5:28-32; Gen. 2:24), conversion to Christ is different than union with Him in the Mystery of Holy Baptism. The former are inclinations of the heart; the latter are the organic realities. In the divine-human organism of the Church every believer is like a living cell that becomes an integral part of it, and lives with wonderworking, divine-human power. For to be a member of the Church means: to become incarnated with the God-man, to share His body (Eph.
    [Show full text]