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Maximus (ca. 480-662) had a powerful influence on the early church that is still felt in Orthodox, Catholic, and Protestant streams. Here the focus is on his general reflections concerning human nature. He considered Man (and so he discussed) to be both a microcosm that reflected the whole of creation, and a mediator charged to reconcile the spiritual and sensible into a single whole. Revised and expanded from the 1965 edition, and provided with updated references and bibliographies. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
Microcosm and Mediator. The Theological Anthropology of Maximus the Confessor. (The English Revised by A.M. Allchin.) [A Thesis.]. by Lars Thunberg,Saint Maximus (Confessor) Pdf
In this unique volume, a new and distinctive perspective on hotly debated issues in science and religion emerges from the unlikely ancient Eastern Orthodox Christian tradition. Alexei Nesteruk reveals how the Orthodox tradition, deeply rooted in Greek Patristic thought, can contribute importantly in a way that the usual Western sources do not. Orthodox thought, he holds, profoundly and helpfully relates the experience of God to our knowledge of the world. His masterful historical introduction to the Orthodox traditions not only surveys key features of its theology but highlights its ontology of participation and communion. From this Nesteruk derives Orthodoxy's unique approach to theological and scientific attribution. Theology identifies the underlying principles (logoi) in scientific affirmations. Nesteruk then applies this methodology to key issues in cosmology: the presence of the divine in creation, the theological meaning of models of creation, the problem of time, and the validity of the anthropic principle, especially as it relates to the emergence of humans and the Incarnation. Nesteruk's unique synthesis is not a valorization of Eastern Orthodox thought so much as an influx of startlingly fresh ideas about the character of science itself and an affirmation of the ultimate religious and theological value of the whole scientific enterprise.
Religion and the Order of Nature by Seyyed Hossein Nasr Pdf
The current ecological crisis is a matter of urgent global concern, with solutions being sought on many fronts. In this book, Seyyed Hossein Nasr argues that the devastation of our world has been exacerbated, if not actually caused, by the reductionist view of nature that has been advanced by modern secular science. What is needed, he believes, is the recovery of the truth to which the great, enduring religions all attest; namely that nature is sacred. Nasr traces the historical process through which Western civilization moved away from the idea of nature as sacred and embraced a world view which sees humans as alienated from nature and nature itself as a machine to be dominated and manipulated by humans. His goal is to negate the totalitarian claims of modern science and to re-open the way to the religious view of the order of nature, developed over centuries in the cosmologies and sacred sciences of the great traditions. Each tradition, Nasr shows, has a wealth of knowledge and experience concerning the order of nature. The resuscitation of this knowledge, he argues, would allow religions all over the globe to enrich each other and cooperate to heal the wounds inflicted upon the Earth.
Humans are made in the image of God, and authentically coming to be human means to become like him. This work pursues a robust and renewed theology of grace in conversation with the patristic traditions of Irenaeus, the Cappadocian Fathers, and Augustine, the medieval theology of Maximus and Aquinas, and such modern interlocutors as Soren Kierkegaard, Bernard Lonergan, John Milbank, and John Behr. It thereby regrounds our interpretation of Scripture in the wide tradition of the church. By doing so, it argues that Christ's incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection form the only possible point of reference by which we can understand the universe, as God creates it and works in it to bring us into union with himself.
The Philokalia by Brock Bingaman,Bradley Nassif Pdf
The Philokalia (literally "love of the beautiful or good") is, after the Bible, the most influential source of spiritual tradition within the Orthodox Church. First published in Greek in 1782 by St. Nicodemos of the Holy Mountain and St. Macarios of Corinth, the Philokalia includes works by thirty-six influential Orthodox authors from the fourth to fifteenth-centuries such as Maximus the Confessor, Peter of Damascus, Symeon the New Theologian, and Gregory Palamas. Surprisingly, this important collection of theological and spiritual writings has received little scholarly attention. With the growing interest in Orthodox theology, the need for a substantive resource for philokalic studies has become increasingly evident. The purpose of the present volume is to remedy that lack by providing an ecumenical collection of scholarly essays on the Philokalia that will introduce readers to its background, motifs, authors, and relevance for contemporary life and thought.
Cosmic Prayer and Guided Transformation by Robert Govaerts Pdf
This book presents a realistic and thoroughly spiritual outlook upon the entire created reality. It lets us envisage that various created entities are participant in a relationship with God that becomes increasingly one of an intimate personal quality; that is, a relationship of love. It thus invites discernment that the universal reality is valuable in its own right and not only as a good for the use of humanity. Drawing mainly upon Scripture, ancient writers (especially Maximus the Confessor), as well as contemporary natural sciences, this book encourages the reader to perceive human salvation not as a lifting of humanity out of creation, but as a transformation into God's presence in the midst of the wider created order. It shows that Christian faith at its best does not exclude the wider creation but provides us with insight and hope for a harmonious being-in-God that is inclusive of creation. It shows that Christian faith can be a resource that helps overcome the ecological crisis.
Analogia by Maximos Constas,Vladimir Cvetković,Emma Brown Dewhurst,Nevena Dimitrova,Demetrios Harper,Atanasije Jevtić,Nikolaos Loudovikos,Smilen Markov,Sebastian Mateiescu,Dionysios Skliris Pdf
Analogia is a peer-reviewed academic journal dedicated to the scholarly exposition and discussion of the theological principles of the Christian faith. A distinguishing feature of this journal will be the effort to advance a dialogue between Orthodox Christianity and the views and concerns of Western modes of theological and philosophical thought. A key secondary objective is to provide a scholarly context for the further examination and study of common Christian sources. Though theological and philosophical topics of interest are the primary focus of the journal, the content of Analogia will not be restricted to material that originates exclusively from these disciplines. Insofar as the journal seeks to cultivate theological discourse and engagement with the urgent challenges and questions posed by modernity, topics from an array of disciplines will also be considered, including the natural and social sciences. As such, solicited and unsolicited submissions of high academic quality containing topics of either a theological or interdisciplinary nature will be encouraged. In an effort to facilitate dialogue, provision will be made for peer-reviewed critical responses to articles that deal with high-interest topics. Analogia strives to provide an interdisciplinary forum wherein Christian theology is further explored and assumes the role of an interlocutor with the multiplicity of difficulties facing modern humanity.
Plotinus and Augustine on the Mid-Rank of Soul by Joseph Torchia Op Pdf
This book addresses the mid-rank of the soul theme as it emerges in Plotinus and Augustine in the context of their respective interpretations of universal order. They both use the journey metaphor to describe the soul's progress through the turbulent "sea" of earthly existence.
Are humans the only creatures that can appreciate God's creation? What if consciousness is spread more widely across all things? This volume examines panpsychism through the lens of Christian doctrine. Minding Creation is the first substantial examination of what a panpsychist theory of consciousness implies for key theological debates concerning God's presence and action, evolution and the origin of the soul, human uniqueness and the environmental crisis. Joanna Leidenhag develops a theological panpsychism that is based on an exceptionally wide range of scholarship. Minding Creation draws on the theologies of historical figures such as Augustine of Hippo, Gottfried von Leibniz and others, in order to create a critical and constructive conversation with contemporary analytic philosophers of mind, such as Thomas Nagel, Galen Strawson, and David J. Chalmers. Leidenhag also discusses key concepts and issues, such as emergence theory, divine action, and ecology. She concludes that God created a universe from nothing which is filled with indwelling powers, sacramental value, and intrinsic experience. This is a creation in which the Holy Spirit is internally present at every point, a creation that worships God, and a creation that human beings must protect and lead in praise.
Christianity and the Culture of Relativism in the Anthropologies of Joseph Ratzinger and Stanley Hauerwas by Charles Ssennyondo STL STD Pdf
Joseph Ratzinger rates relativism as the greatest challenge of the Church today. What he describes is not a new phenomenon but his theology highlights its origins and magnitude. Stanley Hauerwas fights the same battle on the Protestant side. This book attempts to discover and streamline their deliberations, showing their meeting points and where they differ, and remedies they offer to combat the crisis. It seeks to argue out the best response to relativism that can most appropriately benefit both Western and African Christendom. Despite being a Western phenomenon, relativism is no longer an exclusively Western problem. It is, rather, imposing itself as the new world culture, depicting all other cultures and perspectives as inferior. Ratzinger christened this the Dictatorship of Relativism, while Hauerwas calls it Policing of Christian Values. While Ratzingers greatest worry is relativisms denial of Truth (mostly from outside the ekklesia), for Hauerwas, relativism is not a force from without (of the Church) but part and parcel of the peoples modern ways of life, in which Christian values are persecuted in the name of peaceful existence. Both perspectives point at a crisis of cultures where the past is rejected and the future disconnected from the present, which trend inevitably leads to disintegration a leap into the dark. While the pre-Modern world sought God, the Modern world sought knowledge. The contemporary world seeks relativism. But all is not lost. The truth can still be found through the word of God and Christian culture.
"I came that you may have life and have it in all its fullness" (John 10:10). In this book, Revd Dr. Steven Underdown presents the paschal mystery--the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus--as the means by which the Son first realized that utter fullness of life which God had always intended for humankind. He also argues that it is only in and though the paschal mystery that human beings find their fulfillment. Only insofar as someone is open to be given in love is that person open to receive fullness of new life. The book explores some of the ways by which, under God's grace, the church can establish patterns of life and worship which will enable growth into the paschal mystery. It focuses in particular on a weekly pattern of life established in various parish and monastic communities in which every week is celebrated as a kind of "Holy Week in miniature." This pattern--termed the Pattern of the Week--is seen as providing a context for life-giving response to the divine initiative.
The Gift of Living in the Divine Will in the Writings of Luisa Piccarreta by Rev. Joseph Iannuzzi Pdf
Known for his previous best selling Catholic books such as, The Splendor of Creation and Proper Catholic Perspectives, Rev. Dr. Joseph L. Iannuzzi's long awaited book, The Gift of Living in the Divine Will in the Writings of Luisa Piccarreta, is finally available. Iannuzzi's thoroughly documented and highly researched account of Piccarreta's life is unparalleled in its scope and depth, and is the definitive work of the life and writings of Luisa Piccarreta. Born in 1865 in Corato, Italy, Luisa Piccarreta began receiving revelations at age 12 and was called by God to become a victim soul. At a very tender age God spoke to her about a gift he wishes to bestow upon the world that will set it free and inaugurate an Era of World Peace. God refers to this gift as “Living in the Divine Will”, for it is through an act of God’s will that the earth will be made pure and mankind will become holy. Just as God the Father created the world, and the Son of God redeemed it, so the Holy Spirit will sanctify it through the outpouring of this gift. According to Luisa’s revelations, although God created us without us, he cannot save us without us. Therefore, he reveals himself to Luisa so that through her, we may come to know the loving gift he has prepared for us – the gift that will restore us to the holiness that Adam and Even enjoyed in Eden, and that will set all creation free. St. Paul affirms that “all creation groans with eager longings, waiting to be set free from its slavery to corruption and enjoy the glorious freedom of the sons of God,” and God tells Luisa that those who live in the Divine Will will be those sons of God who set creation free. This book is divided into 7 chapters. Chapter 1 presents a biographical sketch of Luisa’s life; Chapters 2-4 explore the importance of the gift of Living in the Divine Will; Chapters 5-7 compare this gift to the Church’s Eastern and Western traditions. Because this book bears the ecclesiastical “seal of approval” of the Pontifical University of Rome that is authorized by the Holy See, it enjoys a particular status that ensures sound doctrinal content for the Christian faithful. If you are familiar with the extraordinary life of Luisa Piccarreta, then this book will truly bring you deeper into her life and the gift of the “Divine Will”. If you are not, then you are truly in for a special and extraordinary experience that will change your life. It is a story perhaps unparalleled in the history of mystical theology, written by whom many consider the Church’s most authoritative person on the subject.
This book explores how traces of the energies and dynamics of Orthodox Christian theology and anthropology may be observed in the clinical work of depth psychology. Looking to theology to express its own religious truths and to psychology to see whether these truth claims show up in healing modalities, the author creatively engages both disciplines in order to highlight the possibilities for healing contained therein. Dynamis of Healing elucidates how theology and psychology are by no means fundamentally at odds with each other but rather can work together in a beautiful and powerful synergia to address both the deepest needs and deepest desires of the human person for healing and flourishing.