Deification in Christ: Orthodox Perspectives on the Nature of the Human Person
Overview
In this extraordinary study, Panayiotis Nellas examines certain central themes of patristic anthropology synthetically, throughout the whole range of patristic literature. He then treats the same themes in an individual father’s work and in a service from the Orthodox liturgy. He cites a number of patristic passages at length and provides references and notes which incorporate the findings of modern scholarship. This approach not only provides an excellent introduction to patristic anthropology, but also clearly demonstrates the internal consistency and coherence of the Orthodox understanding of man and his relation to God and the world.
Top Highlights
“Christ accomplishes the salvation of man not only in a negative way, liberating him from the consequences of original sin, but also in a positive way, completing his iconic, prelapsarian ‘being.’ His relationship with man is not only that of a healer. The salvation of man is something much wider than redemption; it coincides with deification.” (Page 39)
“the garments of skin are not to be identified with the human body” (Page 45)
“God is not an external ‘principle’ (archi) on which man depends, but truly and in reality his ontological origin (archi) and consummation. Having been made in the image of God, man has a theological structure. And to be a true man he must at every moment exist and live theocentrically. When he denies God he denies himself and destroys himself. When he lives theocentrically he realizes himself by reaching out into infinity; he attains his true fulfilment by extending into eternity.” (Page 42)
“The essential gulf between created and uncreated nature is absolute and infinite. But the equally infinite goodness of God, without abolishing that essential gulf, has been pleased to bridge it in a real way from the beginning with the uncreated divine energies.” (Page 31)
“The energies of God, which support and conserve the created order, and have in relation to the world the aim of guiding it towards its perfection, acquire in man a specific created vehicle, which is the freedom of man, and a specific direction, which is the union of man with the divine Logos. This is the meaning of the expression ‘in the image.’” (Page 31)
- Title: Deification in Christ: Orthodox Perspectives on the Nature of the Human Person
- Author: Panayiotis Nellas
- Edition: 5
- Series: Contemporary Greek Theologians
- Publisher: St Vladimir’s Seminary Press
- Print Publication Date: 1987
- Logos Release Date: 2015
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
- Subjects: Image of God › History of doctrines--Early Church, ca. 30-600; Salvation › History of doctrines--Early church, ca. 30-600; Spirituality › Orthodox Eastern Church--History of doctrines--Middle ages, 600-1500; Orthodox Eastern Church › Doctrines--History; Cabasilas, Nicolaus, 14th cent; Man (Christian theology) › History of doctrines--Early Church, ca. 30-600; Man (Christian theology) › History of doctrines--Middle Ages, 600-1500
- ISBNs: 9780881410303, 0881410306
- Resource ID: LLS:DFCTNCHRST
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2024-03-25T19:35:09Z