Theosis. Группа авторов

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Theosis - Группа авторов


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(Zizioulas)—in Russell’s opinion, is not so much evidence of divergence, as “the fruit of profound meditation on different strands of the patristic tradition” that are mainly complementary.11

      One noteworthy recent publication on theosis that attempts to offer a constructive theological examination is Paul Collins’s Partaking in Divine Nature: Deification and Communion (2010). Collins briefly reviews deificational precedents in popular pre-Christian Roman and Greek piety, Greek philosophy, Christian Scripture, and early patristic theology. His main focus is on an analysis of deification in Eastern Orthodoxy, which he presents in a reverse historical perspective, starting with the modern period and sequentially moving back to Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite and Maximus the Confessor. Acknowledging the central role of theosis in Eastern Orthodox theology, often viewed as the core expression of self-understanding and the peculiar identity of this tradition, Collins proceeds to survey theosis in Western theology. His overview of Western Christian tradition includes not only medieval witness to deification, but also examination of explicit and implicit evidence of what he terms as “an architecture of the metaphor of deification” in the Reformation (including the Radical Reformation), Pietism, the Oxford movement, the Holiness movement, and concludes with contemporary Roman Catholic expression.

      In this book, Collins is drawing a survey of deification that stretches over two-and-a-half millennia. This does not leave much room for a detailed assessment of peculiarities related to theosis diversity; nevertheless, his book presents an important reminder of, and testimony to, the vitality of the deification theme in both Eastern and Western Christian traditions. Particular interest in this book is due to Collins’s methodology of functionalization, and construal of the deification metaphor for contemporary theology, within the methodology of mystical theology, dynamic participation in the Trinity, sacramental theology, and the practice of virtuous life in Christ. This book presents one of the first theological constructive assessments of theosis and its importance for contemporary Christianity.

      Portraying God’s kenotic descent in Christ, and his acting in what can be seen as a shockingly ungodly manner for the common human perception of divinity, Paul elevates the significance of Christ’s suffering, death, and resurrection, and proclaims Christ to be the Lord, in contrast to the typical Roman understanding of imperial power and honor. The contrast between the divinity of Christ, kenotically manifested in his humanity, and the divinity of the Roman imperial cult, is especially important for an understanding of vertical and horizontal dimensions of divine economy and its manifestation in Christian community. It is also important for understanding the role of Christian community in the participatory and reciprocal process of transformative deification: a process that is both reminiscent of traditional Christian understanding of the imitatio Christi, and the representation of theosis as christification.

      Gorman’s interpretation of Paul’s understanding of kenosis, justification, reconciliation, sanctification, holiness, participation, co-crucifixion, and theosis, reciprocally tied together not only sheds a new light on the contemporary field of Pauline studies but also allows us to see Paul and the coherence of his theology in a more historically and theologically adequate perspective. Intentionally or unintentionally, Inhabiting the Cruciform God creates a bridge from exclusively New Testament Studies, to the role and influence of Paul’s writings on the development of patristic theology; or at least how early Christian authors read and understood Paul.

      In my book, “The Beauty of the Unity and the Harmony of the Whole:” The Concept of Theosis in the Theology of Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite (2009), I attempt to trace the emergence and development of the deification theme in Greek patristic


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