Deification in Christ: Orthodox Perspectives on the Nature of the Human Person

Publication Data: Crestwood, NY: St Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1987
Format: softcover
Number of Pages: 254
Dimensions (l × w × h): 21.6 cm × 14.0 cm × 1.5 cm
ISBN-13: 978‒0‒88141‒030‒3
ISBN-10: 0‒88141‒030‒6

   
Panayiotis Nellas
Translated from the Greek by Norman Russell
with a Foreword by Bishop Kallistos of Diokleia

Number Five of Contemporary Greek Theologians

“Patristic anthropology does not form a system. But the rich material which the Fathers provide, consistent as it is within itself, could lead the modern scholar to the easy solution of presenting the living truths of the Fathers as mere concepts and of using them to build up a well-articulated logical structure. I have tried to counter this danger—fear a system, say the Fathers, as you would fear a lion—by giving the book a five-fold structure. Accordingly, I approach the same unified theme in five distinct ways. In the first part of the book certain central themes of patristic anthropology are examined synthetically but not systematically throughout the whole range of patristic literature, and their significance is determined for the crucial problem of our time, the relationship of the Church to the world. In the second part the same theme is examined in a particular Father; and in the third, in a Church service. In the fourth part a number of key patristic passages are cited at length to give the reader an immediate taste of the perception and witness of the Fathers. The fifth approach consists in the provision of references and notes in which the book’s theses are further developed by the use of the modern scientific theological method.”
—“Preface”

CONTENTS

   FOREWORD
   PREFACE
PART ONE
THE IMAGE OF GOD AND THE “GARMENTS OF SKIN”
   I. THE IMAGE OF GOD
      1. Man as an image of the Archetype: “image of the Image”
         (a) The christological structure of man
         (b) The destiny of man in Christ
         (c) The origin of man in Christ
      2. The Archetype of man: the incarnate Logos
   II. THE “GARMENTS OF SKIN”
      1. The general anthropological content
      2. The transformation of the prelapsarian powers of that which is “in the image” into “garments of skin”
      3. The two-fold character of the “garments of skin”
      4. The anthropological and cosmological dimensions of the two-fold reality of the “garments of skin”
         (a) Death
         (b) Law
         (c) Marriage
         (d) Function of Life
   III. CONSEQUENCES OF THE THEOLOGY OF THE IMAGE AND OF THE “GARMENTS OF SKIN” FOR THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE CHURCH AND THE WORLD
      1. The Church judges the world
      2. The Church says “yes” to the world
      3. The task of contemporary Christian theology
PART TWO
THE SPIRITUAL LIFE IN CHRIST
   I. THE PRESUPPOSITIONS OF THE SPIRITUAL LIFE: SALVATION IN CHRIST
   II. THE NATURE OF THE SPIRITUAL LIFE: THE LIFE IN CHRIST
   III. THE LIVING OF THE SPIRITUAL LIFE
      1. The Christification of man’s being
      2. The Christification of movement
      3. The Christification of life
      4. The Christification of mind
      5. The Christification of the will
   IV. THE FRUITS OF THE SPIRITUAL LIFE
      1. The transformation of creation into ecclesial communion
      2. Theocentric humanism
      3. The unity and organization of the Church
   V. THE COSMIC BODY OF CHRIST THE SAVIOR: THE ESCHATOLOGICAL TRANSFORMATION OF THE UNIVERSE
PART THREE
THE ANTHROPOLOGICAL AND COSMOLOGICAL CONTEXT OF UNION WITH GOD
   I. THE COSMOLOGICAL CONTEXT
   II. THE PRELAPSARIAN ANTHROPOLOGICAL CONTEXT
   III. THE CONTEXT OF CONTRITION
   IV. THE CONTEXT OF RETURN
   V. THE DENOUEMENT OF THE DRAMA
PART FOUR
PATRISTIC TEXTS
   NOTE ON THE CHOICE OF TEXTS
   I. ST IRENAIOS
      Against Heresies IV, 38, 1–3
   II. ST GREGORY THE THEOLOGIAN
      Oration 45, On Easter 7–9
   III. ST GREGORY OF NYSSA
      On Virginity 12–13
   IV. ST MAXIMOS THE CONFESSOR
      1. Ambigua, PG 91, 1304D–1312B.
      2. Ambigua, PG 91, 1248A–1249C.
      3. Ambigua, PG 91, 1345C–1349A.
   V. ST NICOLAS KAVASILAS
      The Life in Christ 6, PG 150, 680A–684B.
   VI. ST NIKODIMOS OF THE HOLY MOUNTAIN
      Apologia
   BIBLIOGRAPHY
   GLOSSARY
   INDEX OF PATRISTIC TEXTS
INDEX OF SUBJECTS