‘Deification’ (Gk. ‘theosis‘) is a term widely used in Eastern Orthodox theology for the process by which God’s grace transforms believers into his likeness. It involves belief that grace reverses the effects of the Fall, and confers on the believer the ‘divine’ attributes of incorruptibility and immortality. But
…‘its central tenet is that God through the Incarnation of his Son has called men to share the Divine life in the Son.’ (Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, art.
According to legend, in 987 Prince Vladimir of Kiev sent emissaries to different countries of the world to learn about the religion and worship of each. The Muslims were found to be ‘disgraceful’ and the Western Christians without ‘glory’. Of Constantinople, at the cathedral church of Hagia Sophia, they reported:
…‘We knew not whether we were in heaven or on earth. For on earth there is no such splendor or such beauty, and we are at a loss how to describe it.
From Christian History Magazine, Issue 54 – Eastern Orthodoxy
The transcendence of God
‘God cannot be grasped by the mind. If he could be grasped, he would not be God.’
—Evagrius of Pontus (d. 399)
‘One day some of the brethren came to see Abba Antony, and among them was Abba Joseph. Wishing to test them, the old man mentioned a text from Scripture, and starting with the youngest, he asked them what it meant.…
Vladimir Berzonsky, in his contribution to ‘Three Views on Eastern Orthodoxy and Evangelicalism‘ sets out in a striking way a characteristic feature of Orthodox worship, and how this contrasts with (what he understands to be) the Evangelical view.
‘When the Orthodox Christians come together to experience the joy of Eucharist’, Berzonsky explains,
…‘only the best will do. Church as building becomes a temple, set apart to be made holy—prelude and paradigm of the world become church.
The Eastern Orthodox Church is also known as the Orthodox Church.
Foundations were laid in the pre-Chalcedonian period (up to 451) with the writings of Athanasius, Chrysostom, Cyril of Alexandria, and the Cappadocian Fathers (Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian, Gregory of Nyssa). The theology of these teachers found expression in the ecumenical councils of Nicaea (325), Constantinople (381) and Ephesus (431).
The early Byzantine period (451–843) included what was, for the Orthodox, the last ecumenical council (Nicaea, 787). …
What are the key theological differences between Eastern Orthodoxy and Protestantism?
1. Celebrating the Unknowable
Orthodox theology resists what it sees as the unduly rational approach of the West. John of Damascus (655–749) wrote,
‘It is plain, then, that there is a God. But what he is in his essence and nature is absolutely incomprehensible and unknowable.… All that is comprehensible about him is his incomprehensibility.’
This reflects an ‘apophatic’ theology, which tries to describe God in terms of what he is not. …
John 3:5 Jesus answered, “I tell you the solemn truth, unless a person is born of water and spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.”
1. Some think that the expression refers to water baptism and spiritual regeneration by the Spirit
Such interpreters might represent baptism (either John’s baptism or Christian baptism) as a means of regeneration, and the Spirit as the primary cause of regeneration. Note that John’s baptism with water and Jesus’ baptism with the Spirit are connected in Jn 1:33, and Christian baptism with water is connected with the reception of the Holy Spirit in Acts 2:38.…
This question, argue Kevin DeYoung and Greg Gilbert, prompts a whole raft of further questions:
…‘The question is deceptively complex and potentially divisive. For starters, what do we even mean by mission? And if that can be settled, we then face more difficult questions. Is the mission of the church discipleship or good deeds or both? Is the mission of the church the same as the mission of God? Is the mission of the church distinct from the responsibilities of individual Christians?
Why plant churches? Tony Merida answers:
2 Peter 1:4 ‘[God] has bestowed on us his precious and most magnificent promises, so that by means of what was promised you may become partakers of the divine nature, after escaping the worldly corruption that is produced by evil desire.’
This is one of the most striking claims in the whole of Scripture. Although the phraseology here is unique, the thought is echoed in Jn 1:12; 1 Jn 3:2-3; 1 Pet 5:1, and Rom 8:23,29.…
