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Books > Religion & Spirituality > Christianity > Orthodox Churches
For over forty years, John Garvey was the "ballast" of Commonweal
magazine. His award-winning essays and consistently notable columns
revealed not only his acuity and alacrity, but his uncommon
spiritual insight. These in turn provided momentum and substance
for whatever followed in an issue of the magazine because Garvey
never hesitated to wrestle with some of the most challenging and
intractable topics of the day, and did so with a rich pastoral
sensitivity, and a refreshing and rare intelligence. Only Wonder
Comprehends gleans from John Garvey's many contributions to
Commonweal that reflect his spiritual depth and deep appreciation
of history, politics, theology, and culture. Steeped in the
Christian tradition, Garvey loved to write and, in return, his
readers relished what he wrote. It is hoped that this collection of
his writings from Commonweal will inspire readers to cultivate a
similar sense of attentiveness and commitment, for as the author
himself observed, "Religious traditions are meant to transform us,
not to affirm us as we are."
Chesterton's classic explanation of the essentials of the Christian faith and of his pilgrimage to belief. Written in 1908, it displays all the intellectual clarity and literary skill of one of this century's greatest and most thoughtful authors.
Deification in the Greek patristic tradition was the fulfilment of
the destiny for which humanity was created - not merely salvation
from sin but entry into the fullness of the divine life of the
Trinity. This book, the first on the subject for over sixty years,
traces the history of deification from its birth as a
second-century metaphor with biblical roots to its maturity as a
doctrine central to the spiritual life of the Byzantine Church.
Drawing attention to the richness and diversity of the patristic
approaches from Irenaeus to Maximus the Confessor, Norman Russell
offers a full discussion of the background and context of the
doctrine, at the same time highlighting its distinctively Christian
character.
This book gathers a wide range of theological perspectives from
Orthodox European countries, Russia and the United States in order
to demonstrate how divergent the positions are within Orthodox
Christianity. Orthodoxy is often considered to be out-of-sync with
contemporary society, set apart in a world of its own where the
church intertwines with the state, in order to claim power over the
populace and ignore the individual voices of modern societies. As a
collective, these essays present a different understanding of the
relationship of Orthodoxy to secular politics; comprehensive,
up-to-date and highly relevant to politically understanding today's
world. The contributors present their views and arguments by
drawing lessons from the past, and by elaborating visions for how
Orthodox Christianity can find its place in the contemporary
liberal democratic order, while also drawing on the experience of
the Western Churches and denominations. Touching upon aspects such
as anarchism, economy and political theology, these contributions
examine how Orthodox Christianity reacts to liberal democracy, and
explore the ways that this branch of religion can be rendered more
compatible with political modernity.
The Idea of Nicaea in the Early Church Councils examines the role
that appeals to Nicaea (both the council and its creed) played in
the major councils of the mid-fifth century. It argues that the
conflict between rival construals of Nicaea, and the struggle
convincingly to arbitrate between them, represented a key dynamic
driving-and unsettling-the conciliar activity of these decades.
Mark S. Smith identifies a set of inherited assumptions concerning
the role that Nicaea was expected to play in orthodox
discourse-namely, that it possessed unique authority as a conciliar
event, and sole sufficiency as a credal statement. The fundamental
dilemma was thus how such shibboleths could be persuasively
reaffirmed in the context of a dispute over Christological doctrine
that the resources of the Nicene Creed were inadequate to address,
and how the convening of new oecumenical councils could avoid
fatally undermining Nicaea's special status. Smith examines the
articulation of these contested ideas of 'Nicaea' at the councils
of Ephesus I (431), Constantinople (448), Ephesus II (449), and
Chalcedon (451). Particular attention is paid to the role of
conciliar acta in providing carefully-shaped written contexts
within which the Nicene Creed could be read and interpreted. This
study proposes that the capacity of the idea of 'Nicaea' for
flexible re-expression was a source of opportunity as well as a
cause of strife, allowing continuity with the past to be asserted
precisely through adaptation and modification, and opening up
significant new paths for the articulation of credal and conciliar
authority. The work thus combines a detailed historical analysis of
the reception of Nicaea in the proceedings of the fifth-century
councils, with an examination of the complex delineation of
theological 'orthodoxy' in this period. It also reflects more
widely on questions of doctrinal development and ecclesial
reception in the early church.
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Marginalized Voices
(Paperback)
Timothy B Cremeens; Foreword by Vinson Synan; Afterword by Bradley Nassif
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R763
Discovery Miles 7 630
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