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Contemporary Greek Theologians #5
Deification in Christ: Orthodox Perspectives on the Nature of the Human Person
The Church Fathers asserted that man's true greatness is to be found in the fact that he is "called to be a god." They stressed that man realizes his true existence in the measure in which he is raised up toward God and united with Him. In the foreword to this study, Bishop Kallistos (Ware) reflects on how difficult it is today, because of our modern understanding of the human person, to find the right words to express the subtle but significant ways that Christian writers of the past saw this mysterious, often indefinable character of the human person.
According to Bishop Kallistos, "few if any works have opened up for me more lines of inquiry than Deification in Christ" and few have helped me better to appreciate the Patristic approach" to the nature and destiny of man.
In this extraordinary study, Panayiotis Nellas examines certain central themes of patristic anthropology synthetically, throughout the whole range of patristic anthropology synthetically, throughout the whole range of patristic literature. He then treats the same themes in a single father and in a service from the Orthodox liturgy. Finally, 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.
Deification in Christ is part of the CONTEMPORARY GREEK THEOLOGIANS SERIES.
254 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 1987
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
January 29, 2014
I have read and re-read and dogeared the first part of this book: "The Image of God and the Garments of Skin". I absolutely love the way that Nellas presents the Fall of Man and the garments of skin with which God covered him on his way out of the Garden. That first part alone is well worth the price of this book.
April 7, 2023
This was a really hard book to rate. Kind of a high 3, low 4. What it has to say is really deep and amazing, but it's also definitely not for your average reader.
This is primarily a book on the Eastern Orthodox view of what it means to be human. It takes a broad look at the Scriptures and Church Fathers to answer questions such as what is the purpose of our existence, why was Christ incarnated, what does it mean that humanity has "fallen" and how has that affected the way the world functions and what did God do about it and why? You know, the simple things. ;) It's broken into four parts with one part being the author's synthesis and understanding of this concept, another part engaging with St. Nicolas Kavasilas' writings on the subject, a third part looking at these questions through a study of the Canon of St. Andrew, and a fourth part presenting selective texts from the Church Fathers.
So, the overall message and teaching of this book is phenomenal. It really dives in deep to explore the relationship between God and humanity and the rest of creation and explain what that means for our life and all of history. It looks at how the Incarnation and the sacraments must be what they are and how they work to help us, as well as what exactly happened to humanity in the Garden of Eden. It's a true, deep study of how and why to what purpose we were created, and it draws on a plethora of ancient sources to back up its conclusions. The viewpoint of God and His relationship with us in this book is truly profound, transcending much of what I was taught in Western Christian circles. It is a beautiful and hopeful message of love.
But it is so dense. I mean, just incredibly dense. The forward described this author as writing theology for the average church goer, and I don't know if something just got lost in translation or if it's just the fact that this book is as old as I am, but this is absolutely not the case. It's 100% a seminary book, studious, complex, and very heady. What's frustrating is that I don't think it needs to be! There is so much good and deep stuff in this book that it really should make efforts to be intelligible to more people than just those with Bible degrees. I also don't understand why it was laid out the way it was. The preface from the author says newcomers to this subject should start with part two to read St. Nicolas Kavasilas' thoughts first before reading his, and, in my mind, that's a poor way to arrange a book. If you're unsure of the knowledge of the people who are reading your book, always assume the least. Lead with St. Nicolas' thoughts and then introduce your own if you're concerned about it! If someone is already familiar with him, then they can just skip part one. That makes way more sense than requiring unfamiliar readers to read part two then jump back to part one. Personally, I would've just synthesized all the parts together and divided the book up by topic segment, not necessarily by writer/opinion. But that's just my personal preference for what I think would help the book flow easier. Others may not feel the same way.
Basically, if you're accustomed to reading scholarly works, I'd absolutely recommend this because it is just so profound. But, if you're not, this book will just be a headache and you'll struggle to get anything out of it. It desperately needs a modern makeover because it is absolutely something all Christians should have the opportunity to read and ponder without needing to be specialists.
This is primarily a book on the Eastern Orthodox view of what it means to be human. It takes a broad look at the Scriptures and Church Fathers to answer questions such as what is the purpose of our existence, why was Christ incarnated, what does it mean that humanity has "fallen" and how has that affected the way the world functions and what did God do about it and why? You know, the simple things. ;) It's broken into four parts with one part being the author's synthesis and understanding of this concept, another part engaging with St. Nicolas Kavasilas' writings on the subject, a third part looking at these questions through a study of the Canon of St. Andrew, and a fourth part presenting selective texts from the Church Fathers.
So, the overall message and teaching of this book is phenomenal. It really dives in deep to explore the relationship between God and humanity and the rest of creation and explain what that means for our life and all of history. It looks at how the Incarnation and the sacraments must be what they are and how they work to help us, as well as what exactly happened to humanity in the Garden of Eden. It's a true, deep study of how and why to what purpose we were created, and it draws on a plethora of ancient sources to back up its conclusions. The viewpoint of God and His relationship with us in this book is truly profound, transcending much of what I was taught in Western Christian circles. It is a beautiful and hopeful message of love.
But it is so dense. I mean, just incredibly dense. The forward described this author as writing theology for the average church goer, and I don't know if something just got lost in translation or if it's just the fact that this book is as old as I am, but this is absolutely not the case. It's 100% a seminary book, studious, complex, and very heady. What's frustrating is that I don't think it needs to be! There is so much good and deep stuff in this book that it really should make efforts to be intelligible to more people than just those with Bible degrees. I also don't understand why it was laid out the way it was. The preface from the author says newcomers to this subject should start with part two to read St. Nicolas Kavasilas' thoughts first before reading his, and, in my mind, that's a poor way to arrange a book. If you're unsure of the knowledge of the people who are reading your book, always assume the least. Lead with St. Nicolas' thoughts and then introduce your own if you're concerned about it! If someone is already familiar with him, then they can just skip part one. That makes way more sense than requiring unfamiliar readers to read part two then jump back to part one. Personally, I would've just synthesized all the parts together and divided the book up by topic segment, not necessarily by writer/opinion. But that's just my personal preference for what I think would help the book flow easier. Others may not feel the same way.
Basically, if you're accustomed to reading scholarly works, I'd absolutely recommend this because it is just so profound. But, if you're not, this book will just be a headache and you'll struggle to get anything out of it. It desperately needs a modern makeover because it is absolutely something all Christians should have the opportunity to read and ponder without needing to be specialists.
August 11, 2022
“The Fathers, as we can see in their writings, do not hesitate to appropriate the wonder of the Greeks at man as a "microcosm," that is to say, at the fact that man recapitulates within himself the whole universe. And yet even this great fact is still too small for the Fathers. They hasten to complete it by adding that the true greatness of man is not found in his being the highest biological existence, a "rational" or "political" animal, but in his being a "deified animal," in the fact that he constitutes a created existence "which has received the command to become a god. " His greatness does not lie simply in his being a "microcosm" but in his being called to become "a mystical Church," a vast new world within the small old one. "For each of us is brought forth by God as a second world, a vast one in this small visible one." "In what does human greatness lie?" asks Gregory of Nyssa. And he replies: "Not in his likeness to the created world, but in the fact that he is made in the image of the nature of the Creator." This signifies that the greatness of man lies in his destiny, in his appointed end. As the truth of the material creation and its potentialities are revealed and realized in man, so too the truth of created man and his potentialities are revealed and realized in the uncreated God. With this it becomes evident that the reason why man remains and will remain a mystery to science is the fact that what lies at his core, by reason of his very structure, is a theological being which falls outside the scope of science.
[...]
The real anthropological meaning of deification is Christification. It is no accident that in his Letter to the Colossians, where he hymns Christ as "the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation" (Col 1:15), St Paul calls on "every man" to become mature in Christ" (Col 1 :28) , and adds that the faithful "have come to fullness of life in Him" (Col 2 : 10) . When he urges the faithful to show that they are attaining "to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ" (Eph 4:13) , and to acquire "the mind of Christ" (1 Cor 2 :16), the heart of Christ ( cf. Eph 3: 17) and so on, St Paul does not do so for reasons of external piety and sentiment; he speaks ontologically. He is not advocating an external imitation or a simple ethical improvement but a real Christification. For, as St Maximos says, "God the divine Logos wishes to effect the mystery of His incarnation always and in all things."
[...]
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.”
― Panayiotis Nellas, Deification in Christ: Orthodox Perspectives on the Nature of the Human Person
[...]
The real anthropological meaning of deification is Christification. It is no accident that in his Letter to the Colossians, where he hymns Christ as "the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation" (Col 1:15), St Paul calls on "every man" to become mature in Christ" (Col 1 :28) , and adds that the faithful "have come to fullness of life in Him" (Col 2 : 10) . When he urges the faithful to show that they are attaining "to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ" (Eph 4:13) , and to acquire "the mind of Christ" (1 Cor 2 :16), the heart of Christ ( cf. Eph 3: 17) and so on, St Paul does not do so for reasons of external piety and sentiment; he speaks ontologically. He is not advocating an external imitation or a simple ethical improvement but a real Christification. For, as St Maximos says, "God the divine Logos wishes to effect the mystery of His incarnation always and in all things."
[...]
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.”
― Panayiotis Nellas, Deification in Christ: Orthodox Perspectives on the Nature of the Human Person
December 12, 2019
Nellas spends much of the beginning of the book developing the theology of man as an archetype of Christ. Jesus Christ is the true image of man for which Adam was created. Theosis is man's true end (telos). Man in united to God through the hypostatic union and through the divine uncreated energy of God.
Since Adam fell into sin, he puts on death and mortality. Nellas describes the "garments of skin" referenced in Genesis and the prelapsarian and postlapsarian states surrounding the fall.
Then Nellas outlines a spiritual, and quite practical, theology of Christification and sanctification. Here he draws on St Nicholas Kavasilas.
In the third part of the book, he relates the whole theology to their proper contexts in the liturgical services of the Church. He grounds the Theology of Deification in the hymns and psalms.
Finally, Nellas adds about 40 pages of text from various saints that essentially describe the same theological insights.
Overall this is a tour de force of a book!
5/5
Since Adam fell into sin, he puts on death and mortality. Nellas describes the "garments of skin" referenced in Genesis and the prelapsarian and postlapsarian states surrounding the fall.
Then Nellas outlines a spiritual, and quite practical, theology of Christification and sanctification. Here he draws on St Nicholas Kavasilas.
In the third part of the book, he relates the whole theology to their proper contexts in the liturgical services of the Church. He grounds the Theology of Deification in the hymns and psalms.
Finally, Nellas adds about 40 pages of text from various saints that essentially describe the same theological insights.
Overall this is a tour de force of a book!
5/5
June 28, 2024
This book is amazing and I will definitely read it again. While it is hard to understand at some points, and is definitely not reader friendly, the deep theology on Christ's Incarnation that is shared by Nellas through his extensive use of Scripture and Patristic writings is amazing.
May 24, 2014
This book is the wisdom of the Fathers, gathered by Nellas, and recapitulated in a succinct and organized fashion. Nellas writes in an academic tone for the sake of clarity but such a tone may be too much for some readers. The true treasure of this book is his work on elucidating the two-fold structure of the garments of skin. The first, negative aspect, being the natural result of man's aberration--imposed not by an angry God but the 'righteousness of the creation'--and the second, an internal 'weaving together' by God, allowing man to be illuminated and guided back to himself.
September 7, 2014
мені давно не подобається східне богослов'я, східний спосіб міркувати й говорити про бога. не подобаються розмитості й великі абстракції, під які можна – за належного зусилля – підігнати майже що завгодно. у нелласа такого справді чимало. проте цікаво: коли він в останньому розділі проговорює ті самі речі, що й раніше (о так, він любить повторюватися), але в конкретному контексті великопістного великого канону, читати його стає майже приємно*.
*що, мабуть, усе-таки більше каже про мене, ніж про нелласа.
*що, мабуть, усе-таки більше каже про мене, ніж про нелласа.
January 10, 2017
A very rich book of theological anthropology from an Orthodox perspective which also sheds a tremendous amount of light on the vision of Blessed James Alberione, founder of the Pauline Family, for whom "Christification" was the goal of human and Christian existence. My copy is well supplied now with all manner of bookmarks, underlining and margin notes.
Nellas drew a great deal from the medieval theologian Nicholas Cabasilas, whose book "The Life in Christ" I now have on my desk.
Nellas drew a great deal from the medieval theologian Nicholas Cabasilas, whose book "The Life in Christ" I now have on my desk.
Currently reading
April 22, 2019Man created in the image of God are not "God's looking in the mirror; rather,“image”archetypally represents purpose for our creation: “As the truth of an icon lies in the person it represents, so the truth of man lies in his archetype.”
The image is something whereby the eternal Logos could have incarnate from the beginning of the creation.
“It was for the New Man that human nature was originally created; it was for him that intellect and desire were prepared. We received rationality that we might know Christ, desire that we might run towards him. For the old Adam is not a model for the new, but the new a model for the old.”
The theological implication is an inverted "natural theology": That human is created with Imago Dei means what is truly“natural” to man is to be filled with God’s being. Mere “nature” without God is “unnatural”. Bereft of God, we are deceived into thinking that this small, visible world is all there is, and feel suffocated by it.
Nellas' Greek Orthodox theosis thesis shows how our natural senses may realize their divine potential, so as to “create the other, equally real conditions under which prayer, the supreme work of man, can take place”, introducing us to everlasting life.
//The privileged setting for such new perception is the liturgy. There, past events and eternal realities become contemporary, revealing our truth to ourselves, revealing the meaning of the world we inhabit. Standing as we are on the threshold of the Paschal solemnity, conscious of so much that needs to be put right, this insight is surely compelling.//
Review adapted from https://www.thetablet.co.uk/features/...
The image is something whereby the eternal Logos could have incarnate from the beginning of the creation.
“It was for the New Man that human nature was originally created; it was for him that intellect and desire were prepared. We received rationality that we might know Christ, desire that we might run towards him. For the old Adam is not a model for the new, but the new a model for the old.”
The theological implication is an inverted "natural theology": That human is created with Imago Dei means what is truly“natural” to man is to be filled with God’s being. Mere “nature” without God is “unnatural”. Bereft of God, we are deceived into thinking that this small, visible world is all there is, and feel suffocated by it.
Nellas' Greek Orthodox theosis thesis shows how our natural senses may realize their divine potential, so as to “create the other, equally real conditions under which prayer, the supreme work of man, can take place”, introducing us to everlasting life.
//The privileged setting for such new perception is the liturgy. There, past events and eternal realities become contemporary, revealing our truth to ourselves, revealing the meaning of the world we inhabit. Standing as we are on the threshold of the Paschal solemnity, conscious of so much that needs to be put right, this insight is surely compelling.//
Review adapted from https://www.thetablet.co.uk/features/...
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews