Participating with God
6 Jon Ruthven demonstrates concern for such a rift as manifest in Christian higher education; “Between Two Worlds: Theological Education vs. Christian Discipleship,” paper presented at Society of Pentecostal Studies Meeting, Lakeland, Florida (March 2002).
7 Maggie Ross, “Apophatic Prayer as a Theological Model: Seeking Coordinates In the Ineffable Notes For a Quantum Theology,” Journal of Literature and Theology 7, no.4, (December 1993): 325.
8 Ibid., 327.
9 Clendenin, Daniel B., “Partakers of Divinity: The Orthodox Doctrine of Theosis” JETS 37/3 (September 1994) 367; “Orthodox theologians contend that in the west the doctrines of sin and salvation have been unduly dominated by legal, juridicial and forensic categories.”
10 McIntosh, Mark A., Mystical Theology (Cornwall, UK: MPG Books, 1998), 63.
11 Brown, Colin, “The Enlightenment,” Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, Elwell, Walter A. ed. (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1999), 355.
12 VanderMolen, R.J., “Protestant Scholasticism,” EDT, 985. Thus, Benjamin Warfield finds case to blast the mystical in absolute terms; “We hear much of the revolt of mysticism against the forensic theory of the atonement and imputed righteousness. This is a mere euphemism for its revolt against all ‘atonement’ and all ‘justification.’ The whole external side of the Christian salvation simply falls away . . . We may be mystics, or we may be Christians. We cannot be both. And the pretension of being both usually merely veils defection from Christianity.” Biblical and Theological Studies (Philadelphia, PA: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Co., 1968), 459, 462. Warfield’s extreme characterization and critique cannot be supported by review of serious Eastern Orthodox theologians who indeed affirm mystical, participative ideals.
13 On the Mystical life: The Ethical Discourses, vol.1, St Symeon the New Theologian, A. Golitzen, trans. (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimer’s Press, 1995), 10.
14 John Meyenorff, “Councils and the Ecumenical Movement”, World Council Studies No.5, (Geneva: World Council of Churches, 1968), 15; cited by Calian, Theology Without Boundaries, 21. The West has not gone entirely without sympathizers, “but mainstream Protestantism has generally mistrusted or been openly hostile toward a mystical dimension of the spiritual life. In Catholic circles mystical theology was virtually submerged under the tide of enlightenment rationalism . . . Protestant evangelicals have responded with a generally rational theology of the letter of Scripture”, Martin, DD., “Mysticism,” Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, Elwell, ed. (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1999), 745.
15 Derek J. Tidball, “Christian Theology in a World Crying Out for Experience,” Christian Experience in Theology and Life, I. Howard Marshall, ed. (Edinburgh: Rutherford House Books, 1988), 12.
16 Calian, Carnegie Samuel, Theology Without Boundaries (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 1992), 52.
17 Hiebert, D. Edmond, Second Peter and Jude (Greenville, SC: Unusual Publications, 1989), 43.
18 Ibid., 45.
19 Lloyd-Jones, D.M., Expository Sermons on 2 Peter (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1983), 14.
20 Pentecostal/Charismatic theologians might take note of Calvin’s commentary on 2 Peter 1:4; “Knowledge of God is the basis of life and the first doorway to godliness. None of the spiritual gifts can be of any use for salvation until we are enlightened with the knowledge of God by the teaching of the Gospel.” Calvin’s Commentaries, Johnston, William B., trans. (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1980), 329.
21 Renewal Theology, 344.
22 Ibid. Italics added.
23 Ibid.
24 In reference to the negatives of the Chalcedonian formula, Williams follows Berkouwer; “The four negatives of Chalcedon are the riches—and not the poverty—of a modest, believing church” (The Person of Christ, 85). What he does not cite is Berkouwer’s conclusion, that the negatives which encapsulate paradox in Chalcedon actually serve as a sort of theological springboard, qualified by sound exegesis, for what can be positively said about Christ in every generation: “The limits of dogmatic reflection on Christology lie, not in a given historical decision of the church, but in exegesis or rather in Scripture itself. In this activity the church and theology with it, warned by many deviations and speculations, must certainly be on its guard. But it may try to maintain in human formulations, amid all Christological heresy, that the core of this mystery is not paradox, capable of being seen only in an irrational intuition of faith, but an act of God, of him who is and remains truly God, in this assumption of human nature also”; 96. The real value of negative theology is only to be found in reaching positive understandings, according to Williams; “Operating within these negatives there is much ‘navigable water’ for the church to reflect again and again on the reality of Jesus Christ”; Renewal Theology, 344.
25 Theodosius, Archbishop of Washington, DC. Speech. Feast of the Three Hierarchs, St. Vladimir’s Seminary (30 January 1999); available from http://www.oca.org/OCA/sermons; Internet. Italics added.
26 Lossky, Vladimir, The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1976), 25.
27 Ibid., 38.
28 Ibid., 42, n37.
29 On the Incarnation, 54.
30 Clendenin, Eastern Orthodox Christianity: A Western Perspective (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1994), 120,121; “Western theologians in general and Protestants in particular have given only scant attention to the central importance of theosis in Orthodox thought. Nor do they address the doctrine as an important biblical category in its own right.”
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