Customer Reviews

The Deification of Man: St. Gregory Palamas and the Orthodox Tradition (Contemporary Greek Theologians Series , No 2)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

For anyone unfamiliar with the doctrine of 'theosis' or 'deification'--and that includes nearly all Protestants and most Roman Catholics--this book offers an excellent overview. 'Theosis' is such a radical alternative to the Protestant emphasis on inherent human depravity (the Calvinist gloom-and-doom interpretation of the Fall) that it can be truly startling when one first encounters it. But I would suggest that it's more scripturally founded and more in keeping with Christ's message than the world-loathing, body-despising, and washed-in-the-bloodguilt varieties of Protestantism that many Americans grew up with.

Theosis is the doctrine that sees a regeneration of human nature brought about by the Incarnation. In taking on human embodiment, God 'engods' human nature, thereby breaking the hold of corruption and death upon it. This infusion of grace, transmitted to all humans and in all generations, allows us, with God's help, to grow into the destiny prepared for us: godlikeness. We possess the potentiality (this is the book of Genesis' point about our being made in the 'image' of God), but frequently allow distractions and vices to inhibit the potentiality. Christ's great saving act was to liberate us from the hold of distractions and vices, and thereby open the door for theosis. As nearly all the Church Fathers said at one time or another, 'God became human so that humans might become gods.' To the contemporary Christian ear, this may sound like blasphemy. But to the early Church, it was received wisdom.

Mantzarides examines the doctrine of theosis, especially as propounded by the 14th century theologian Gregory Palamas, by focusing on the distinction between 'image' and 'likeness,' baptism and the Holy Eucharist as means of deification, the role of the moral life in cooperating with God's graceful nudge of us towards deification, the relationship between deep, mystical prayer and deification, the Kingdom of God as an expression of theosis, and the need to cultivate 'dispassion'--which isn't at all the same as what we mean today by 'apathy.'

I agree with the earlier reviewer who commented that reading this book can be a life-changing experience. The Greek Church's understanding of theosis is a much-needed corrective to the Christian West's anti-mystical, flesh-hating tendencies. Highly recommended, especially when read in conjunction with (for example), Kallistos Ware's discussion of 'theosis' in _The Inner Kingdom_ or Vladimir Lossky's _In the Image and Likeness of God_. A less technical discussion of 'theosis' may be found in Christoforos Stavropoulos' _Partakers of Divine Nature_ and in Daniel Clendenin's _Eastern Orthodox Christianity_.

There are a few books out there on the salvific doctrine of St. Gregory Palamas, and also a few more books on deification as a subject unto itself. The best thing about this book is not just that it combines the two, but that it does so in a balanced way. Every chapter is about a different aspect of theology and praxis as it relates to theosis/deification. The first chapter is about anthropology, and how God bestows grace in the Divine economy; the Second about ecclesiology, and how God bestows grace via the Sacraments; the Third about morality, and the need for asceticism and virtue (with God's help: synergy); the Fourth chapter discusses the ascent into God's mountain, the growing in grace; and the Fifth chapter discusses the "consummation of deification" (as the author puts it).

Coming to faith in the Protestant tradition, I'd never heard of the concept of "deification." This book is a wonderful introduction to a truly life transforming doctorine!

St. Gregory Palamas, a 14th-century Archbishop of Thessalonica, was one of the Christian Church's five most significant theologians. (Only St. Athanasius the Great, St. Maximus the Confessor, St. Gregory of Nyssa, and St. John the Theologian/Evangelist rank with him.) Here is a nice introduction to his teaching on the aim of Christian life: coming to share in the uncreated Light of Mt. Tabor -- the energies of God. While the book suffers from a few grammatical problems typical of works translated from modern Greek into English, it is an excellent work for the ignorant and the well-informed alike. Please, read this book; it may change your life.

This book is usable introduction to the soteriology of the Orthodox Church: the mystery of deification. God the Son became a man ("of the male sex") that men and women might "partakers of the divine Nature" (II Pet. 1:4), to share with us His Immorality, Sinlessness, and Incorruptibility. Unfortunately, the author never cites this Biblical passage and, therefore, allows St Gregory Palamas (about whom this book largely concerns) no opportunity to discourse on it. Professor Mantzardis indicates, by his exegesis of St Gregory's writings, the relevance of the distinction between God's Essence and His Uncreated Energies to deification and deification to Christian piety, but we should like to hear more about the consequence of failing to adopt this distinction. In addition, the book stumbles into various questions for which we are given no answers; for example, St Gregory states that God created the soul "immortal by nature"; but St Paul says, "God alone has Immortality." Nowhere in this book does Mantzaridis permit the Saint to explain the contradiction; nor does the author provide one of his own. Again, the author announces that St Gregory teaches the superiority of man to the angels; but the Psalmist and the Apostle Paul assert that man was made "a little lower than the angels." We are left to think that a Father of the Church opposes the Scriptures. Not unlike other scholars Mantzaaridis leaves us with the impression that the doctrine of deification is the work of the Greek Fathers --- especially St Gregory. In fact, it was also taught by the Latin Fathers --- Sts Hilary of Poitiers, Pope Leo I, Peter of Ravenna, St Ambrose of Milan, St Maxim of Turin, etc. He makes mention of them. Finally, one cannot always be certain whether he is reading Professor Mantzaridis or St Gregory Palamas. Nevertheless, the book is readable, a sound preface to a world of thought for too long closed to too many people.