‘You Are Gods’: The Ancient Theology That’s Making a Comeback — and Could Help Unite East and West

The revival of deification theology in the Catholic Church has big implications, from ecumenism to AI.

When Grace Simcox came across the concept of deification last year, the Catholic theology student thought she might be dealing with something more pagan than Christian.

The Franciscan University undergrad was debating her now-boyfriend, an Eastern Orthodox catechumen, and wasn’t sure if his constant emphasis on how the Christian life was aimed at theosis, or becoming like God, squared with her Catholic commitments — or if it did at all.

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At first, it seemed provocative and borderline mythological,” she said.

But after turning to Scripture, the Church Fathers, and especially the medieval Catholic theologian St. Thomas Aquinas, Simcox discovered that deification wasn’t merely compatible with her Catholic faith — it was one of its most profound and essential truths.

Simcox isn’t the only Catholic to have made this discovery. Over the past three decades or so, the Catholic Church has undergone a profound recovery of the theology of deification, also known as divinization. The ancient approach to the Christian life emphasizes that salvation isn’t merely about being freed from sin, but is more fundamentally about being united to God and sharing in his divine life.

Although never lost, the theology of deification had long been overshadowed by more juridical approaches to salvation which emphasized concepts like expiation of guilt and deliverance from punishment. Promoted by figures like St. Anselm of Canterbury in the 12th century, juridical accounts became especially dominant in the West during the Reformation, as Protestant emphases on justification prompted the Church to use similar legalistic frameworks in defense of its doctrines.

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