Theosis

[The Conductor]

Any links to those?

Here's a link, a warning though: sometimes the audio and video don't sync up.

 

[ContraMundum]

Here's a link, a warning though: sometimes the audio and video don't sync up.

Thanks for that! Much appreciated.

 

[ContraMundum]

That also makes me wonder... would the Moravians fit under the Theologia Crucis subforum? I don't see anywhere else they could go. They are still around today, especially in the US, but they are a small church. But in the wider scheme, their tradition is very influential.

They used to be included in the heading for this sub-forum.

 

[FireDragon76]

It's cool that Lutherans are talking about theosis, as it is an often misunderstood concept. But the reason so many are "defecting" to the Orthodox camp is because we no longer have the heavy split between the Hidden God and the Revealed God, especially in the wake of 19-20th century theologians such as Carl Barth (where election is not so much about implied reprobation as being "salt and light"). In that context, forensic justification just isn't as important, and it becomes more important to talk about what being "in Christ" means.

I also think the Lutherans and other Protestants need to be able to bring their experience of justification to the issue, because some Eastern Orthodox theologians have become interested in understanding how the biblical doctrine of justification can be used to understand historical realities such as the corruption of the state churches under communism. Perhaps there is an awareness of something like a "theology of glory" at work, where religious systems can be abused.

I'm listening to that audio lecture on Christification right now. I actually don't see any real evidence that we grow in "righteousness", to me that's a Roman way of thinking of justification (and doesn't fit the covenantal understanding of righteousness), of a moral dimension where we just stop sinning and start doing everything legalistically. I think theosis as the EO understand it is not about "moral reform" in a superficial sense, as has been interpreted by certain Holiness groups. After all, in the Eastern Orthodox Church, there were saints that lived as bag ladies or smoked cigarettes or did all the things "good Christians" don't do.

I also think Jordan misses something... he talks about inheriting incorruptibility and immortality, but he also misses emphasizing glory. Maybe because that's something Lutherans are allergic to talking about? And yet, the glory we inherit is not human ideas of glory (which is usually just vanity) - it's Christ's glory, because in Christ we have the image of the invisible Father. So Christ's glory is God's glory, which we inherit in adoption.