First of all, let me apologize wholeheartedly for starting this topic. I have been thinking about this for a while and I would really appreciate any answers you guys can offer, but if you wish to ignore this thread until such a time when 3 out of 4 active topics on the Eastern Orthodox board are not-as is currently the case-about Catholicism I understand completely!
Feel free to come over to OBOB and bombard us with questions and info about Eastern Orthodoxy if you want to get your own back.
But here goes anyway...
Many Catholics accept the possibility that dogmas of the Faith can be understood in different ways without this constituting some degree of heterodoxy in one understanding. Within Catholicism, for example, there are at least three differing views that Catholics are able to hold about predestination provided that they hold the certain teachings (such as the teaching that God does predestine in some form but doesn't actively damn people arbitrarily).
So, for example, someone said that the Eastern Orthodox think of God in less of a "legalistic" way than they see the Latin Rite Catholics and the Protestants as doing. I, for one, would accept both the Latin Rite Catholic way of thinking and the Eastern Rite Catholic way of thinking on the matter as being acceptable, orthodox interpretations of doctrines about the existence of God, His actions and His Nature.
I assume that Eastern Catholics have much the same cultural, theological and philosophical understandings of the revealed Truth that the Eastern Orthodox do in many respects.
So, whilst the Eastern Catholics do accept the filioque as true they do not profess it since their tradition's understanding of the Trinity does not involve the filioque. I'm aware this is not the same as the EO belief for many but it's just an example of what I mean by differing understandings and professions.
Basically my question is this:-Do you consider that certain Western philosophical and theological understandings of the Faith are acceptable within the bounds of Orthodoxy? Can one, for example, hold to the Western concept of original sin but remain Orthodox? Or hold to the Western concept of Apostolic Succession (i.e. that it is not lost by heterodox professions)?
Thanks!
Your brother in Christ,
Rob
Feel free to come over to OBOB and bombard us with questions and info about Eastern Orthodoxy if you want to get your own back.
But here goes anyway...
Many Catholics accept the possibility that dogmas of the Faith can be understood in different ways without this constituting some degree of heterodoxy in one understanding. Within Catholicism, for example, there are at least three differing views that Catholics are able to hold about predestination provided that they hold the certain teachings (such as the teaching that God does predestine in some form but doesn't actively damn people arbitrarily).
So, for example, someone said that the Eastern Orthodox think of God in less of a "legalistic" way than they see the Latin Rite Catholics and the Protestants as doing. I, for one, would accept both the Latin Rite Catholic way of thinking and the Eastern Rite Catholic way of thinking on the matter as being acceptable, orthodox interpretations of doctrines about the existence of God, His actions and His Nature.
I assume that Eastern Catholics have much the same cultural, theological and philosophical understandings of the revealed Truth that the Eastern Orthodox do in many respects.
So, whilst the Eastern Catholics do accept the filioque as true they do not profess it since their tradition's understanding of the Trinity does not involve the filioque. I'm aware this is not the same as the EO belief for many but it's just an example of what I mean by differing understandings and professions.
Basically my question is this:-Do you consider that certain Western philosophical and theological understandings of the Faith are acceptable within the bounds of Orthodoxy? Can one, for example, hold to the Western concept of original sin but remain Orthodox? Or hold to the Western concept of Apostolic Succession (i.e. that it is not lost by heterodox professions)?
Thanks!
Your brother in Christ,
Rob