Product Description

In this series of lectures on of the most eminent Christian theologians of our time, Metropolitan John Zizioulas, give his account of the fundamental teachings of Christian theology. He presents Christian doctrine as a comprehensive account of the freedom that results from relationship with God. The whole lecture series lays out complex ideas with the utmost simplicity, illustrates the grandeur of Christian teaching, and is a profound exploration of freedom.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #302135 in Books
• Published on: 2009-02-18
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 166 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780567033154
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
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About the Author
John D. Zizioulas, Metropolitan of Pergamon, was previously Professor of Systematic Theology at the University of Glasgow and Visiting Professor at King's College, London. He is the author of Communion and Otherness (2006) and has been a major Orthodox contributor to modern ecumenical discussion. Douglas H. Knight, PhD, is a Lecturer in Christian Doctrine. He published The Eschatological Ontology (Eerdmans 2006) and is editor of The Theology of John Zizioulas (Ashgate 2007). Katerina Nikolopulu is a team member of the Orthodox Outlet for Dogmatic Enquiry OODE in Athens, Greece.

Customer Reviews

In praise of ecclesial sense
Sense again meets reader in Metropolitan John's (Zizioulas) latest text in translation. Superb editing by Dr. Douglas H. Knight, coupled with a succinct introduction by the same, should move this book to the top of any reading list among students of theology, ecumenism, international politics, sociology, economics, languages and cultures.

Chapters were compiled across three decades by the author's students in Edinburgh, Glasgow, London, and Thessalonika. Therefore, references are far less in number than prior books, but scholarship and precision in language are no less exact. In effect, the method of inquiry is a three-decade long conversation with students, to whom the author dedicates the book.

Mainstays of Metropolitan John's "dogmatic hermeneutics" are collected in this book. These include the nature of dogma, doctrine of God and personhood, creation and salvation, and the Church. His approach identifies a relational method by which dogmatics might be interpreted by every age of history, including our own.

Relations, he argues, stem from the "what" and "how" of God. God creates and saves according to divine substance or essence ("what"), but divine substance cannot be known. Instead, divine substance must manifest in a particular way, which is to say that God makes known three Persons.

Of course, these ideas do not originate with Metropolitan John, but rather with a group of faithful Christians called the Cappadocian Fathers. However, the author does not simply re-state the Fathers. He presents dogma in fresh light.

For example, while admitted differences persist between Eastern and Latin Churches (communions), the author accomplishes real dialogue between both parts by casting ecclesiology in terms of "faith." Faith supports differences that enrich all Christians, thereby dismissing a mistaken view that differences must cause division. Even this idea originates with Maximus the Confessor among others, but its application to contemporary divisions and a spirit of divisiveness gathers collectve assent.

I wish to add one final note. Metropolitan John musters a cogent argument against the Filioque (third article of the Nicene Creed: "...proceeds...from the Son"). His approach addresses history and then delves into theology, while grounding discussion in reference to the Church. This is no small task to finish in seven pages, yet he succeeds in my opinion.