Divine Essence and Divine Energies. Ecumenical Reflections on the Presence of God in Eastern Orthodoxy

290 Pages·2013·1.95 MB·English

by  C. Athanasopoulos (Editor)

Divine Essence and Divine Energies

Divine Essence and Divine Energies
Ecumenical Refl ections on the Presence of God
in Eastern Orthodoxy
Edited by
Constantinos Athanasopoulos
and Christoph Schneider
C
James Clarke & Co
James Clarke & Co
P.O. Box 60
Cambridge
CB1 2NT
www.jamesclarke.co
[email protected]
ISBN: 978 0 227 17386 2
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
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Copyright © The Institute for Orthodox Christian Studies,
Cambridge, 2013
First Published, 2013
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Contents
Acknowledgements
Introduction 9
Beyond Agnosticism and Pantheism
Christoph Schneider
Chapter 1 27
The Concept of the Divine Energies
David Bradshaw
Chapter 2 50
St. Gregory Palamas as the Response of Orthodox
Mystical Theology to (Neo-)Platonist and Aristotelian Metaphysics
Constantinos Athanasopoulos
Chapter 3 68
Pancreation Lost: The Fall of Theology
Roy Clouser
Chapter 4 96
The Woes of Originality: Discussing David Bradshaw’s
Aristotelian Journey into Neo-Palamism
Antoine Lévy OP
Chapter 5 122
Striving for Participation: Palamite Analogy as Dialogical
Syn-energy and Thomist Analogy as Emanational Similitude
Nikolaos Loudovikos
Chapter 6 149
The Significance of the Distinction between the Essence
and Energies of God according to St. Basil the Great
Georgios Martzelos
Chapter 7 158
Christianity and Platonism in East and West
John Milbank
Chapter 8 210
The Sense and Reference of the Essence and Energies
N. N. Trakakis
Chapter 9 232
The Distinction Between Essence and Energy according
to Maximus the Confessor
Metropolitan Vasilios (Karayiannis) of Constantia-Ammochostos
Chapter 10 256
In Defence of the Essence/Energy Distinction:
A Reply to Critics
David Bradshaw
Bibliography 274
Notes on Contributors 286
Index 289

Acknowledgements
This collection of essays originated from a colloquium organised by the
Institute for Orthodox Christian Studies (Cambridge, UK), which took
place in the Faculty of Divinity at the University of Cambridge on 5th
December 2008. However, the number of papers and the scope of the
questions discussed in Divine Essence and Divine Energies by far exceed
the original conference programme. We would like to thank the Faculty
of Divinity for providing facilities and hosting the colloquium. We
acknowledge with gratitude a conference grant from the Fellowship of St.
Alban and St. Sergius that made both the colloquium and this publication
possible.
We also wish to thank James B. South, editor of Phil osophy and Theology,
who granted permission to reprint David Bradshaw’s article ‘The Concept
of the Divine Energies’, Philosophy and Theology 18 (2006), pp. 93-120.
We are particularly grateful to our publisher, James Clarke & Co, and in
particular Adrian Brink, for his patience and flexibility in relation to the
delivery of the manuscript. We would also like to thank Claudiu Radu for
compiling the index.
Feast of the Commemoration of the Fathers of the
First Six Ecumenical Councils, 15th July 2012
Constantinos Athanasopoulos and Christoph Schneider
Introduction
Beyond Agnosticism and Pantheism
Christoph Schneider
For most contemporary Orthodox theologians the distinction between
the divine essence and energies belongs to the very core of the Orthodox
tradition and has no direct equivalent in the West. This position has
been restated and developed by Professor David Bradshaw in his
publication Aristotle East and West: Metaphysics and the Division of
Christendom (Cambridge, 2004). However, the views expressed in
this book have not remained uncontested. The present volume takes
Bradshaw’s work as the starting point for an ecumenical debate about
this controversial doctrine. Leading Anglican, Calvinist, Orthodox
and Roman Catholic theologians are given the opportunity to critically
assess the essence-energy distinction from historical, theological and
philosophical perspectives. The authors contributing to this volume
present very different and often mutually incompatible narratives. It
becomes clear throughout the book that we have not yet reached an
ecumenical consensus about the nature and significance of this doctrine
and its relationship to theology in the West.
The content of the book revolves around the following questions:
In what way were the Aristotelian concepts of ousia and energeia
used by the Church Fathers, and to what extent were their meanings
modified in the light of the Christological and Trinitarian doctrines?
What theological function does the essence-energy distinction fulfil
in Eastern Orthodoxy with respect to theology, anthropology and the
doctrine of creation? What are the differences and similarities between
the notions of divine presence and participation in Paul, the Apostolic
Fathers, the Cappadocians, Dionysius the Areopagite, John Damascene,
Maximus the Confessor and Gregory Palamas? What is the relationship
between the essence-energy distinction and the Western ideas of divine
presence in Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, Duns Scotus, Martin Luther,
John Calvin and Karl Barth? How is this doctrine related to Kantian and
post-Kantian thought and the debate about realism and idealism?