Gregory of Nyssa is available for pizza parties, tv commercials, and geometry classes.
"I said, 'Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High.'" -
Psalm 82:6
"Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; that they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me." - John 17:20-2o
"Gregory's grasp of the radical ontological disparity between God and creation is balanced by his understanding of the union of God with creation in the economy of salvation; and thus means what he says when he calls the practice of virtue participation in God and the presence of God to the soul: he means, in a word, deification." - The Beauty of the Infinite, DBH 198.
Deification: lets be honest, that is what it is all about. What is the future hope of mankind? What is the goal of salvation? According to Gregory it is nothing else than to participate in the Godhead.
"the entire thrust of the theology of eternal progress is precisely to show how it is possible to speak intelligently of deification, despite the ontological distance between God and creation: by showing that it is not an uncrossable abyss but a genuine distance, reconciled and yet preserved in the incarnate Logos, crossed from the divine side so that it may be crossed forever from the side of the creature." - DBH 199.
As Protestants we naturally recoil at such a notion. Sounds like some Buddhist or Mormanism, right? I mean either we are turned into gods or we become one with "the One" who is God. Either polytheism in a radical way or the drop in the water bucket anaology. Neither of these is acceptable from a Biblical perspective, so what is Gregory saying? I think he avoids both of these errors and transcends all other schemes of salvation because of his notion of the Trinity. Explaination:
The Trinity is an essential doctrine, maybe the most important part of the Christian religion: it is what makes us so different from all other religions or spiritualities. Only in Christianity do you have a combination of the one and the many in the divine. God is One, utterly unified and distinct for sure, but he is also Trinity. In that One we find a difference, a many in the three persons. Only Christianity allows for this distinction in the divine, all other religions either have one diety and substance, or have a bunch of seperate ones. But in Christianity we have both: the One God who is three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. This difference allows for so many things, but let us just look at the deification idea.
The Christian tradition is the only religion that allows for a participation in the divine and yet a distinction, because it is already "built-in." God is already a dynamic Trinity of being, He is already more than one person and so allows for participation and yet distinction. That is the story of salvation. Christ comes down to reconcile us so that we might become sons of God in Him, so that we might join Him in the "sweet Trinity dance" that goes on for eternity. Notice that this does not necessarily mean the beautific vision since Christ was fully God when He was on earth - so physicality is part of divinity as well. So when Gregory talks of deification, he is not talking about losing yourself into the divine ocean, he is talking about participating in the Godhead, in the divine dance of the Trinity as a active member, through Christ. Wow. I think this is the most beautiful thought I have encountered in a while. Let it sit for a while.
Maybe an example from mathematics would help (warning: not perfect analogy, but okay!). In geometry we have what are called systems of equations. These can get pretty complex, but lets keep it simple: we are just going to talk about lines. So y = x + 5. Okay? That is a line with a slope of one and a y-intercept at 5. So it is just a diagonal line. See it? Good. Now if we have two lines and we are looking for where they intersect (solutions) there are only three possibilities. Either there are no solutions, one solution, or an infinite number of solutions. So here we go:
Think of the no solutions as the atheistic position, there is no God, how can there be any deification? This is a set of parallel lines. Never cross. What about one solution? This would be what I call "silly monotheism": Islam, Mormonism, some forms of Buddhism, Christianity-and-water. There is only one contact point, so it is not possible to all live in the Godhead.
What about the inifinte solutions? That is the "Trinitatian monotheism" option: there can be an infinite number of equations and yet only one line. Example:
x + y = 2
2x + 2y = 4
It should be easily seen that these two form the same line, but they are distinct equations, distinct "beings." So there can be multiple "beings" in this one true being, as long as we have something other than "silly monotheism" or atheism, and we most certainly do. But let us press this image a bit further. A line is infinite in measure, extending on forever - much like God's Being. He is infinite and we are merely finite. Therefore, we who are "taken up" or "participate" in His divine being (through the Son and by the Holy Ghost - Trinitarian remember) do not become infinite ourselves. That would be blasphemous and more inline with Mormanism. Rather, we all as finite members of the body of Christ, form to make up part of our own line - the aformentioned body of the Son. We all fit in our own part and are drawn into participation - being deified through the Son and taking our place in the Trinitarian movement.
"God becomes ever more present to the soul through Christ in the Holy Spirit, who is the glory that the Son had with the Father before the world existed, God's own bond of unity, the light that draws us into the Trinity's own 'circle of glory.' The blessings of the incarnation are infinte, for God is infinte." - DBH 199-200.
Therefore, Gregory sees God's infinity as something to be seriously considered, as our participation in Christ as something more than an emotional feeling, but rather an ontological reality - we are to be as gods, we are to be in Him as He is in us, that we may all be one. This is more than a statement about ecumensim (although that is implied), it is a statement about the economy of salvation. We are destined for life "in Christ", which means in the Godhead, not becoming identified with either person, still distinct and finite, but taking our already set part in the dance that is the perichoresis of the Trinity - the dynamic dance of divine love which we are called to through Christ by the Holy Ghost in the Father.
So I guess the question is: why are we still Protestants? Is justification by faith alone the best we can come up with?
posted by Hans-Georg Gadamer @ 4:57 pm
9 comments
9 Comments:
Could someone (redness) let me know why my quotes look fine and dandy before I publish and then when I publish they decide that only one word is acceptable per line sometimes?
Also, sorry about the comment verification, but you know. Thanks - Gads
I'm glad you added the comment verification! IT's a pain, but those spam comments are worse.
Generally, if you just copy and paste something, especially if it's out of word, it can have hidden "new line" (a carriage return) characters in it. That's what it looks like to me. Make sure the spaces between your quotes are really just spaces. Sometimes the space at the end of a line of text secretly contains a "new line" code in it, which is what's messing you up. Bad text editors do this often, so it really all comes down to where you're copying these quotes from. Try this:
1.) go back and edit these posts and delete and re-type the spaces between words where it's wrapping
or
2.) try putting one of these quotes into your regular text (not clicking the "block quote" button) and see if it still has the spaces. Your template might format blog quotes weird.
I personally hate the way that my template formats block quotes, so I don't use them.
Redness - sweet! Thanks for awesome coding wisdom!
I liked this post... I only wish I had a little more theological background so I could write some kickass comment here.
1) Don’t look at me friend; I’m not a Protestant.
2) No, justification by faith is not the best we can come up with. In fact, it may be the lowest common denominator of orthodox soteriologies. Nonetheless, I think it is a useful way of casting the faith such that exploding heads aren’t routine responses to evangelism. In a very real sense, that seems to be what Paul is doing when he uses the language of justification in his epistles.
3) It seems to me, then, that Gregory’s theology of Triune participation is the articulation of the post-Christ evolution of the Jewish notion of membership. This evolution (and a robust orthodox soteriology) is further clarified if one has a Rabbinical understanding of Judaism. From this perspective, the Law is not a means of attaining salvation, but rather a vehicle to involvement in the Word made available to God’s people before the Word is made flesh. For Christians, then, full participation in Christ’s Body, both ontologically as Hans has outlined and sacramentally as has been the practice of the Church for 2000 years, is the analogous (although beautifully expanded) vehicle whereby we, God’s people, participate in the Divine (although, for us, it is no longer participation in the Word with a future expectation, but a present, Triune participation).
4) So to reframe Hans’s question: why are there still ANY Protestants?
So... any Protestants out there?
I'm down with reframing salvation away from a private event into communal participation.
That's why I'm a Lutheran.
Wow! I hadn't checked this post in a while, but seems like there are new comments. Just in case there is any action left on this post:
j.morg - I think you are absolutely right, although I am not as familiar with Rabbinical tradition as much as you are. I think Gregory is talking about a little more than membership since the Jews did not have the revelation of sonship in Jesus Christ, but right on for the most part. Sounds a lot like new perspective of Paul, but so much deeper!
Charles - Let's not do away with the personal element, we are still individual members of the body, but we need to focus on the body more than just the individuals. Also - Lutherans are still Protestants, whether you are MS and think that salvation is by some legal document in heaven or ELCA and think that God doesn't matter today and we should just feel good and meet people where they are at. Get out of that silly denomination and step into a man's church (either Rome, Orthodox, or Anglican).
Barns - thanks for the scriptural insight. I think we are in agreement, individual appropriation of the Church's salvation?
If this post died, that's fine, it was good to have you guys discussing it.
First off Christians have a direct line to God through Jesus and do not need any man in the middle. Second thing please never use Ghost as it is Spirit which I think you but some people may not and there is a big difference.As to communion Jesus said to do it as often as you meet which was 3 or 4 times a year not every day or weekly. Anyway found this interesting and will visit again when I have more time as there is much to mull over. Thanks for caring enough to have a discussion.
Post a Comment
<< Home