Books by Aristotle Papanikolaou
Εκδοτική Δημητριάδος, 2015
Аристотель Папаниколау, Книга современного православного богослова Аристотеля Папаниколау предста... more Аристотель Папаниколау, Книга современного православного богослова Аристотеля Папаниколау представляет собой новейший опыт формулирования политической теологии, которая опирается на восточно-православную традицию и в то же время находится в диалоге с теологами из других христианских конфессиональных контекстов.
Theosis, or the principle of divine-human communion, sparks the theological imagination of Orthod... more Theosis, or the principle of divine-human communion, sparks the theological imagination of Orthodox Christians and has been historically important to questions of political theology. In The Mystical as Political: Democracy and Non-Radical Orthodoxy, Aristotle Papanikolaou argues that a political theology grounded in the principle of divine-human communion must be one that unequivocally endorses a political community that is democratic in a way that structures itself around the modern liberal principles of freedom of religion, the protection of human rights, and church-state separation.
Papanikolaou hopes to forge a non-radical Orthodox political theology that extends beyond a reflexive opposition to the West and a nostalgic return to a Byzantine-like unified political-religious culture. His exploration is prompted by two trends: the fall of communism in traditionally Orthodox countries has revealed an unpreparedness on the part of Orthodox Christianity to address the question of political theology in a way that is consistent with its core axiom of theosis; and recent Christian political theology, some of it evoking the notion of “deification,” has been critical of liberal democracy, implying a mutual incompatibility between a Christian worldview and that of modern liberal democracy.
The first comprehensive treatment from an Orthodox theological perspective of the issue of the compatibility between Orthodoxy and liberal democracy, Papanikolaou’s is an affirmation that Orthodox support for liberal forms of democracy is justified within the framework of Orthodox understandings of God and the human person. His overtly theological approach shows that the basic principles of liberal democracy are not tied exclusively to the language and categories of Enlightenment philosophy and, so, are not inherently secular.
The central task of Being With God is an analysis of the relation between apophaticism, trinitari... more The central task of Being With God is an analysis of the relation between apophaticism, trinitarian theology, and divine-human communion through a critical comparison of the trinitarian theologies of the Eastern Orthodox theologians Vladimir Lossky (1903–58) and John Zizioulas (1931– ), arguably two of the most influential Orthodox theologians of the past century. These two theologians identify as the heart and center of all theological discourse the realism of divine-human communion, which is often understood in terms of the familiar Orthodox concept of theosis, or divinization. The Incarnation, according to Lossky and Zizioulas, is the event of a real divine-human communion that is made accessible to all; God has become human so that all may participate fully in the divine life.
Aristotle Papanikolaou shows how an ontology of divine-human communion is at the center of both Lossky’s and Zizioulas’s theological projects. He also shows how, for both theologians, this core belief is used as a self-identifying marker against “Western” theologies.
Papanikolaou maintains, however, that Lossky and Zizioulas hold profoundly different views on how to conceptualize God as the Trinity. Their key difference is over the use of apophaticism in theology in general and especially the relation of apophaticism to the doctrine of the Trinity. For Lossky, apophaticism is the central precondition for a trinitarian theology; for Zizioulas, apophaticism has a much more restricted role in theological discourse, and the God experienced in the eucharist is not the God beyond being but the immanent life of the trinitarian God.
Papanikolaou provides readers with a richer understanding of contemporary Orthodox theology through his analysis of the consensus and debate between two leading Orthodox theologians.
Edited Volumes & Translations by Aristotle Papanikolaou
Building the House of Wisdom. Sergii Bulgakov and Contemporary Theology: New Approaches and Interpretations, 2024
Sergii Bulgakov (1871–1944) is one of the preeminent theologians of the 20th century whose work i... more Sergii Bulgakov (1871–1944) is one of the preeminent theologians of the 20th century whose work is still being discovered and explored in and for the 21st. A famous rival of Lenin in the field of economics, and, according to Wassily Kandinsky, “one of the deepest experts on religious life” in early twentieth-century Russian art and culture, Bulgakov, economist, publicist, politician, and later Orthodox theologian and priest, became a significant “global player” in both the Orthodox diaspora and the Ecumenical movement in the interwar period.
This anthology gathers a collection of papers given at the international conference on the occasion of Bulgakov’s 150th birthday at the University of Fribourg in September 2021. The chapters, written by established Bulgakov specialists, not least the keynote speaker Rowan Williams, former Archbishop of Canterbury (2002–2012), as well as young researchers from different theological disciplines and ecclesiastical traditions, explore Bulgakov’s contribution to meeting the challenges of the modern world and to building bridges between East and West. The authors bring forth a wide range of new creative ways to critically engage with Bulgakov’s theological worldview and cover topics such as personhood, ecology, political theology and trinitarian ontology.
Faith, Reason, and Theosis, 2023
Orthodox Tradition and Human Sexuality, Sep 2022
Sex is a difficult issue for contemporary Christians, but the past decade has witnessed a newfoun... more Sex is a difficult issue for contemporary Christians, but the past decade has witnessed a newfound openness regarding the topic among Eastern Orthodox Christians. Both the theological trajectory and the historical circumstances of the Orthodox Church differ radically from those of other Christian denominations that have already developed robust and creative reflections on sexuality and sexual diversity. Within its unique history, theology, and tradition, Orthodox Christianity holds rich resources for engaging challenging questions of sexuality in new and responsive ways. What is at stake in questions of sexuality in the Orthodox tradition? What sources and theological convictions can uniquely shape Orthodox understandings of sexuality? This volume aims to create an agora for discussing sex, and not least the sexualities that are often thought of as untraditional in Orthodox contexts.
Through fifteen distinct chapters, written by leading scholars and theologians, this book offers a developed treatment of sexuality in the Orthodox Christian world by approaching the subject from scriptural, patristic, theological, historical, and sociological perspectives. Chapters devoted to practical and pastoral insights, as well as reflections on specific cultural contexts, engage the human realities of sexual diversity and Christian life. From re-thinking scripture to developing theologies of sex, from eschatological views of eros to re-evaluations of the Orthodox responses to science, this book offers new thinking on pressing, present-day issues and initiates conversations about homosexuality and sexual diversity within Orthodox Christianity.
Traditional, secular, and fundamentalist—all three categories are contested, yet in their contest... more Traditional, secular, and fundamentalist—all three categories are contested, yet in their contestation they shape our sensibilities and are mutually implicated, the one with the others. This interplay brings to the foreground more than ever the question of what it means to think and live as Tradition. The Orthodox theologians of the twentieth century, in particular, have emphasized Tradition not as a dead letter but as a living presence of the Holy Spirit. But how can we discern Tradition as living discernment from fundamentalism? What does it mean to live in Tradition when surrounded by something like the “secular”? These essays interrogate these mutual implications, beginning from the understanding that whatever secular or fundamentalist may mean, they are not Tradition, which is historical, particularistic, in motion, ambiguous and pluralistic, but simultaneously not relativistic.
Based on 2013 Fordham conference of the same title. Essays from Stoeckl, Hammerli, Bretherton, D... more Based on 2013 Fordham conference of the same title. Essays from Stoeckl, Hammerli, Bretherton, Doak, Gregory, Clapsis, Hamalis, Wood, Barnes, Kaufman, Skedros, Hehir, and Hauerwas.
Attention to virtue ethics in Eastern Christianity complicates the dominant narrative within the ... more Attention to virtue ethics in Eastern Christianity complicates the dominant narrative within the field by revealing new ways of conceptualizing classical problems in virtue theory, new insights into the dynamics of virtues’ development, as well as new contexts for applied virtue ethics. Human flourishing is understood as the progressive realization of theosis—a godly mode of being cultivated through liturgy and askesis, marked by the embodiment of the full range of virtues, and crowned by a radical love.
A collection of papers based on Fordham University Conference of the same name in 2010.
Collection of papers based on Fordham University Conference of the same name in 2007
Within these pages a younger generation of Orthodox scholars in America takes up the perennial ta... more Within these pages a younger generation of Orthodox scholars in America takes up the perennial task of transmitting the meaning of Christianity to a particular time and culture. This collection of twelve essays, as the title Thinking Through Faith implies, is the result of six years of reflective conversation and collaboration regarding core beliefs of the Orthodox faith, tenets that the authors present from fresh perspectives that appeal to reason and spiritual sensibilities alike.
Articles/Essays by Aristotle Papanikolaou
Orthodox Tradition and Human Sexuality, 2022
Faith, Reason, and Theosis, 2023
Theological Anthropology, 500 Years after Martin Luther: Orthodox and Protestant Perspectives , 2021
In this essay, I want to briefly consider and assess Luther's political theology by engaging Mich... more In this essay, I want to briefly consider and assess Luther's political theology by engaging Michael Laffin's recent book, The Promise of Martin Luther's Political Theology. I am fully aware of the debates around Luther's political theology and realize that Laffin's is only one interpretation, but it is a very nuanced interpretation that offers compelling arguments. I then want to illustrate affinities between Laffin's interpretation of Luther and my own Orthodox political theology based on the realism of divine-human communion, or theosis. Finally, I want to end by relating this comparison to what is arguably one of the most pressing questions of Christian political theology-the Christian's relation to political liberalism.
Τό φώς πού ελευθερώνει: Οντολογικές, Υπαρξιακές, και Ψυχολογικές, διαστάσεις της Εξομολόγησης, 2021
Ἡ ὀρθόδοξη χριστιανική πρακτική τῆς ἐξομολόγησης κινδυνεύει νά πέσει σέ ἀχρησία καί νά ἀποκοπεῖ ἀ... more Ἡ ὀρθόδοξη χριστιανική πρακτική τῆς ἐξομολόγησης κινδυνεύει νά πέσει σέ ἀχρησία καί νά ἀποκοπεῖ ἀπό τόν οὐσιαστικό της σκοπό. Στίς μέρες μας, οἱ λαϊκοί ὀρθόδοξοι χριστιανοί δέν θεωροῦν ὅτι ἡ ἐξομολόγηση, ὁποιουδήποτε εἴδους, εἶναι ἀπαραίτητη γιά τήν πνευματική ζωή καί δυσκολεύονται νά πιστέψουν ὅτι θά πρέπει νά ὁμολογήσουν τίς ἁμαρτίες τους ἐνώπιον τῆς χριστιανικῆς κοινότητας ἤ ἐνώπιον τοῦ ἱερέα, γιά νά λάβουν συγχώρεση. Δυσκολεύονται νά πιστέψουν ὅτι οἱ ἁμαρτίες σβήνονται ἀπό τή λίστα μόνο ὅταν κάποιος ἐξομολογηθεῖ δημοσία στήν ἐκκλησιαστική κοινότητα ἤ ἔχοντας ἀπέναντί του μόνο τόν ἱερέα. Τήν ἄρνηση αὐτή τήν ἀποδίδω στή νομική κατανόηση ἡ ὁποία ἔχει καλύψει τίς ἑρμηνεῖες πού ἀφοροῦν τήν πρακτική τῆς ἐξομολόγησης στίς πολλαπλές της μορφές ἐντός τῆς χριστιανικῆς Παράδοσης. Ἡ νομική κατανόηση τοῦ μυστηρίου τῆς ἐξομολόγησης σημαίνει ὅτι ἔχουμε τήν πεποίθηση πώς, ὅταν κάποιος ἐξομολογεῖται τίς ἁμαρτίες του στόν ἱερέα, τότε ἡ συγκεκριμένη λίστα ἁμαρτημάτων διαγράφεται. Ἡ ἐξομολόγηση θά πρέπει νά ἐπαναλαμβάνεται γιά νά διαγραφοῦν οἱ ἁμαρτίες ἀπό τή λίστα, πράγμα τό ὁποῖο χρειάζεται νά γίνει, ἄν κάποιος ἐλπίζει νά εἰσέλθει στόν Παράδεισο. Στό παρόν δοκίμιο σκοπεύω νά ἐπαναφέρω στό φῶς τήν ἀπολεσθεῖσα κατανόηση τοῦ μυστηρίου (sacrament) τῆς ἐξομολόγησης. Καί ἡ κατανόηση αὐτή δίνει μεγαλύτερη ἔμφαση στή μεταμορφωτική δύναμη τοῦ προφορικοῦ λόγου πού ἐμπεριέχει ἀλήθεια.
Value and Vulnerability: An Interfaith Dialogue on Human Dignity, 2020
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Books by Aristotle Papanikolaou
Papanikolaou hopes to forge a non-radical Orthodox political theology that extends beyond a reflexive opposition to the West and a nostalgic return to a Byzantine-like unified political-religious culture. His exploration is prompted by two trends: the fall of communism in traditionally Orthodox countries has revealed an unpreparedness on the part of Orthodox Christianity to address the question of political theology in a way that is consistent with its core axiom of theosis; and recent Christian political theology, some of it evoking the notion of “deification,” has been critical of liberal democracy, implying a mutual incompatibility between a Christian worldview and that of modern liberal democracy.
The first comprehensive treatment from an Orthodox theological perspective of the issue of the compatibility between Orthodoxy and liberal democracy, Papanikolaou’s is an affirmation that Orthodox support for liberal forms of democracy is justified within the framework of Orthodox understandings of God and the human person. His overtly theological approach shows that the basic principles of liberal democracy are not tied exclusively to the language and categories of Enlightenment philosophy and, so, are not inherently secular.
Aristotle Papanikolaou shows how an ontology of divine-human communion is at the center of both Lossky’s and Zizioulas’s theological projects. He also shows how, for both theologians, this core belief is used as a self-identifying marker against “Western” theologies.
Papanikolaou maintains, however, that Lossky and Zizioulas hold profoundly different views on how to conceptualize God as the Trinity. Their key difference is over the use of apophaticism in theology in general and especially the relation of apophaticism to the doctrine of the Trinity. For Lossky, apophaticism is the central precondition for a trinitarian theology; for Zizioulas, apophaticism has a much more restricted role in theological discourse, and the God experienced in the eucharist is not the God beyond being but the immanent life of the trinitarian God.
Papanikolaou provides readers with a richer understanding of contemporary Orthodox theology through his analysis of the consensus and debate between two leading Orthodox theologians.
Edited Volumes & Translations by Aristotle Papanikolaou
This anthology gathers a collection of papers given at the international conference on the occasion of Bulgakov’s 150th birthday at the University of Fribourg in September 2021. The chapters, written by established Bulgakov specialists, not least the keynote speaker Rowan Williams, former Archbishop of Canterbury (2002–2012), as well as young researchers from different theological disciplines and ecclesiastical traditions, explore Bulgakov’s contribution to meeting the challenges of the modern world and to building bridges between East and West. The authors bring forth a wide range of new creative ways to critically engage with Bulgakov’s theological worldview and cover topics such as personhood, ecology, political theology and trinitarian ontology.
Through fifteen distinct chapters, written by leading scholars and theologians, this book offers a developed treatment of sexuality in the Orthodox Christian world by approaching the subject from scriptural, patristic, theological, historical, and sociological perspectives. Chapters devoted to practical and pastoral insights, as well as reflections on specific cultural contexts, engage the human realities of sexual diversity and Christian life. From re-thinking scripture to developing theologies of sex, from eschatological views of eros to re-evaluations of the Orthodox responses to science, this book offers new thinking on pressing, present-day issues and initiates conversations about homosexuality and sexual diversity within Orthodox Christianity.
Articles/Essays by Aristotle Papanikolaou
Papanikolaou hopes to forge a non-radical Orthodox political theology that extends beyond a reflexive opposition to the West and a nostalgic return to a Byzantine-like unified political-religious culture. His exploration is prompted by two trends: the fall of communism in traditionally Orthodox countries has revealed an unpreparedness on the part of Orthodox Christianity to address the question of political theology in a way that is consistent with its core axiom of theosis; and recent Christian political theology, some of it evoking the notion of “deification,” has been critical of liberal democracy, implying a mutual incompatibility between a Christian worldview and that of modern liberal democracy.
The first comprehensive treatment from an Orthodox theological perspective of the issue of the compatibility between Orthodoxy and liberal democracy, Papanikolaou’s is an affirmation that Orthodox support for liberal forms of democracy is justified within the framework of Orthodox understandings of God and the human person. His overtly theological approach shows that the basic principles of liberal democracy are not tied exclusively to the language and categories of Enlightenment philosophy and, so, are not inherently secular.
Aristotle Papanikolaou shows how an ontology of divine-human communion is at the center of both Lossky’s and Zizioulas’s theological projects. He also shows how, for both theologians, this core belief is used as a self-identifying marker against “Western” theologies.
Papanikolaou maintains, however, that Lossky and Zizioulas hold profoundly different views on how to conceptualize God as the Trinity. Their key difference is over the use of apophaticism in theology in general and especially the relation of apophaticism to the doctrine of the Trinity. For Lossky, apophaticism is the central precondition for a trinitarian theology; for Zizioulas, apophaticism has a much more restricted role in theological discourse, and the God experienced in the eucharist is not the God beyond being but the immanent life of the trinitarian God.
Papanikolaou provides readers with a richer understanding of contemporary Orthodox theology through his analysis of the consensus and debate between two leading Orthodox theologians.
This anthology gathers a collection of papers given at the international conference on the occasion of Bulgakov’s 150th birthday at the University of Fribourg in September 2021. The chapters, written by established Bulgakov specialists, not least the keynote speaker Rowan Williams, former Archbishop of Canterbury (2002–2012), as well as young researchers from different theological disciplines and ecclesiastical traditions, explore Bulgakov’s contribution to meeting the challenges of the modern world and to building bridges between East and West. The authors bring forth a wide range of new creative ways to critically engage with Bulgakov’s theological worldview and cover topics such as personhood, ecology, political theology and trinitarian ontology.
Through fifteen distinct chapters, written by leading scholars and theologians, this book offers a developed treatment of sexuality in the Orthodox Christian world by approaching the subject from scriptural, patristic, theological, historical, and sociological perspectives. Chapters devoted to practical and pastoral insights, as well as reflections on specific cultural contexts, engage the human realities of sexual diversity and Christian life. From re-thinking scripture to developing theologies of sex, from eschatological views of eros to re-evaluations of the Orthodox responses to science, this book offers new thinking on pressing, present-day issues and initiates conversations about homosexuality and sexual diversity within Orthodox Christianity.