Human Dignity and Deification: Visions of the Greek Church Fathers
There are various testimonies of Patristic and later Orthodox theological tradition to clarify the main meaning of human dignity, although the very term usually does not appear in a form that would seem familiar to a contemporary audience. Generally speaking, if the term is being addressed at all, i...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Peeters
[2019]
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| In: |
The journal of Eastern Christian studies
Year: 2019, Volume: 71, Issue: 3/4, Pages: 249-268 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Human dignity
/ Deification
/ Church fathers
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| IxTheo Classification: | KAB Church history 30-500; early Christianity NBE Anthropology NBK Soteriology |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (doi) |
| Summary: | There are various testimonies of Patristic and later Orthodox theological tradition to clarify the main meaning of human dignity, although the very term usually does not appear in a form that would seem familiar to a contemporary audience. Generally speaking, if the term is being addressed at all, it is understood as a final goal of human existence — through the human person's achievement of a narrow participation in God. In all these accounts, the category of relatedness between humans and the divine creator has a central significance. A comparative study of explications concerning different aspects of the one phenomenon of God's manifestation, together with the genuine experience of human salvation reveals both a variety and certain continuity in the Christian doctrine of salvation. These various explications use a terminology of value and virtue, in application of a peculiar metaphor of the human soul as a mirror and in formation of general soteriological conception of deification [θέωσις]. The image of a mirror, reflecting the actual state of inner development of the human soul, appears to be of central importance in this context. |
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| ISSN: | 1783-1520 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: The journal of Eastern Christian studies
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.2143/JECS.71.3.3286900 |