Duncan Reid

The Defeat of Trinitarian Theology: An Alternative View

C. M. LaCugna argues that the modern “defeat” of trinitarian thinking can be attributed to the separation of speech about Gods unity from speech about Gods triunity, and that the Palamite distinction between essence and energies in God is a step in this process. It is argued here that the essence/energies distinction is made in a different theological context, and has neither the intention nor the effect of detracting from a trinitarian doctrine of God.

Identity, Relevance and the Crucified God

The article begins by looking briefly at the identity-relevance dialectic in Moltmanns The Crucified God and the theological context that produced it. It then considers our current situation, very different from forty years ago, of a multi-religious Australia within a desecularised world. The article poses the question: how are Christians to maintain both identity and relevance, in this new context? The author considers the contribution of a recent article by Ulrike Link-Wieczorek, and draws the conclusion that Moltmanns identification of trinitarian thinking with the theology of the cross continues to be valid, and further, that this trinitarian theology of the cross constitutes the “true Christian universalism”. Both identity and relevance are best maintained by placing cross at the heart of our understanding of the Trinity, and the Trinity at the heart of what we say in conversations with adherents of other religious communities. The acknowledgement of the crucified God is an indispensible element in such conversations.

Patristics and the Postmodern in the Theology of John Zizioulas

This review article argues that, in contrast to the older movements of Sophia mysticism and neo-Palamism, associated with the names of Soloviev and Florovsky respectively, a new book by Zizioulas represents the emergence of a new school of Eastern Orthodox theology. Like the older movements, this newer, more personalist movement seeks to bridge the gap between Orthodox thought and the contemporary world. Where sophiology and neo-Palamism attempted to speak to the theology and culture of western modernity, Zizioulas addresses the more post-modernist themes of identity and otherness.

Book Review: The Eternal in Russian PhilosophyVysheslavtsevB. P., The Eternal in Russian Philosophy. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2002. ISBN 0802849520. Pp. xviii + 197. Rrp.

(perhaps) cultured but often bored or bemused observer of things Christian, whether within or outside the church. Here is an account of faiths central concern, God and Gods relation to the world, which arises from the depths of Christian tradition, but speaks with a voice that is at home in a world of globalisation, pluralism, media hype, scientific sophistication, technological wizardry, and market economy our world. A God for this World is a book to read, to talk about, to cherish, in the company of believers, to be sure, but even more with those who, standing at a distance from the church door, wonder what the hell it is all about. To reflect on the impact of that Jeffrey Smart picture might just be the best place to begin.

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This century has seen a renaissance of Palamite theology, and though this has been recognised by a small number of Western theologians, responses have rarely gone further than sympathetic descriptions on the one hand, and the reiteration of traditional criticisms on the other. This paper seeks to explore the use made of Eastern Orthodox, and specifically Palamite theology, as a constructive theological resource in the area of pneumatology by one contemporary theologian who has gone beyond this impasse, Anna Marie Aagaard. The question of the possible broader but indirect influence of Palamism will also be raised with reference to the pneumatology of Michael Welker.

Palamite Influence in Contemporary Pneumatology

Over the past hundred years Anglican thought has questioned the traditional doctrine of Gods impassibility. The cross of Christ reveals an eternal suffering in God. But how can a suffering God be a source of hope? It can be argued that God, in the very act of creation, renounced any impassibility God may have enjoyed. It is only a suffering God who can stand in relation to a created other and who can therefore hold out hope to creation.