Triadosis: Union with the Triune God

Interpretations of the Participationist Dimensions of Paul's Soteriology

Eduard Borysov

• Publisher: Pickwick Publications
• Year: 2019
• ISBN:
  9781532646058
• Topic: Teología y religión
• Subtopic: Crítica e interpretación bíblicas

The complex nature of Christian communion with a personal God requires a nuanced expression. Since its inception, the early church affirmed God's unknowable nature and also participation in God through Christ. The church fathers employed the language of theosis in talking about union with God and human transformation in the likeness of God. However, the term theosis or deification is a broad category and requires precise explanation to avoid human dissolution in the divine in the mystical union. This book addresses the conundrum of imparticipable divine nature and personal union between human and the Trinity. If God is Trinity, then we are created and restored in the image of tripersonal God.

Chapter 1

Introduction

There have been multiple attempts to retrieve the patristic concept of “theosis” as a means of explicating Paul’s concept of “union with Christ.” This move is mainly associated with the work of Michael J. Gorman, Stephen Finlan, and Ben C. Blackwell. These recent works demonstrate the interest in deification as a widespread concept in Christian theology, one with significant ecumenical potential (as attested by the Finnish Lutheran School). It is argued that this concept allows bridging the gap between the historical reconstructions of Paul’s teaching on salvation by participation in Christ and the church’s doctrinal appropriation of it. M. David Litwa also employs this concept for understanding Paul in his historical and religious context. Unlike the scholars mentioned above, Litwa reduces his research to the antecedent material and considers subsequent Christian developments of theosis anachronistic.

To date, however, inadequate attention has been paid to the complex character and history of theosis in the theological tradition. This word has created much confusion in biblical studies.1 For some theologians, the word points to widespread ancient beliefs about the transformation of worshippers into the likeness of a deity that influenced Paul’s thinking; for others, it points to a distinctive element in early Christian theology radically different from other ancient thought. For some, the word points to a single neglected strand of Paul’s soteriology; for others, it serves to bring all of the strands together. For some, the significance of the concept is purely historical; for others, the significance is theological or ecumenical. If the range of meanings is not to confuse, there needs to be a study that examines its complexity, offering some criticism of the various approaches and their inadequacies.

This study is intended to probe the complexity of the term “theosis” particularly in Pauline studies, recognizing the ecumenical significance that the concept has.2 As well known, theosis has become a point of contact between Protestant and Eastern Orthodox theologians in the discussion of soteriology in a broader sense than mere justification by faith.3 The exploration of patristic views on theosis will indicate that it is not exclusively a modern problem. Hence, this monograph will advocate for a nuanced definition of theosis, as a result of the Trinity’s salvific activity. For lack of a precise term in patristic scholarship, I tentatively called it triadosis. The concept of triadosis can serve better for the appropriation of the church’s doctrine in the quest for ecclesial unity.

The goal of this monograph is to assess how the concepts of theosis and the Trinity can inform and transform the traditional anthropocentric reading of Paul’s soteriology into one that is theocentric or even trinity-centric. On the one hand, previous attempts to retrieve the doctrine of theosis are pervasively christological or anthropological in nature. This shift from the traditional trinitarian groundings to isolated christological or anthropological inquiries can lead to “binitarianism” or anthropocentric soteriology respectively. As Ingolf Dalferth notes in his recent book Crucified and Resurrected, modern biblical studies tend to prioritize Christology at the expense of trinitarian moorings.4 Even when asserting and defending a high Christology, some scholars (most notably Larry Hurtado) present it in binitarian terms.5 English theology has played a big part in this, in its response to German theology, which was heavily shaped by the dominance of certain Anglican theological paradigms in the nineteenth century. The value of Christology and anthropology notwithstanding, once dislocated from the traditional identification with the Spirit, they suffer a truncated biblical presentation. Consequently, biblical scholars often identify theosis with Paul’s teaching on union with Christ and moral transformation of those, who are “in Christ.” On the other hand, theological reflections on Paul’s trinitarian theology are mostly perceived as foisted on the apostle and discussed (if at all) with some hesitation. In those rare occasions, when researchers acknowledge the full trinitarian account in Paul, they do not explore the soteriological implication of such an account.6 By asserting the connections between theosis and the Trinity, this book will seek to redefine the former notion as an essentially trinitarian project, whereby believers experience transformation into the image of the triune God, not merely Christ or a new humanity. Also, it will have insightful bearings on Paul’s soteriology and theology proper.

A potential contribution of this project is a re-appropriation of Paul in light of subsequent theological tradition. In particular, this book will seek to apply the relational model of the Trinity to Paul’s teaching to see whether a trinitarian soteriology can make a coherent sense of the Paul of history and the apostle of the church. I intend to explore how a trinitarian dimension of theosis helps to unfold Paul’s soteriology-talk. To do that one needs to take into account a patristic treatment of theosis.

Outline and Sources

Chapter 2 will deal with the question: How did the church fathers express the doctrine of participation in Christ? This study will focus on four main emphases or trajectories, how these early theologians understood human and divine union in Christ and humans with God, traditionally called deification or theosis. The degree of human transformation in the likeness of God varied from a mere moral imitation to a mystical union with the divine by the loss of human corporeality. The goal is to understand whether these fathers contended for a specific form of personal, natural or energistic union with God. Does the union of humanity with God occur on the level of natures, energies or persons? Is it fair to state that theosis is a process, which involves participation in the persons of the Trinity with the aim to become Trinity-like?

Is the concept of theosis crucial only for the Eastern fathers or can its theme be found in the Protestant Reformers? Chapter 3 will continue the historical analysis of theosis in the Reformation period. Notably, it will focus on a recent rereading of Luther and Calvin, both of whom, it is claimed, advocated for a participationist understanding of salvation. Christ is the gift and the giver of divine righteousness and holiness. Thus, the Finnish Lutheran School and J. Todd Billings, in particular, contend for the appropriateness of the term theosis to Luther and Calvin studies.

With the recent reformulations of personhood as a relational being by such theologians as John Zizioulas, the idea of personhood became a valuable aid not only in trinitarian but also in soteriological discussions.7 Hence, chapter 4 will critically assess the trinitarian relational model in the context of theosis to see whether this ecumenical concept should be nuanced before its ap...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Preface
• Abbreviations
• Chapter 1: Introduction
• Chapter 2: Early Approaches to Theosis
• Chapter 3: Reformers and Triadosis
• Chapter 4: Contemporary Eastern Orthodox Retrieval of Triadosis
• Chapter 5: Recent Retrievals of Theosis in Paul
• Chapter 6: Conclusion
• Bibliography