From Conversion according to Paul and “John” to Theosis in the Greek Patristic Tradition
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This paper investigates the question of deification in two groups of New Testament texts, i.e. the Pauline Epistles and the “Johannine literature” (fourth Gospel and Epistles of “John”), as well as the Greek patristic tradition. Though a specialized vocabulary referring to deification is missing from these groups of texts, Greek fathers used a very sophisticated combination of Pauline and “Johannine” concepts for the development of their respective theologies of deification. This study tries to explain why the patristic theologies of deification are so closely emulating Paul and “John” and it detects a common line that runs through the background of Paul and “John” as well as the patristic notion of theosis, namely the experience of the beginnings of the Christian life as an ontological transformation, i.e. conversion.
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Becker J. Sänger D. & Mell U. “Das Verhältnis des johanneischen Kreises zum Paulinismus.” Paulus und Johannes 198 Tübingen Mohr Siebeck 473 497 wunt
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Campbell D. Porter Stanley E. & Cross Anthony R. “Dying with Christ: The Origin of a Metaphor?” Baptism, the New Testament and the Church: Historical and Contemporary Studies in Honour of R.E.O. White 1999 171 London Continuum International Publishing 273 293 jsntss
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Campbell Douglas A. The Deliverance of God: An Apocalyptic Rereading of Justification in Paul 2013 Grand Rapids, Michigan Eerdmans
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Chester Stephen J. Conversion at Corinth: An Exploration of the Understandings of Conversion Held by the Apostle Paul and the Corinthian Christians 2003 Edinburgh T & T Clark
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3
See research reviews in C. Hoegen-Rohls, “Johanneische Theologie im Kontext paulinischen Denkens? Eine forschungsgeschichtliche Skizze,” in Kontexte des Johannesevangeliums (ed. J. Frey and U. Schnelle; wunt 175; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2004), J. Becker, “Das Verhältnis des johanneischen Kreises zum Paulinismus,” in Paulus und Johannes (ed. D. Sänger and U. Mell; wunt 198; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck) and Rainer Schwindt, Gesichte der Herrlichkeit: Eine exegetisch-traditionsgeschichtliche Studie zur paulinischen und johanneischen Christologie (hbs 50; Freiburg im Breisgau: Herder, 2007).
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15
Russell, The Doctrine of Deification in the Greek Patristic Tradition, 87.
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16
Cf. Dieter Zeller, “Theologie der Mission bei Paulus,” in Studien zu Philo und Paulus (ed. Dieter Zeller; bbb 165; Göttingen: V & R Unipress, 2011), 283: “welche situationsmäßigen Faktoren, besonders etwa vorgefundene Traditionen, die gemeinsame Sprache <des Paulus und des Johannes> mitbedingen“. See an extended analysis concerning the conversionist and missionary background of Paul and “John” in A. Despotis, “Exploring a Common Background of Paul and ‘John’: Mission and Conversion,” in Insiders versus Outsiders: Exploring the Dynamic Relationship between Mission and Ethos in the New Testament (ed. Jacobus Kok and John A. Dunne; pprt 14, 2014), 105-144.
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17
See Becker in Sänger and Mell, Das Verhältnis des johanneischen Kreises zum Paulinismus, 491. Similarly, Michael Theobald, Das Evangelium nach Johannes: Kapitel 1-12 (rnt; Regensburg: Pustet, 2009), 76: „Die Berührungen, die zu registrieren sind, resultieren aus gemeinsamen traditionsgeschichtlichen Wurzeln im antiochenisch-syrischen Raum.”
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18
David Hellholm, “Vorgeformte Tauftraditionen und deren Benutzung in den Paulusbriefen,” in Ablution, Initiation, and Baptism: Late Antiquity, Early Judaism, and Early Christianity (ed. David Hellholm et al.; bznw 176; Berlin: de Gruyter, 2011), 415-496.
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20
See Douglas A. Campbell, The Deliverance of God: An Apocalyptic Rereading of Justification in Paul (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans, 2013), 161.
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22
Michael Theobald, “Welt bei Paulus und Johannes,” in Studien zum Corpus Iohanneum (ed. Michael Theobald; wunt 267; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2010), 416.
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26
See the discussion in Macaskill, Union with Christ in the New Testament, 42-76.
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30
Russell, The Doctrine of Deification in the Greek Patristic Tradition, 85.
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36
Cf. D. Campbell, “Dying with Christ: The Origin of a Metaphor?,” in Baptism, the New Testament and the Church: Historical and Contemporary Studies in Honour of R.E.O. White (ed. Stanley E. Porter and Anthony R. Cross; jsntss 171; London: Continuum International Publishing, 1999), 292-293.
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37
Michael J. Gorman, “Paul’s Corporate, Cruciform, Missional Theosis in 2 Corinthians,” in ‘In Christ’ in Paul: Explorations in Paul’s Theology of Union and Participation (ed. Constantine R. Campbell, Michael J. Thate and Kevin J. Vanhoozer; wunt ii; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2014), 196.
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38
Colleen Shantz, Paul in Ecstasy: The Neurobiology of the Apostle’s Life and Thought (Cambridge, New York: Cambridge University Press, 2009), 9.
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39
Michael J. Gorman, Inhabiting the Cruciform God: Kenosis, Justification, and Theosis in Paul’s Narrative Soteriology (Grand Rapids, Mich: William B. Eerdmans Pub. Co, 2009), 162-163.
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48
Some scholars (e.g. Ramsey Michaels, “Baptism and Conversion in John: a Particular Baptist Reading,” in Baptism, the New Testament and the Church: Historical and Contemporary Studies in Honour of R.E.O. White (ed. Stanley E. Porter and Anthony R. Cross; jsntss 171; London: Continuum International Publishing, 1999)) deny the idea that “John” speaks in his texts about a ritual baptism. In my view the negation of baptismal allusions in “John” in most cases reflects an anti-sacramentalist tension in the interpretation of the fourth Gospel. However, the symbol of water is so strong in “John” that one cannot deny the baptismal implications. Even if there is possible to read it as a symbol of the role of Christ or his Spirit the conversion rhetorics we detect in “John” compel us to read the symbol of water in this conversionist setting as a baptismal allusion (S. Theobald, Das Evangelium nach Johannes, 251).
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57
Russell, The Doctrine of Deification in the Greek Patristic Tradition, 106.
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61
See Russell, The Doctrine of Deification in the Greek Patristic Tradition, 110.
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69
Russell, The Doctrine of Deification in the Greek Patristic Tradition, 197.
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70
A. Louth, “The Place of Theosis in Orthodox Theology,” in Partakers of the Divine Nature: The History and Development of Deification in the Christian Traditions (ed. Michael J. Christensen and Jeffery A. Wittung; Grand Rapids, Mich: Baker Academic, 2008); Louth in Christensen and Wittung, The Place of Theosis in Orthodox Theology, 43.
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From Conversion according to Paul and “John” to Theosis in the Greek Patristic Tradition
In: Horizons in Biblical TheologySearch for other papers by Athanasios Despotis in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
This paper investigates the question of deification in two groups of New Testament texts, i.e. the Pauline Epistles and the “Johannine literature” (fourth Gospel and Epistles of “John”), as well as the Greek patristic tradition. Though a specialized vocabulary referring to deification is missing from these groups of texts, Greek fathers used a very sophisticated combination of Pauline and “Johannine” concepts for the development of their respective theologies of deification. This study tries to explain why the patristic theologies of deification are so closely emulating Paul and “John” and it detects a common line that runs through the background of Paul and “John” as well as the patristic notion of theosis, namely the experience of the beginnings of the Christian life as an ontological transformation, i.e. conversion.
| All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 483 | 59 | 13 |
| Full Text Views | 269 | 5 | 0 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 131 | 14 | 2 |