Papers by Kjetil Kringlebotten
As he is writing about the whole of his life, he uses his papal name, Benedict.
Studia Theologica - Nordic Journal of Theology
This article discusses Charles Stang’s understanding of a Pauline and Pseudo-Dionysian concept of... more This article discusses Charles Stang’s understanding of a Pauline and Pseudo-Dionysian concept of deification prayer, and the role of the Holy Spirit in the heart of the believer, in light of both Neoplatonic metaphysics of participation and Paul’s understanding of the term “spirit”. It argues that this can be understood through a concept of divine indwelling, explicated theurgically through the Neoplatonic conception of the One of the soul. While the Christian and non-Christian Neoplatonic traditions diverge on the nature of this indwelling, particularly as it relates to divine revelation, it serves the same function for both. A theurgic perspective helps us not just discover parallels and divergences between Christianity and Pagan Platonism, but also provides us with a language and a metaphysics which helps us explicate the work of the Holy Spirit.
Studia Theologica - Nordic Journal of Theology, 2023
This article discusses Charles Stang’s understanding of a Pauline and Pseudo-Dionysian concept of... more This article discusses Charles Stang’s understanding of a Pauline and Pseudo-Dionysian concept of deification prayer, and the role of the Holy Spirit in the heart of the believer, in light of both Neoplatonic metaphysics of participation and Paul’s understanding of the term “spirit”. It argues that this can be understood through a concept of divine indwelling, explicated theurgically through the Neoplatonic conception of the One of the soul. While the Christian and non-Christian Neoplatonic traditions diverge on the nature of this indwelling, particularly as it relates to divine revelation, it serves the same function for both. A theurgic perspective helps us not just discover parallels and divergences between Christianity and Pagan Platonism, but also provides us with a language and a metaphysics which helps us explicate the work of the Holy Spirit.
As he is writing about the whole of his life, he uses his papal name, Benedict.
Studia Theologica - Nordic Journal of Theology, 2017
This essay discusses the sacrificial nature of the Eucharist within Lutheran theology, in dialogu... more This essay discusses the sacrificial nature of the Eucharist within Lutheran theology, in dialogue with Roman Catholic theology. It starts by making some remarks on the controversial nature of the ...
This essay discusses the sacrificial nature of the Eucharist within Lutheran theology, in dialogu... more This essay discusses the sacrificial nature of the Eucharist within Lutheran theology, in dialogue with Roman Catholic theology. It starts by making some remarks on the controversial nature of the subject, the substance of the Roman Catholic doctrine of the “Eucharistic Sacrifice”, and on Luther’s removal of the Offertory, and his revision of the Eucharistic prayer or the Canon, before making some comments on the various views on the “Eucharistic Sacrifice” amongst the Church Fathers, the ecumenical and catholic aim of Confessio Augustana, and the Lutheran emphasis on God as giver and creation (including man) as receiver. After that, it returns to the main point, arguing for a “Eucharistic Sacrifice” within Lutheran theology, with emphasis on our participation in Christ, building on the contributions of Wolhart Pannenberg and Joseph Ratzinger, and against Lutheran critiques, here represented by John T. Pless.
Working with any subject is not something done in isolation, and here I would like to first thank... more Working with any subject is not something done in isolation, and here I would like to first thank God, who must always be our first priority. I would also like to thank my supervisor, Svein Rise, for words of encouragement and for valuable insights, due in part to his expertice in one of my figurants, Gunnar Innerdal for valuable feedback on my paper on method (attachement 1), and those I have not only studied with, but been good friends with over the last four to five years. A special thanks goes to Ole Christian Martinsen, who has been active in the same ecclesial milieu as me, and who has worked with similar themes as I have, and Karen Marie Hovland, who has herself worked with Pannenberg, and has helped me in my attempt at grasping his theology. A great thanks goes to my fellow 'inmates' at my student home Collegium Sta Sunniva, and to my parish in Sandviken.
Thesis Chapters by Kjetil Kringlebotten
This thesis, providing a metaphysical grounding for liturgical participation, argues that ‘active... more This thesis, providing a metaphysical grounding for liturgical participation, argues that ‘active participation’ in the liturgy must be understood principally as our participation in God’s act and particularly in the act of Christ and only secondarily as our ritual involvement. Engaging Thomas Aquinas, Joseph Ratzinger, and Catherine Pickstock, as well as Neoplatonist philosophy, both Pagan and Christian, this thesis proposes that this should be understood in terms of theurgy, which is the human participation in divine action, which finds its consummation in the Incarnation.
This thesis argues that without the Incarnation, all acts will remain extrinsic and imposed but that acts can become real and intrinsic precisely because the Incarnation makes possible true union with the divine, a metaphysical union-in-distinction, without confusion, because this union is not extrinsic. It is rooted in one person or suppositum, the incarnate Logos. Through union with Christ, as the one common focus of the divine-human relation, we can have true union with God and may offer true worship. In order to make sense of active participation, then, we need to understand theology in theurgic terms, where theurgy is understood not as a mechanical ‘coercion’ of God but as a participation in His act, in creation and through Christ as the true theurgist, the ‘master theurgist,’ whose work transforms our act and the liturgy.
Doing so, we find a theological and philosophical basis of how we may participate in the liturgy as a divine work, without either ‘collapsing’ into God, and consequently denying their real and substantial, though derived, integrity, or divorcing our works from their divine source. This thesis, therefore, explores, liturgically, the relation between grace and nature, noting that in order to obtain a deeper understanding of the liturgical act, we also need a deeper understanding of its ground in God.
http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/14132/
Books by Kjetil Kringlebotten
Providing a metaphysical grounding for liturgical participation, this book argues that “active pa... more Providing a metaphysical grounding for liturgical participation, this book argues that “active participation” in the liturgy must be understood principally as our participation in God’s act, particularly in the act of Christ, and only secondarily as our ritual involvement. Utilizing Neoplatonist philosophy, Kjetil Kringlebotten proposes that this should be understood in terms of theurgy, which is the human participation in divine action, which finds its consummation in the incarnation of Christ. Without the incarnation all acts will remain extrinsic and imposed but acts can become real and intrinsic precisely because the incarnation makes possible true union with the divine, a metaphysical union-in-distinction, without confusion, because this union is not extrinsic. Through union with Christ, as the one common focus of the divine human relation, we can have true union with God and may offer true worship. In order to make sense of active participation, then, we need to understand theology in theurgic terms, where theurgy is understood not as a mechanical “coercion” of God but as a participation in His act, in creation and through Christ as the true theurgist, the “master theurgist” Whose work transforms our act and the liturgy.
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Papers by Kjetil Kringlebotten
Thesis Chapters by Kjetil Kringlebotten
This thesis argues that without the Incarnation, all acts will remain extrinsic and imposed but that acts can become real and intrinsic precisely because the Incarnation makes possible true union with the divine, a metaphysical union-in-distinction, without confusion, because this union is not extrinsic. It is rooted in one person or suppositum, the incarnate Logos. Through union with Christ, as the one common focus of the divine-human relation, we can have true union with God and may offer true worship. In order to make sense of active participation, then, we need to understand theology in theurgic terms, where theurgy is understood not as a mechanical ‘coercion’ of God but as a participation in His act, in creation and through Christ as the true theurgist, the ‘master theurgist,’ whose work transforms our act and the liturgy.
Doing so, we find a theological and philosophical basis of how we may participate in the liturgy as a divine work, without either ‘collapsing’ into God, and consequently denying their real and substantial, though derived, integrity, or divorcing our works from their divine source. This thesis, therefore, explores, liturgically, the relation between grace and nature, noting that in order to obtain a deeper understanding of the liturgical act, we also need a deeper understanding of its ground in God.
http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/14132/
Books by Kjetil Kringlebotten
This thesis argues that without the Incarnation, all acts will remain extrinsic and imposed but that acts can become real and intrinsic precisely because the Incarnation makes possible true union with the divine, a metaphysical union-in-distinction, without confusion, because this union is not extrinsic. It is rooted in one person or suppositum, the incarnate Logos. Through union with Christ, as the one common focus of the divine-human relation, we can have true union with God and may offer true worship. In order to make sense of active participation, then, we need to understand theology in theurgic terms, where theurgy is understood not as a mechanical ‘coercion’ of God but as a participation in His act, in creation and through Christ as the true theurgist, the ‘master theurgist,’ whose work transforms our act and the liturgy.
Doing so, we find a theological and philosophical basis of how we may participate in the liturgy as a divine work, without either ‘collapsing’ into God, and consequently denying their real and substantial, though derived, integrity, or divorcing our works from their divine source. This thesis, therefore, explores, liturgically, the relation between grace and nature, noting that in order to obtain a deeper understanding of the liturgical act, we also need a deeper understanding of its ground in God.
http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/14132/