Books by Andrew T J Kaethler
WInchester University Press, 2023
Mapping the Una Sancta: Eastern and Western Ecclesiology in the Twenty-First Century (Complete bo... more Mapping the Una Sancta: Eastern and Western Ecclesiology in the Twenty-First Century (Complete book, Open Access)
Edited by Sotiris Mitralexis and Andrew T. J. Kaethler,
WInchester University Press 2023.
ISBN: 978-1-906113-32-2
Complete book: https://bit.ly/unasancta
Contributors: Dimitrios Bathrellos, John Behr, Johannes Börjesson, George E. Demacopoulos, Adam A. J. DeVille, David W. Fagerberg, Jonathan Goodall, David Bentley Hart, Andrew TJ Kaethler, Christos Karakolis, Norm Klassen, Marcello La Matina, Nikolaos Loudovikos, Andrew Louth, Giulio Maspero, John Milbank, Sotiris Mitralexis, Thomas O’Loughlin, Jared Schumacher, Edward Siecienski, Manuel Gonçalves Sumares, Vincent Twomey, and Anna Zhyrkova
Cascade Books, Veritas Series, 2022
Both Alexander Schmemann and Joseph Ratzinger insist that the human person remains shrouded in my... more Both Alexander Schmemann and Joseph Ratzinger insist that the human person remains shrouded in mystery without God’s self-disclosure in the person of Jesus Christ. Like us, Jesus lived in a particular time and location, and therefore time and temporality must be part of the ontological question of what it means to be a human person. Yet, Jesus, the one who has time for us, ascended to the Father and the bride of Christ awaits his return, and therefore time and temporality are conditioned by the eschatological. With this in mind, the ontological question of personhood and temporality is a question that concerns eschatology: how does eschatology shape personhood? Bringing together Schmemann and Ratzinger in a theological dialogue for the first time, this book explores their respective approaches and answers to the aforementioned question. While the two theologians share much in common it is only Ratzinger’s relational ontological approach that, by being consistently relational from top to bottom, consistently preserves the meaningfulness of temporal existence.
Blurbs from the back cover:
“This work explores the intellectual affinities of two of the master theologians of our era—Schmemann representing the East, Ratzinger representing the West. . . . Anyone interested in East-West ecumenism, Trinitarian theology, theological anthropology, and/or eschatology will find this work a treasury to be mined for creative ecumenical approaches to these subjects.”
—Tracey Rowland, University of Notre Dame (Australia)
“A splendid study of two original thinkers, Schmemann and Ratzinger. . . . It highlights the significance of eschatology for a proper understanding of Christian anthropology, and so of the relationship between time and eternity. This book marks a milestone in the study of these two thinkers as well as being a significant contribution to theological anthropology.”
—D. Vincent Twomey, SVD, Pontifical University of St. Patrick’s College, emeritus
“Schmemann and Ratzinger may both have a relational understanding of personhood, but Andrew Kaethler draws out the differences with patience and transparency. Thoroughly at home in both the Eastern and the Western side of the dialogue, he sharply delineates the two positions. Kaethler’s bold and incisive censure of Schmemann as inconsistent and dualistic is sure to lead to an animated discussion about the way forward. As such, The Eschatological Person is a model of genuine ecumenical dialogue.”
—Hans Boersma, Nashotah House Theological Seminary
“Comparing and contrasting two distinctively idiosyncratic modern theologians, Alexander Schmemann and Joseph Ratzinger, . . . we are shown how their exposition of Christian eschatology bears on the matter—in short, we are invited to recognize in this richly documented and yet very readable account what it means for us in Christian perspective to be persons in time.”
—Fergus Kerr, OP, St Albert’s Catholic Chaplaincy, University of Edinburgh
“
This magnificent book challenges the nonspecialist reader and the specialists of theology, showing the need to place side by side a theology of history with the philosophies of history . . . in order to respond to the challenges of postmodernity. The relational ontology that emerges from the analysis of the two great authors here studied proves to be a fundamental and valuable tool for both cultural and ecumenical dialogue.”
—Giulio Maspero, Pontifical University of the Holy Cross
Lexington Books/Fortress Academic, 2019
This book explores the relationship between being and time —between ontology and history— in the ... more This book explores the relationship between being and time —between ontology and history— in the context of both Christian theology and philosophical inquiry. Each chapter tests the limits of this multifaceted thematic vis-à-vis a wide variety of sources: from patristics (Maximus the Confessor, Gregory of Nyssa) to philosophy (Kant, Kierkegaard, Heidegger) to modern theology (Berdyaev, Ratzinger, Fagerberg, Zizioulas, Yannaras, Loudovikos); from incarnation to eschatology; and from liturgy and ecclesiology to political theology. Among other topics, time and eternity, protology and eschatology, personhood and relation, and ontology and responsibility within history form core areas of inquiry. Between Being and Time facilitates an auspicious dialogue between philosophy and theology and, within the latter, between Catholic and Orthodox thought. It will be of considerable interest to scholars of Christian theology and philosophy of religion.
Analogia, 2020
ACCESS ISSUE: bit.ly/analogia10
table of contents
Manifesting Persons: A Church in Tension / An... more ACCESS ISSUE: bit.ly/analogia10
table of contents
Manifesting Persons: A Church in Tension / Andrew T.J. Kaethler 9
Ab astris ad castra: An Ignatian-MacIntyrean Proposal for Overcoming Historical and Political-Theological Difficulties in Ecumenical Dialogue / Jared Schumacher 23
Simon Peter in the Gospel according to John: His Historical Significance according to the Johannine Community’s Narrative / Christos Karakolis 35
The Scythian Monks’ Latin-cum-Eastern Approach to Tradition: A Paradigm for Reunifying Doctrines and Overcoming Schism / Anna Zhyrkova 47
Beauty is the Church’s Unity: Supernatural Finality, Aesthetics, and Catholic-Orthodox Dialogue / Norm Klassen 63
Ecumenism and Trust: A Pope on Mount Athos / Andreas Andreopoulos 77
God’s Silence and Its Icons: A Catholic’s Experiences at Mount Athos and Mount Jamna / Marcin Podbielski 93
Councils and Canons: A Lutheran Perspective on the Great Schism and the So-Called Eighth Ecumenical Council / Johannes Börjesson 107
Christological Or Analogical Primacy. Ecclesial Unity And Universal Primacy In The Orthodox Church / Nikolaos Loudovikos 127
Ecumenism, Geopolitics, and Crisis / John Milbank 143
Concluding Reflections on Mapping the Una Sancta. An Orthodox-Catholic Ecclesiology Today / Marcello La Matina 153
Analogia, 2020
ACCESS ISSUE: bit.ly/analogia9
Table of contents
A Spectre Is Haunting Intercommunion
Soti... more ACCESS ISSUE: bit.ly/analogia9
Table of contents
A Spectre Is Haunting Intercommunion
Sotiris Mitralexis 9
‘Unity of the Churches—An Actual Possibility: The Rahner-Fries Theses
and Contemporary Catholic-Orthodox Dialogue’
Edward A. Siecienski 21
The origins of an ecumenical church: links, borrowings,
and inter-dependencies
Thomas O’Loughlin 39
Crusades, Colonialism, and the Future Possibility Christian Unity
George E. Demacopoulos 61
Eucharistic Doctrine and Eucharistic Devotion
Andrew Louth 71
Schmemann’s Approach to the Sacramental Life of the Church:
its Orthodox Positioning, its Catholic Intent
Manuel Sumares 79
Approaching the Future as a Friend Without a Wardrobe of Excuses
Adam A.J. DeVille 99
Anglicans and the Una Sancta
Jonathan Goodall 107
"It is in Christ that time and eternity, history and metaphysics, hold together. This Christologi... more "It is in Christ that time and eternity, history and metaphysics, hold together. This Christological conviction-and the relational understanding of reality that it entails-unites Andrew T.J. Kaethler and Sotiris Mitralexis's extraordinary collection of essays. By no means do the authors agree on every point. But the relational ontology of love on display in this book flows from a shared, ever-deepening movement into the triune God of history."-Hans Boersma, J.I. Packer Professor of Theology, Regent College
This book explores the relationship between being and time-between ontology and history-in the context of both Christian theology and philosophical inquiry. Each chapter tests the limits of this multifaceted thematic vis-à-vis a wide variety of sources: from patristics (Maximus the Confessor, Gregory of Nyssa) to philosophy (Kant, Kierkegaard, Heidegger) to modern theology (Berdyaev, Ratzinger, Fagerberg, Zizioulas, Yannaras, Loudovikos); from incarnation to eschatology; and from liturgy and ecclesiology to political theology. Among other topics, time and eternity, protology and eschatology, personhood and relation, and ontology and responsibility within history form core areas of inquiry. Between Being and Time facilitates an auspicious dialogue between philosophy and theology and, within the latter, between Catholic and Orthodox thought. It will be of considerable interest to scholars of Christian theology and philosophy of religion.
Cluny Media, 2017
Joy is the story of Chantal de Clergerie, a young woman and visionary who lives a life defined by... more Joy is the story of Chantal de Clergerie, a young woman and visionary who lives a life defined by innocence and purity in the midst of a tangle of insanity, and Abbé Cénabre, a priest grappling with apostasy. In keeping with the other great works of award-winning author Georges Bernanos, Joy is a captivating, insightful, and profound look into the depths of the interior life. In 1929, Joy was awarded the Prix Femina, a literary prize given to what is deemed the best French novel of the year.
To this new edition of Joy, Andrew T. J. Kaethler, Ph.D., has contributed an insightful Introduction and collection of Notes for the Reader that deftly describe Bernanos’s style and influences as well as unfold the nuances of the craft on display in the novel.
––“Andrew Kaethler is to be congratulated on this new edition of Georges Bernanos’ novel. His introduction and notes provide a friendly, informed, welcoming guide to this still-too-little-known work. They will be invaluable in helping readers to be challenged, moved, edified and surprised by Joy.” ~Michael Ward, University of Oxford
––“I am delighted to know that this classic is to be republished and added to Cluny’s distinguished catalogue of publications. To Bernanos’s Joy, Dr. Kaethler has written a most informative and stimulating introduction, which I read with profit.” ~Vincent Twomey, SVD, Maynooth University, Ireland
––“With hints of Dostoevsky and Charles Williams, yet with the characteristically individual voice for which good French writers are justly famous, Bernanos still inspires with his joyous and uncompromising vision of sanctity. Together with Kaethler’s penetrating theological introduction and notes, the Cluny Classics edition of Joy is set to introduce a new generation of readers to Bernanos’s works.” ~Norm Klassen, University of Waterloo
The Resounding Soul, 2015
The volume includes contributions by John Milbank, Mary Midgley, and William Desmond.
This book examines the way in which George Grant, one of Canada's most famous political philosoph... more This book examines the way in which George Grant, one of Canada's most famous political philosophers, holds together the great intellectual traditions of Athens and Jerusalem. By combining these two great traditions in an uneasy synthesis Grant sought to remove the impurities of technology and historicism. Inevitably this brought him into contact with the great philosophical geniuses Martin Heidegger and Friedrich Nietzsche. These German thinkers brought great clarity to Grant's thought,but they also represented that which Grant sought to defend against, modernity. Grant's synthesis of Platonism and western Christianity provides the checks and balance to learn from Heidegger and Nietzsche and yet enough force to defend against them. With this synthesis Grant hopes to provide a horizon with which justice and morality can be measured, and a way of knowing in which intimations of God are visible. Grant is successful in this respect; however, his engagement with Heidegger and Nietzsche did not leave his theology unscathed.
Journal Articles by Andrew T J Kaethler
Humanum Review, 2024
The Swiss Protestant theologian Karl Barth famously wrote, “Christianity which is not wholly esch... more The Swiss Protestant theologian Karl Barth famously wrote, “Christianity which is not wholly eschatology and nothing but eschatology has nothing to do with Christ.” Isn’t Barth overstating the point? If he is not, then it seems fair to say that Christianity has little to do with this life. As the Catechism of the Catholic Church sets out, “Eschatology refers to the area of Christian faith which is concerned about ‘the last things,’ and the coming of Jesus on ‘the last day’: our human destiny, death, judgment, resurrection of the body, heaven, purgatory, and hell—all of which are contained in the final articles of the Creed.” What does hell, to choose but one of the “last things,” have to do with the present? I am not Barthian, but there is a profound truth to his statement, and if we understand eschatology in light of Christ, He who died and rose again, it is a truth that has everything to do with this life.
New Blackfriars, 2024
This paper sets out Joseph Ratzinger’s Christocentric theology of creation as a counter to the in... more This paper sets out Joseph Ratzinger’s Christocentric theology of creation as a counter to the increasingly popular naturalist movement anti-natalism. Paradoxically, anti-natalism is par- asitic on the doctrine of creation and yet, at the same time, denies creation, for, as Ratzinger argues, the doctrine of creation affirms both the human person and the natural world within which she lives; creation is necessary for self-acceptance. Furthermore, creation and redemp- tion go together. It is with and through the human person, not without, that the natural world is brought to its proper end.
Humanum: Issues in Family, Culture & Science, 2022
“What is man that thou art mindful of him?” Following the psalmist’s query, the corollary questio... more “What is man that thou art mindful of him?” Following the psalmist’s query, the corollary question is, “What are things that man is mindful of them?” If we recognize that the human person is a being in relation, the answer to the first question provides the answer to the second. The difference between ‘someone’ and ‘something’ is a matter of relations.
https://humanumreview.com/articles/royal-priests-and-the-integrity-of-things
Analogia: The Pemptousia Journal for Theological Studies, 2020
In the Republic Plato views the city as the human soul writ large, and by exploring the visible n... more In the Republic Plato views the city as the human soul writ large, and by exploring the visible nature of the city he seeks to unravel the invisible mystery of the soul. Likewise, but in the inverse, this paper begins from a theological notion of personhood in order to provide a broad framework or an imaginative construct to conceive of Church unity. This framework will be formed in light of a relational notion of personhood inspired by Joseph Ratzinger. It will be argued that an ecclesial dimension is necessary for the fulfilment of what it means to be a human person, a being in relation; the Church manifests persons. As human persons exist in the midst of history it means that an important aspect of personhood also concerns how one interacts within the present. To interact, to participate, rightly requires right perception. Following Romano Guardini’s conception of personhood formed in tension, it will be contended that right perception, a proper harmony in this life, requires tension, a tension that only the Church can provide. Analogously, this paper suggests that the Church, East and West, will most flourish in a united tension, a coming together of difference rather than a complete dissolving of our respective distinctions.
PATH: Pontificia Academia Theologica, 2019
The liturgical theologian Alexander Schmemann posits that to be a Christian is to be oriented to ... more The liturgical theologian Alexander Schmemann posits that to be a Christian is to be oriented to the Kingdom. This eschatological emphasis puts him in good standing with other prominent 20th century theologians such as Rudolf Bultmann, Karl Barth, and Oscar Cullmann, not to mention liberation theologians such as Gustavo Gutiérrez and Leonardo Boff. Yet, how one defines this eschatological orientation changes everything. It can easily take on anagogical and teleological significance, and just as easily take on political import. It can shift towards social justice with the preferential option for the poor and the importance of liberation, or it can turn towards last things (purgatory, heaven, hell, immortality of the soul, resurrection of the body, and the Last Judgement). Thus, as a stand-alone comment, Schmemann’s claim says very little. In what follows, I will tread on the heels of Joseph Ratzinger who takes up Origen’s notion that Jesus is “the Kingdom in Person,” and that eschatology, and eschatological existence, therefore, must be understood in light of a Christology based on the sonship of Jesus Christ. Ratzinger writes, “the answer to the question of the Kingdom is, therefore no other than the Son in whom the unbridgeable gulf between already and not yet is spanned.” In this regard, Christ’s sonship establishes a relational ontology that elucidates the continuity between the beginning and end of God’s fundamental purpose for man. Eschatological existence, to be oriented to the Kingdom, is not a type of existence that is aimed at the future and which thereby elides creation but is a living in and toward Christ who is.
The three main threads of this essay, Christology, eschatology, and protology, are brought together by the ontological notion of sonship. Thus, the first part of this essay unpacks the significance of Christ’s sonship along with its corollaries, i.e., the Holy Trinity––inter-trinitarian relations––and the hypostatic union. After establishing the relationality of God as set out in this triptych, the second part of this article explicates what the Incarnate Son means for the human person and how the relational union of man and God is imaged by marriage, an icon of inter-trinitarian love, the human person, and the Church. The claim put forth is that all three icons interrelate and that by holding them together it becomes clear that personhood is a type of ecclesial existence, a way of becoming that is also eschatological. Furthermore, ecclesial becoming is bound up with creation as exitus and not simply with the eschatological movement of reditus, the fulfilment of creation––exitus et reditus cannot be separated. Bringing it all together, the conclusion proposes that eschatology concerns our living toward Christ and this does not overshadow what is but rather clarifies it; orientation to the Kingdom is not the mystification of what it means to be a human person but the contrary.
Logos: A Journal of Catholic Thought and Culture, Apr 2019
One of the problems in preserving the Permanent Things in the modern world is that certain of the... more One of the problems in preserving the Permanent Things in the modern world is that certain of them, such as liberty and equality, come to take on demonic qualities when not yoked to the proper idea of God. Freedom is taken not as a response to the truth of one’s being, but simply as a negative concept of lack of external pressure that requires a forced equality. Andrew T. J. Kaethler in “Mary, Unity, and the Pathos for Equality: Alexander Schmemann’s ‘Scandalous’ Embrace of Difference” looks at the late Russian Or-thodox theologian’s Trinitarian and Marian understanding of these concepts in the context of modern debates over women’s ordination to the priesthood. For Schmemann:
Thanksgiving precedes freedom and equality follows from freedom—the exact opposite of the modern conception in which equality must precede freedom. The logic of Schme-mann’s ordering is that freedom is found in absolute dependence and equality is based on this dependence. Equality is not based on the bare minimum, a natural base equality (e.g., Ein-stein and Hitler both have heads) but on the highest, namely, God. Equality is found in relation, being sons and daughters of God––shared deification. With this conception equality is at the level of personhood, anthropological maximalism.
When this relation is placed first, true dignity and privilege are found to be springing forth from humility: “Mary is the intersection where Infinity and finitude meet, where infinite difference unites. This beautiful unity is the mark of love, and it expands outward.”
Guest Edited Journal Issue
http://forumphilosophicum.ignatianum.edu.pl/index.php?id=2953
Faith... more Guest Edited Journal Issue
http://forumphilosophicum.ignatianum.edu.pl/index.php?id=2953
Faith in the Web of Evanescent Meaning / Forum Philosophicum 21/1 - Spring 2016
Editors: Andrew T. J. Kaethler & Sotiris Mitralexis
In 2015 Andrew T. J. Kaethler and Sotiris Mitralexis organized a conference in Delphi Greece that engaged with the theological and philosophical questions surrounding the relationship between history and ontology. The theme of this volume of Forum Philosophicum––“Faith in the Web of Evanescent Meaning”––grew out of the conference; four of the five papers were presented in Delphi. All of the papers seek to make sense of truth and meaning in relation to the human world of flux and change. Heidegger, Hegel, Derrida, Jüngel, and Przywara are the most recognizable figures explicated herein with perspectives dramatically ranging from a welcoming embrace of Transhumanism to a critical explication of the entelechy of postmodern thought in light of the Cross.
Articles
*Ragnar M. Bergem
Transgressions: Erich Przywara, G. W. F. Hegel, and the Principle of Non-Contradiction
*Anna Jani
Historicity and Christian Life-Experience in the Early Philosophy of Martin Heidegger
*Hanoch Ben-Pazi
The Immense House of Postcards
The Idea of Tradition following Lévinas and Derrida
*Anthony L. Smyrnaios
From Ontology to Ontologies to Trans-Ontology
The Postmodern Narrative of History and Trans-Theological Ludic Transhumanism
*Deborah Casewell
Reading Heidegger through the Cross
On Eberhard Jüngel’s Heideggerian Ontology
Book Reviews
Krzysztof Śnieżyński
Norbert Fischer and Jakub Sirovátka, eds.: Vernunftreligion und Offenbarungsglaube. Zur Erörterung einer seit Kant verschärften Problematik
Łukasz Bartkowicz
Marcin Dolecki: Philosopher’s Crystal: The Treacherous Terrain of Tassatarius.
Modern Theology, Jan 2016
David H. Kelsey argues, “Hardly any other moment in life besides death provides a subject for the... more David H. Kelsey argues, “Hardly any other moment in life besides death provides a subject for theological reflection that brings to such clear focus the precise force of a theologian's anthropological proposals.” With this in mind this paper examines how Alexander Schmemann’s and Joseph Ratzinger’s respective conceptions of death fit, coherently or otherwise, with their differing accounts of human relationality and temporality. What makes this an interesting comparison is that Schmemann claims that the immortality of the soul––which is part of Ratzinger’s relational account––is a Platonic notion that rejects temporality and is inconsistent with a relational ontology. Ironically, it is Schmemann’s view that is relationally and temporally problematic, and this is clearly seen in his account of death.
Logos: A Journal of Catholic Thought and Culture, Apr 2016
Joseph Ratzinger makes a strong distinction between self-love and egoism. Proper self-love involv... more Joseph Ratzinger makes a strong distinction between self-love and egoism. Proper self-love involves transcending the self. Egoism, on the other hand, is the inward turn that leads to an endless flight from self. Ratzinger bases this distinction on a relational ontology in which humans image the relational God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. It is arguable that Georges Bernanos utilizes a similar framework in the novels Mouchette and The Diary of a Country Priest. If read accordingly the protagonist in each novel provides a profound example of the “relationality” of self-love. This paper explicates Ratzinger’s notion of self-love in conjunction with Bernanos’ literary depiction, and argues that self-love is only realised through one’s ecstatic love of God. Love, so construed, reconciles the apparent disjunction between self-denial and self-love.
Mitteilungen Institut Papst Benedikt XVI, Dec 2015
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Books by Andrew T J Kaethler
Edited by Sotiris Mitralexis and Andrew T. J. Kaethler,
WInchester University Press 2023.
ISBN: 978-1-906113-32-2
Complete book: https://bit.ly/unasancta
Contributors: Dimitrios Bathrellos, John Behr, Johannes Börjesson, George E. Demacopoulos, Adam A. J. DeVille, David W. Fagerberg, Jonathan Goodall, David Bentley Hart, Andrew TJ Kaethler, Christos Karakolis, Norm Klassen, Marcello La Matina, Nikolaos Loudovikos, Andrew Louth, Giulio Maspero, John Milbank, Sotiris Mitralexis, Thomas O’Loughlin, Jared Schumacher, Edward Siecienski, Manuel Gonçalves Sumares, Vincent Twomey, and Anna Zhyrkova
Blurbs from the back cover:
“This work explores the intellectual affinities of two of the master theologians of our era—Schmemann representing the East, Ratzinger representing the West. . . . Anyone interested in East-West ecumenism, Trinitarian theology, theological anthropology, and/or eschatology will find this work a treasury to be mined for creative ecumenical approaches to these subjects.”
—Tracey Rowland, University of Notre Dame (Australia)
“A splendid study of two original thinkers, Schmemann and Ratzinger. . . . It highlights the significance of eschatology for a proper understanding of Christian anthropology, and so of the relationship between time and eternity. This book marks a milestone in the study of these two thinkers as well as being a significant contribution to theological anthropology.”
—D. Vincent Twomey, SVD, Pontifical University of St. Patrick’s College, emeritus
“Schmemann and Ratzinger may both have a relational understanding of personhood, but Andrew Kaethler draws out the differences with patience and transparency. Thoroughly at home in both the Eastern and the Western side of the dialogue, he sharply delineates the two positions. Kaethler’s bold and incisive censure of Schmemann as inconsistent and dualistic is sure to lead to an animated discussion about the way forward. As such, The Eschatological Person is a model of genuine ecumenical dialogue.”
—Hans Boersma, Nashotah House Theological Seminary
“Comparing and contrasting two distinctively idiosyncratic modern theologians, Alexander Schmemann and Joseph Ratzinger, . . . we are shown how their exposition of Christian eschatology bears on the matter—in short, we are invited to recognize in this richly documented and yet very readable account what it means for us in Christian perspective to be persons in time.”
—Fergus Kerr, OP, St Albert’s Catholic Chaplaincy, University of Edinburgh
“
This magnificent book challenges the nonspecialist reader and the specialists of theology, showing the need to place side by side a theology of history with the philosophies of history . . . in order to respond to the challenges of postmodernity. The relational ontology that emerges from the analysis of the two great authors here studied proves to be a fundamental and valuable tool for both cultural and ecumenical dialogue.”
—Giulio Maspero, Pontifical University of the Holy Cross
table of contents
Manifesting Persons: A Church in Tension / Andrew T.J. Kaethler 9
Ab astris ad castra: An Ignatian-MacIntyrean Proposal for Overcoming Historical and Political-Theological Difficulties in Ecumenical Dialogue / Jared Schumacher 23
Simon Peter in the Gospel according to John: His Historical Significance according to the Johannine Community’s Narrative / Christos Karakolis 35
The Scythian Monks’ Latin-cum-Eastern Approach to Tradition: A Paradigm for Reunifying Doctrines and Overcoming Schism / Anna Zhyrkova 47
Beauty is the Church’s Unity: Supernatural Finality, Aesthetics, and Catholic-Orthodox Dialogue / Norm Klassen 63
Ecumenism and Trust: A Pope on Mount Athos / Andreas Andreopoulos 77
God’s Silence and Its Icons: A Catholic’s Experiences at Mount Athos and Mount Jamna / Marcin Podbielski 93
Councils and Canons: A Lutheran Perspective on the Great Schism and the So-Called Eighth Ecumenical Council / Johannes Börjesson 107
Christological Or Analogical Primacy. Ecclesial Unity And Universal Primacy In The Orthodox Church / Nikolaos Loudovikos 127
Ecumenism, Geopolitics, and Crisis / John Milbank 143
Concluding Reflections on Mapping the Una Sancta. An Orthodox-Catholic Ecclesiology Today / Marcello La Matina 153
Table of contents
A Spectre Is Haunting Intercommunion
Sotiris Mitralexis 9
‘Unity of the Churches—An Actual Possibility: The Rahner-Fries Theses
and Contemporary Catholic-Orthodox Dialogue’
Edward A. Siecienski 21
The origins of an ecumenical church: links, borrowings,
and inter-dependencies
Thomas O’Loughlin 39
Crusades, Colonialism, and the Future Possibility Christian Unity
George E. Demacopoulos 61
Eucharistic Doctrine and Eucharistic Devotion
Andrew Louth 71
Schmemann’s Approach to the Sacramental Life of the Church:
its Orthodox Positioning, its Catholic Intent
Manuel Sumares 79
Approaching the Future as a Friend Without a Wardrobe of Excuses
Adam A.J. DeVille 99
Anglicans and the Una Sancta
Jonathan Goodall 107
This book explores the relationship between being and time-between ontology and history-in the context of both Christian theology and philosophical inquiry. Each chapter tests the limits of this multifaceted thematic vis-à-vis a wide variety of sources: from patristics (Maximus the Confessor, Gregory of Nyssa) to philosophy (Kant, Kierkegaard, Heidegger) to modern theology (Berdyaev, Ratzinger, Fagerberg, Zizioulas, Yannaras, Loudovikos); from incarnation to eschatology; and from liturgy and ecclesiology to political theology. Among other topics, time and eternity, protology and eschatology, personhood and relation, and ontology and responsibility within history form core areas of inquiry. Between Being and Time facilitates an auspicious dialogue between philosophy and theology and, within the latter, between Catholic and Orthodox thought. It will be of considerable interest to scholars of Christian theology and philosophy of religion.
To this new edition of Joy, Andrew T. J. Kaethler, Ph.D., has contributed an insightful Introduction and collection of Notes for the Reader that deftly describe Bernanos’s style and influences as well as unfold the nuances of the craft on display in the novel.
––“Andrew Kaethler is to be congratulated on this new edition of Georges Bernanos’ novel. His introduction and notes provide a friendly, informed, welcoming guide to this still-too-little-known work. They will be invaluable in helping readers to be challenged, moved, edified and surprised by Joy.” ~Michael Ward, University of Oxford
––“I am delighted to know that this classic is to be republished and added to Cluny’s distinguished catalogue of publications. To Bernanos’s Joy, Dr. Kaethler has written a most informative and stimulating introduction, which I read with profit.” ~Vincent Twomey, SVD, Maynooth University, Ireland
––“With hints of Dostoevsky and Charles Williams, yet with the characteristically individual voice for which good French writers are justly famous, Bernanos still inspires with his joyous and uncompromising vision of sanctity. Together with Kaethler’s penetrating theological introduction and notes, the Cluny Classics edition of Joy is set to introduce a new generation of readers to Bernanos’s works.” ~Norm Klassen, University of Waterloo
Journal Articles by Andrew T J Kaethler
https://humanumreview.com/articles/royal-priests-and-the-integrity-of-things
The three main threads of this essay, Christology, eschatology, and protology, are brought together by the ontological notion of sonship. Thus, the first part of this essay unpacks the significance of Christ’s sonship along with its corollaries, i.e., the Holy Trinity––inter-trinitarian relations––and the hypostatic union. After establishing the relationality of God as set out in this triptych, the second part of this article explicates what the Incarnate Son means for the human person and how the relational union of man and God is imaged by marriage, an icon of inter-trinitarian love, the human person, and the Church. The claim put forth is that all three icons interrelate and that by holding them together it becomes clear that personhood is a type of ecclesial existence, a way of becoming that is also eschatological. Furthermore, ecclesial becoming is bound up with creation as exitus and not simply with the eschatological movement of reditus, the fulfilment of creation––exitus et reditus cannot be separated. Bringing it all together, the conclusion proposes that eschatology concerns our living toward Christ and this does not overshadow what is but rather clarifies it; orientation to the Kingdom is not the mystification of what it means to be a human person but the contrary.
Thanksgiving precedes freedom and equality follows from freedom—the exact opposite of the modern conception in which equality must precede freedom. The logic of Schme-mann’s ordering is that freedom is found in absolute dependence and equality is based on this dependence. Equality is not based on the bare minimum, a natural base equality (e.g., Ein-stein and Hitler both have heads) but on the highest, namely, God. Equality is found in relation, being sons and daughters of God––shared deification. With this conception equality is at the level of personhood, anthropological maximalism.
When this relation is placed first, true dignity and privilege are found to be springing forth from humility: “Mary is the intersection where Infinity and finitude meet, where infinite difference unites. This beautiful unity is the mark of love, and it expands outward.”
http://forumphilosophicum.ignatianum.edu.pl/index.php?id=2953
Faith in the Web of Evanescent Meaning / Forum Philosophicum 21/1 - Spring 2016
Editors: Andrew T. J. Kaethler & Sotiris Mitralexis
In 2015 Andrew T. J. Kaethler and Sotiris Mitralexis organized a conference in Delphi Greece that engaged with the theological and philosophical questions surrounding the relationship between history and ontology. The theme of this volume of Forum Philosophicum––“Faith in the Web of Evanescent Meaning”––grew out of the conference; four of the five papers were presented in Delphi. All of the papers seek to make sense of truth and meaning in relation to the human world of flux and change. Heidegger, Hegel, Derrida, Jüngel, and Przywara are the most recognizable figures explicated herein with perspectives dramatically ranging from a welcoming embrace of Transhumanism to a critical explication of the entelechy of postmodern thought in light of the Cross.
Articles
*Ragnar M. Bergem
Transgressions: Erich Przywara, G. W. F. Hegel, and the Principle of Non-Contradiction
*Anna Jani
Historicity and Christian Life-Experience in the Early Philosophy of Martin Heidegger
*Hanoch Ben-Pazi
The Immense House of Postcards
The Idea of Tradition following Lévinas and Derrida
*Anthony L. Smyrnaios
From Ontology to Ontologies to Trans-Ontology
The Postmodern Narrative of History and Trans-Theological Ludic Transhumanism
*Deborah Casewell
Reading Heidegger through the Cross
On Eberhard Jüngel’s Heideggerian Ontology
Book Reviews
Krzysztof Śnieżyński
Norbert Fischer and Jakub Sirovátka, eds.: Vernunftreligion und Offenbarungsglaube. Zur Erörterung einer seit Kant verschärften Problematik
Łukasz Bartkowicz
Marcin Dolecki: Philosopher’s Crystal: The Treacherous Terrain of Tassatarius.
Edited by Sotiris Mitralexis and Andrew T. J. Kaethler,
WInchester University Press 2023.
ISBN: 978-1-906113-32-2
Complete book: https://bit.ly/unasancta
Contributors: Dimitrios Bathrellos, John Behr, Johannes Börjesson, George E. Demacopoulos, Adam A. J. DeVille, David W. Fagerberg, Jonathan Goodall, David Bentley Hart, Andrew TJ Kaethler, Christos Karakolis, Norm Klassen, Marcello La Matina, Nikolaos Loudovikos, Andrew Louth, Giulio Maspero, John Milbank, Sotiris Mitralexis, Thomas O’Loughlin, Jared Schumacher, Edward Siecienski, Manuel Gonçalves Sumares, Vincent Twomey, and Anna Zhyrkova
Blurbs from the back cover:
“This work explores the intellectual affinities of two of the master theologians of our era—Schmemann representing the East, Ratzinger representing the West. . . . Anyone interested in East-West ecumenism, Trinitarian theology, theological anthropology, and/or eschatology will find this work a treasury to be mined for creative ecumenical approaches to these subjects.”
—Tracey Rowland, University of Notre Dame (Australia)
“A splendid study of two original thinkers, Schmemann and Ratzinger. . . . It highlights the significance of eschatology for a proper understanding of Christian anthropology, and so of the relationship between time and eternity. This book marks a milestone in the study of these two thinkers as well as being a significant contribution to theological anthropology.”
—D. Vincent Twomey, SVD, Pontifical University of St. Patrick’s College, emeritus
“Schmemann and Ratzinger may both have a relational understanding of personhood, but Andrew Kaethler draws out the differences with patience and transparency. Thoroughly at home in both the Eastern and the Western side of the dialogue, he sharply delineates the two positions. Kaethler’s bold and incisive censure of Schmemann as inconsistent and dualistic is sure to lead to an animated discussion about the way forward. As such, The Eschatological Person is a model of genuine ecumenical dialogue.”
—Hans Boersma, Nashotah House Theological Seminary
“Comparing and contrasting two distinctively idiosyncratic modern theologians, Alexander Schmemann and Joseph Ratzinger, . . . we are shown how their exposition of Christian eschatology bears on the matter—in short, we are invited to recognize in this richly documented and yet very readable account what it means for us in Christian perspective to be persons in time.”
—Fergus Kerr, OP, St Albert’s Catholic Chaplaincy, University of Edinburgh
“
This magnificent book challenges the nonspecialist reader and the specialists of theology, showing the need to place side by side a theology of history with the philosophies of history . . . in order to respond to the challenges of postmodernity. The relational ontology that emerges from the analysis of the two great authors here studied proves to be a fundamental and valuable tool for both cultural and ecumenical dialogue.”
—Giulio Maspero, Pontifical University of the Holy Cross
table of contents
Manifesting Persons: A Church in Tension / Andrew T.J. Kaethler 9
Ab astris ad castra: An Ignatian-MacIntyrean Proposal for Overcoming Historical and Political-Theological Difficulties in Ecumenical Dialogue / Jared Schumacher 23
Simon Peter in the Gospel according to John: His Historical Significance according to the Johannine Community’s Narrative / Christos Karakolis 35
The Scythian Monks’ Latin-cum-Eastern Approach to Tradition: A Paradigm for Reunifying Doctrines and Overcoming Schism / Anna Zhyrkova 47
Beauty is the Church’s Unity: Supernatural Finality, Aesthetics, and Catholic-Orthodox Dialogue / Norm Klassen 63
Ecumenism and Trust: A Pope on Mount Athos / Andreas Andreopoulos 77
God’s Silence and Its Icons: A Catholic’s Experiences at Mount Athos and Mount Jamna / Marcin Podbielski 93
Councils and Canons: A Lutheran Perspective on the Great Schism and the So-Called Eighth Ecumenical Council / Johannes Börjesson 107
Christological Or Analogical Primacy. Ecclesial Unity And Universal Primacy In The Orthodox Church / Nikolaos Loudovikos 127
Ecumenism, Geopolitics, and Crisis / John Milbank 143
Concluding Reflections on Mapping the Una Sancta. An Orthodox-Catholic Ecclesiology Today / Marcello La Matina 153
Table of contents
A Spectre Is Haunting Intercommunion
Sotiris Mitralexis 9
‘Unity of the Churches—An Actual Possibility: The Rahner-Fries Theses
and Contemporary Catholic-Orthodox Dialogue’
Edward A. Siecienski 21
The origins of an ecumenical church: links, borrowings,
and inter-dependencies
Thomas O’Loughlin 39
Crusades, Colonialism, and the Future Possibility Christian Unity
George E. Demacopoulos 61
Eucharistic Doctrine and Eucharistic Devotion
Andrew Louth 71
Schmemann’s Approach to the Sacramental Life of the Church:
its Orthodox Positioning, its Catholic Intent
Manuel Sumares 79
Approaching the Future as a Friend Without a Wardrobe of Excuses
Adam A.J. DeVille 99
Anglicans and the Una Sancta
Jonathan Goodall 107
This book explores the relationship between being and time-between ontology and history-in the context of both Christian theology and philosophical inquiry. Each chapter tests the limits of this multifaceted thematic vis-à-vis a wide variety of sources: from patristics (Maximus the Confessor, Gregory of Nyssa) to philosophy (Kant, Kierkegaard, Heidegger) to modern theology (Berdyaev, Ratzinger, Fagerberg, Zizioulas, Yannaras, Loudovikos); from incarnation to eschatology; and from liturgy and ecclesiology to political theology. Among other topics, time and eternity, protology and eschatology, personhood and relation, and ontology and responsibility within history form core areas of inquiry. Between Being and Time facilitates an auspicious dialogue between philosophy and theology and, within the latter, between Catholic and Orthodox thought. It will be of considerable interest to scholars of Christian theology and philosophy of religion.
To this new edition of Joy, Andrew T. J. Kaethler, Ph.D., has contributed an insightful Introduction and collection of Notes for the Reader that deftly describe Bernanos’s style and influences as well as unfold the nuances of the craft on display in the novel.
––“Andrew Kaethler is to be congratulated on this new edition of Georges Bernanos’ novel. His introduction and notes provide a friendly, informed, welcoming guide to this still-too-little-known work. They will be invaluable in helping readers to be challenged, moved, edified and surprised by Joy.” ~Michael Ward, University of Oxford
––“I am delighted to know that this classic is to be republished and added to Cluny’s distinguished catalogue of publications. To Bernanos’s Joy, Dr. Kaethler has written a most informative and stimulating introduction, which I read with profit.” ~Vincent Twomey, SVD, Maynooth University, Ireland
––“With hints of Dostoevsky and Charles Williams, yet with the characteristically individual voice for which good French writers are justly famous, Bernanos still inspires with his joyous and uncompromising vision of sanctity. Together with Kaethler’s penetrating theological introduction and notes, the Cluny Classics edition of Joy is set to introduce a new generation of readers to Bernanos’s works.” ~Norm Klassen, University of Waterloo
https://humanumreview.com/articles/royal-priests-and-the-integrity-of-things
The three main threads of this essay, Christology, eschatology, and protology, are brought together by the ontological notion of sonship. Thus, the first part of this essay unpacks the significance of Christ’s sonship along with its corollaries, i.e., the Holy Trinity––inter-trinitarian relations––and the hypostatic union. After establishing the relationality of God as set out in this triptych, the second part of this article explicates what the Incarnate Son means for the human person and how the relational union of man and God is imaged by marriage, an icon of inter-trinitarian love, the human person, and the Church. The claim put forth is that all three icons interrelate and that by holding them together it becomes clear that personhood is a type of ecclesial existence, a way of becoming that is also eschatological. Furthermore, ecclesial becoming is bound up with creation as exitus and not simply with the eschatological movement of reditus, the fulfilment of creation––exitus et reditus cannot be separated. Bringing it all together, the conclusion proposes that eschatology concerns our living toward Christ and this does not overshadow what is but rather clarifies it; orientation to the Kingdom is not the mystification of what it means to be a human person but the contrary.
Thanksgiving precedes freedom and equality follows from freedom—the exact opposite of the modern conception in which equality must precede freedom. The logic of Schme-mann’s ordering is that freedom is found in absolute dependence and equality is based on this dependence. Equality is not based on the bare minimum, a natural base equality (e.g., Ein-stein and Hitler both have heads) but on the highest, namely, God. Equality is found in relation, being sons and daughters of God––shared deification. With this conception equality is at the level of personhood, anthropological maximalism.
When this relation is placed first, true dignity and privilege are found to be springing forth from humility: “Mary is the intersection where Infinity and finitude meet, where infinite difference unites. This beautiful unity is the mark of love, and it expands outward.”
http://forumphilosophicum.ignatianum.edu.pl/index.php?id=2953
Faith in the Web of Evanescent Meaning / Forum Philosophicum 21/1 - Spring 2016
Editors: Andrew T. J. Kaethler & Sotiris Mitralexis
In 2015 Andrew T. J. Kaethler and Sotiris Mitralexis organized a conference in Delphi Greece that engaged with the theological and philosophical questions surrounding the relationship between history and ontology. The theme of this volume of Forum Philosophicum––“Faith in the Web of Evanescent Meaning”––grew out of the conference; four of the five papers were presented in Delphi. All of the papers seek to make sense of truth and meaning in relation to the human world of flux and change. Heidegger, Hegel, Derrida, Jüngel, and Przywara are the most recognizable figures explicated herein with perspectives dramatically ranging from a welcoming embrace of Transhumanism to a critical explication of the entelechy of postmodern thought in light of the Cross.
Articles
*Ragnar M. Bergem
Transgressions: Erich Przywara, G. W. F. Hegel, and the Principle of Non-Contradiction
*Anna Jani
Historicity and Christian Life-Experience in the Early Philosophy of Martin Heidegger
*Hanoch Ben-Pazi
The Immense House of Postcards
The Idea of Tradition following Lévinas and Derrida
*Anthony L. Smyrnaios
From Ontology to Ontologies to Trans-Ontology
The Postmodern Narrative of History and Trans-Theological Ludic Transhumanism
*Deborah Casewell
Reading Heidegger through the Cross
On Eberhard Jüngel’s Heideggerian Ontology
Book Reviews
Krzysztof Śnieżyński
Norbert Fischer and Jakub Sirovátka, eds.: Vernunftreligion und Offenbarungsglaube. Zur Erörterung einer seit Kant verschärften Problematik
Łukasz Bartkowicz
Marcin Dolecki: Philosopher’s Crystal: The Treacherous Terrain of Tassatarius.
29-31 May 2015 in Delphi, Greece
Ontology and History:
A Challenging and Auspicious Dialogue for Philosophy and Theology
http://ontologyandhistory.wix.com/delphi
This conference will attempt to explore the relationship between ontology and history in the context of both philosophical enquiry and Christian theology. Ontology is the study of being qua being, a field that is typically viewed as distinguishable from––if not also antithetical to––history. However, while the study of being (insofar as it exists) and history may seem unrelated, there is either an explicit or implicit interaction between the two in a number of philosophical traditions; when not explicitly articulated, this implicit interaction emerges as a philosophical problem. And while this is particularly true for various forms of philosophical idealism (e.g. German idealism) and the historicisation of idealism, it emerges as a core problem in the context of Christian theology and its eschatological promise. If the true state of being and beings resides in an eschatological future, not in the present or a distant past (as masterfully expounded by Maximus the Confessor), and if this true state of being and beings is yet to be witnessed, then temporality in general and history in particular become a vital part of ontology proper. This bears immense implications for the philosophical enquiry into ecclesial witness.
Apart from this, a reoccurring challenge within Christianity concerns how we are to make past events present. Rudolf Bultmann tried to make sense of this by elevating word over event. In so doing he formulated an ‘existentialised’ eschatology in which the focus is on the immediate. In current biblical studies there is strong emphasis on making sense of the Resurrection through history, and history is given priority over confession. As a result the ecumenical creeds are denigrated and metaphysical clarification risks being perceived as anti-biblical. In both Catholicism and Orthodoxy there are various construals of anamnesis in which the historical event is made present as a kingdom event through the liturgical experience of the Eucharist. In line with the desire to understand the relationship of the ‘once’ and the ‘always’, there is the challenge of making sense of the particular and the universal. Karl Rahner conflates them: the particular is the universal. Or stepping back in time with Origen, there is the temptation to universalise the particular with salvation. How best can one reconcile the continuity of salvation history and the radical (interruptive) newness of Christ? Political theology, which grew out of a particular account of eschatology, raises the joint concern of how our social histories are legitimated by moral and theological insights about the nature and destiny of the human person. Clearly, the relationship between ontology and history has immense wide-ranging philosophical and theological implications.
Featured Speakers:
John Panteleimon Manoussakis
(Associate Professor of Philosophy – College of the Holy Cross, Boston MA)
Alan J. Torrance
(Professor of Systematic Theology – University of St Andrews)
Christos Yannaras
(Emeritus Professor of Philosophy – Panteion University, Athens)
Metropolitan John (Zizioulas) of Pergamon
(Academy of Athens)
Organised by:
Dr Sotiris Mitralexis (Freie Universität Berlin)
Andrew TJ Kaethler (University of St Andrews)
http://ontologyandhistory.wix.com/delphi
CALL FOR PAPERS
We welcome short paper proposals (presentation duration: 20 minutes) on all areas addressed in the conference's general description and/or in the thematic workshops' abstracts. Prospective participants can EITHER submit an abstract for a short paper addressing a subject pertaining to the general theme of the conference for a non-thematic session OR submit an abstract for a short paper to be included in one of the following thematic workshops/panels. If your paper is aimed at a specific workshop, please do indicate the workshop's title after your abstract. Each participant can present only one short paper, be it in a workshop panel or in a non-thematic panel.
All papers must be presented in English. Please send us the title and a short abstract of your paper (200-400 words) in English, along with a short CV, via e-mail to ontologyandhistory [.at.] gmail.com. The deadline for abstract submissions is Sunday, 15 February 2015. You will be informed concerning the acceptance of your paper on Wednesday, February 18 2015, and you will be asked to submit the registration fee via bank transfer or PayPal.
The full registration fee is 200€ and the student registration fee is 120€. Upon registering, please send us your (1) full name with title, (2) institutional affiliation, (3) e-mail, (4) cellphone number and (5) postal address to ontologyandhistory [.at.] gmail.com with the subject “Registration” by no later than Sunday, 22 February 2015. Subsequently, you will be provided with information concerning the bank transfer of the registration fee.
The registration fee covers registration, hotel accommodation in Delphi for two nights (29-31 May 2015), one dinner (29 May) and one lunch (30 May), bus transport to and from Athens, the coffee breaks throughout the conference, as well as conference material.
VENUE
The conference's venue is the European Cultural Centre of Delphi in Delphi, Greece. Accommodation for 29-31 May 2015 is provided through the registration fee for participants, while a bus transfer from and to Athens will be made available.
Apart from this, a reoccurring challenge within Christianity concerns how we are to make past events present. Rudolf Bultmann tried to make sense of this by elevating word over event. In so doing he formulated an ‘existentialised’ eschatology in which the focus is on the immediate. In current biblical studies there is strong emphasis on making sense of the Resurrection through history, and history is given priority over confession. As a result the ecumenical creeds are denigrated and metaphysical clarification risks being perceived as anti-biblical. In both Catholicism and Orthodoxy there are various construals of anamnesis in which the historical event is made present as a kingdom event through the liturgical experience of the Eucharist. In line with the desire to understand the relationship of the ‘once’ and the ‘always’, there is the challenge of making sense of the particular and the universal. Karl Rahner conflates them: the particular is the universal. Or stepping back in time with Origen, there is the temptation to universalise the particular with salvation. How best can one reconcile the continuity of salvation history and the radical (interruptive) newness of Christ? Political theology, which grew out of a particular account of eschatology, raises the joint concern of how our social histories are legitimated by moral and theological insights about the nature and destiny of the human person. Clearly, the relationship between ontology and history has immense wide-ranging philosophical and theological implications.