The Trinitarian Pneumatology of Sergius Bulgakov and Dumitru Staniloae: Biblical Foundations (original) (raw)
Related papers
Sergius Bulgakov and Yves Congar have developed convergent insights into the role of the Spirit in the human life of Christ. Both emphasize the mediating role of the Spirit in the relationship between Christ and his Father and give to him a maternal understanding: closely associated with the figure of Mary, the Spirit is not absent from the begetting of the Son in his human life, a continuous begetting that reaches its fulfilment in the resurrection. However, the authors differ in their interpretation of this economic data: for Bulgakov, it must be transposed into the very heart of Trinitarian life, implying a form of Spirituque. For Congar, such a “transfer” is not possible. We explore this debate and evaluate the proposed answers, in dialogue with other contemporary authors who, with Bulgakov and Congar, have opened the way to a “rebalancing” of Trinitarian theology, which allows the still separating question of the Filioque to be posed afresh. Keywords: Sergius Bulgakov, Yves Congar, Pneumatology, Trinity, Filioque, Spirituque, Motherhood
From Sophia to Personhood: The Development of 20th Century Orthodox Trinitarian Theology
Phronema, 2018
This presentation will trace the development of trinitarian theology, beginning with Sergius Bulgakov and including Dumitru Stăniloae, Vladimir Lossky and John Zizioulas. It will demonstrate how much of contemporary Orthodox theology on the Trinity, although projecting itself as a neo-Patristic synthesis, is, in large part, a footnote to Bulgakov. I will also argue how the development of a contemporary Orthodox theology of personhood is both consistent with patristic theology and a result of hermeneutical and existential contextuality. C ontemporary Orthodox theology of the person is probably one of the most ecumenically recognizable aspects of contemporary Orthodox theology, and, recently, one of the most controversial aspects, especially among the Orthodox themselves, but also among patristic scholars from across the confessional divide. It is indisputable that the one who placed a theology of person at the center of contemporary Orthodox theology, together with the essence-energies distinction, is Vladimir Lossky. This is attributable to several factors, not least of which is the book, The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church, which is a mini-systematic theology. He wrote this book in 1944 in French and it was translated into English in 1957. The English translation of this book is significant because it became one of the very few books on Orthodox theology in the English language that existed at the time, and it had a profound influence on shaping the ecumenical perception of Orthodox theology. As my doctoral advisor, David Tracy, once admitted to me: "We read Lossky."
Sergius Bulgakov and Modern Theology
“Sergius Bulgakov and Modern Theology,” in Building the House of Wisdom: Sergii Bulgakov and Contemporary Theology: New Approaches and Interpretations, eds. Barbara Hallensleben, Regula M. Zwahlen, Aristotle Papanicolaou and Pantelis Kalaitzidis (Münster: Aschendorff Verlag, 2024), 501-520.
About Existence and the paradox of selfless Parental, Filial and Brotherly Love
About Existence and the paradox of eternal selfless Parental, Filial and Brotherly Love solved through the Holy Trinity doctrine, 2023
The purpose of this article is first to provide a short explanation about God Being Existence, the distinction between His Essence and Energies, and the possibility of knowing Him in a personal manner, through His revealed Energies, as understood in Eastern Orthodox Christianity. It then focuses on proposing a possibly novel argument, why the Holy Spirit can proceed only from the Father alone, by underscoring that an Eternal Relation of selfless Brotherly Love can only be possible, if the Holy Spirit does not originate from the Son too. (Alternatively, to maintain Their full equality, we would have no other choice, but to also say that the Son is generated by the Father through the Spirit, like Synesius of Cyrene, the 5th century Bishop of Ptolemais, appears to have done.) If brotherly love would not be eternally manifested, then it couldn't truly qualify as being good, in Orthodox Christian theology. It is likewise pointed out, that for gender distinction to be truly good, it also needs to be eternally manifested between the Son and the Holy Spirit (Who can thus be also called the "Sister of the Son", like Synesius has done), while the Unbegotten Father, in His unique role as the One God and Eternal Source of the Son and the Spirit, is beyond gender distinction. The feminine gender of the Holy Spirit is shown to be supported by the ancient Orthodox Christian tradition and not contradicted by any later recognized dogma.