Fr. Dumitru Stăniloae: Portrait of a Public Theologian (original) (raw)
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Journal for the Study of Religions and Ideologies, 2023
Dumitru Stăniloae (1903-1993) was certainly one of the most important Romanian theologians of the 20 th century. This fact explains why his works are until nowadays read, discussed or analysed and constitute the topic of different monographs, studies, articles or reviews. Among the long list of the texts that he published during his life, there still are some that were not enough referred or investigated. Or, when they were, the references almost always suggested his nationalist orientation, or the fact that the scholar placed himself among the Romanian thinkers of the interwar period with far-right orientation: the studies and articles published during the interwar period in journals like Telegraful Român from Sibiu, Luceafărul from Sibiu, Gândirea from Bucharest or Ramuri from Bucharest. Being aware of their significance, we will make an effort to consider them and emphasize how topics such as personal development and spirituality in the context of Romania at that time can be addressed. We will also examine the author's unique contributions to their exploration. Compared with the studies and articles published later, during the Communist period, which were mostly theological (in order to avoid the censorship, but also due to the preferences, orientation and formation of the author), these ones have a rich thematic orientation from the historical, ethnographical, theological, sociological, philological or philosophical perspectives.
Nationalist and Trinitarian Visions of the Church in the Theology of Dumitru Staniloae
This article examines ideas about human personhood, the Church, and ecumenicism in the thought of the Romanian theologian Dumitru Stăniloae (1903-1993). It argues that Stăniloae developed his thinking on these issues during two different periods of his life. His interwar writings discuss the debates in nationalist terms, while those works written in the 1970s and 1980s describe Christian unity through a Trinitarian framework. Despite the extremely different logic behind them, Stăniloae’s two ecclesial models are remarkably similar. In order to emphasize how profoundly historical context has shaped Orthodox thinking about the Church, the article briefly compares Stăniloae’s work to that of Nikolai Afanasiev, Vladimir Lossky, and John Zizioulas, three Orthodox theologians who wrote extensively about ecclesiology and ecumenicism.
Romanian theology: A theology of dialogue
Hts Teologiese Studies-theological Studies, 2009
This article offers an overview of the development of Romanian theology through the 20th century, especially after 1989, which constituted a new era for the evolution of Romanian theology. The author believes that the greatest challenge for the Romanian Orthodox Church after 1989 is the one that aims at the reconfi guration of the mission of the Christian martyria within the new forms of religious and social freedom. The author states the necessity for Romanian theology for its own katharsis (purifi cation) as well as the necessity for eliminating the idea that between theology and the other sciences there is a relationship of antinomy. The author fi rmly states his credo as a theologian, namely the theological theme of deifi cation/theosis, understood either in the way of Saint Paul as 'gods through grace' or in the way of Saint Peter as 'partakers of the divine nature': homo-Deus.
Dumitru Stiniloae was the foremost Romanian Orthodox dogmatic theologian and patristic scholar of the twentieth ce+tury. He was a pioneer of Palamite studies, having been the first to publish any translation or major study of Palamas, and canbe included among contemporary "neo-Patristic" schblars in his emphasis on a returnto patristic sources. Stlniloae was extraordinarily prolific: he published over 40 books, including several major dogmatic studies, 30 volumes of Greek patristic translations, a L2-volume translation of the Philokalia,200 theological articles (many of them rnajor,studies), and over 400 editorial and periodical articles, besides reviews, introductions and other miscellany. His theological synthesis is similarly vast in scope: it fully integrates later Byzantine theology (Dionysius, Maximus, Palamas), also incorporating insights from contemporary theology (Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox) and philosophy, all combined inhis "personalist" emphasis. His academic writings are imbued with a pastoral congem which gives them an inspirational dimensiory making them traditional and contemporary simultaneously, engaging scholars, clergy and laymen.
My Personal Encounter with Fr. Dumitru Staniloae's Theology
This is the second presentation I have done on 16 April, 2016, at the Institute for Orthodox Christian Studies (IOCS), in Cambridge, UK, as part of a series of community lectures titled ‘Contemporary Fathers and Mothers of the Church: Guides for Today’s World’. I deal in it with my personal testimony of my spiritual pilgrimage through the encounter with Staniloae's theology.
The Romanian Philokalia Volume VII / Saint Dumitru the Restorer of the Christian Theology
Content Writings by: Nicephorus from Loneliness, Theoleptos of Philadelphia, Saint Gregory the Sinaite, Saint Gregory Palamas About prayer, Watchfulness, and Guarding the Heart, of Nicephorus from Loneliness 3 Nicephorus from Loneliness. Short Biographical Note 4 Word about Prayer. Of Nicephorus from Loneliness 8 From the Life of Our Pious Father Anthony 10 From the Life of Saint Theodosius, the Cenobiarch (The Exarch of the Coenobitic Communities) 11 From the Life of Saint Arsenius 12 From the Life of Saint Paul from Latro 12 From the Life of Saint Sava 13 From the Life of Saint Agathon 14 From Abba Mark (towards Nicholas) 14 From Saint John Climacus 15 From Abba Isaiah 16 From Makarios the Great 17 From Diadochus 17 From Isaac the Syrian 17 From the Carpathian 18 From Simeon the New Theologian 18 Of Theoleptos Metropolitan of Philadelphia. Word about the Toils of the Monastic Life. And Word about That Word Hidden into Christ 28 Metropolitan Theoleptos of Philadelphia His Life and His Writings 28 The Word of Theoleptos, Metropolitan of Philadelphia, about the Toils of the Monastic Life 36 Of the Same Theoleptos of Philadelphia, Word about That Word Hidden into Christ 56 Of the One amongst the Saitns, our Father Gregory of Sinai Very Useful Heads in Acrostic And other Writings 62 Saint Gregory the Sinaite. His life 63 The Writings of Gregory Sinaite 74 Of the One Amongst Saints, Our Father Gregory Sinaite Very Useful Heads in Acrostic, of which Acrostic is this: Diverse Words about Commandments, Dogmas, Menaces and Promises, and even about Thoughts, Passions, and Virtues; and then about Appeasement and Prayer. 80 Other Heads of the same One 140 About the Passionate Transformation 141 About the Good Transformation 142 Of the Same One Detailed teaching about appeasement and prayer, about the signs of the grace and of the deceit; and then, about the difference between warmth and work; and that without an adviser there comes easily the delusion. (Head in The Greek Philokalia: 10; here we have 14 heads). 143 About the Way One Can Find the Word 145 Of Saint Gregory Palamas Word for Them Who Appease Themselves Piously 154 The Third Word of the Last Ones About the Holy Light 155 The Second Word from the Last Ones About Prayer 180 The Third Word from the Last Ones About the Holy Light 215 Of Saint Gregory Palamas Out of the Word of Saint John Chrysostom at the First Martyr Stephen 309 Of Saint Gregory Palamas About the Godlike and Deifying Impartation; or about the Godlike and Above-Nature Simplicity 311 The Hagiorite Tome 344 Of Saint Greogry Palamas, the Archbishop of Thessaloniki 150 Heads about the Natural Knowledge, about the Knowledge about God, about the Moral Life, and about Doing 355
Father Dumitru Stăniloae and the Ecumenical Dialogue Between Disproof and Acceptance
This paper attempts to offer an answer to the question: how " ecumenical " was Dumitru Stăniloae? In fact, in terms of participation in the ecumenical dialogue, there are several stages in his life and work: in a first stage, until his release from the communist prisons (1964), Father Stăniloae did not take part in this dialogue; in the second stage, he became an active participant in various ecumenical meetings; finally, his retirement and the freedom gained after the 1989 Revolution witnessed the end of the ecumenical participation on behalf of the great Romanian theologian. The end of the paper offers several possible answers to this wavering trajectory.