The Experience of God as Light in the Orthodox Tradition

2019 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 165-185
Author(s):  
Paul Ladouceur
Keyword(s):  
Psychological Experience ◽  
Divine Essence ◽  
Experience Of God ◽  
Union With God ◽  
Orthodox Theology ◽  
Metaphorical Expression

This article explores the sense of John the Evangelist’s expression God is Light (1 Jn 1.5) in the Orthodox tradition, both in the experience of mystics and its theological ramifications. The article reviews the scriptural basis for the experience of God as Light and presents first-hand accounts in Symeon the New Theologian (949–1022), Seraphim of Sarov (1759–1833), Archimandrite Sophrony (Sakharov) (1896–1993), and Nicolae Steinhardt (1912–1989), and in Orthodox liturgical services. Beyond a metaphorical expression or a psychological experience, God as Light, often called the ‘Uncreated Light’, in Orthodox theology is considered an experience of the divine energies, as distinct from the divine essence, a theology elaborated notably by Gregory Palamas (1296–1359), and is a foretaste of union with God, ‘deification’ or theosis.

The Logic of Mysticism

2015 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 109-123
Author(s):  
Stephen Grimm
Keyword(s):  
Mystical Experience ◽  
Experience Of God ◽  
Union With God ◽  
Direct Encounter

I argue that mystical experience essentially involves two aspects: (a) an element of direct encounter with God, and (b) an element of union with God. The framework I use to make sense of (a) is taken largely from William Alston’s magisterial book Perceiving God. While I believe Alston’s view is correct in many essentials, the main problem with the account is that it divorces the idea of encountering or perceiving God from the idea of being united with God. What I argue, on the contrary, is that because our experience of God is an experience of a relationship-seeking, personal being, it brings with it an important element of union that Alston overlooks.

How is a participatory understanding of the divine mystery to be attained?

2019 ◽  
pp. 163-188
Author(s):  
Norman Russell
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
Divine Essence ◽  
Experience Of God ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The One

The next question concerns the nature of human participation in God. Participation implies duality, not identity, but the two terms are not commensurate, the one being finite, the other transcendent. Palamas’ solution to the problem of participation was his development of the essence–energies distinction based on Basil of Caesarea’s distinction between the divine essence and its attributes. Testimony to this distinction was sought in the gospel accounts of the transfiguration of Christ, which thus became the subject of detailed exegesis. This chapter discusses the distinctions Palamas sought to make, including one he hotly denied between a higher and a lower divinity, and concludes that the distinctions are not ontological but are intended to highlight the centrality of the experience of God.

The energy of deification and the person of Jesus Christ in St Gregory Palamas

2020 ◽  
pp. 152-196
Author(s):  
Alexis Torrance
Keyword(s):  
Jesus Christ ◽  
Close Reading ◽  
Human Knowledge ◽  
Divine Essence ◽  
Experience Of God ◽  
Theological Controversy ◽  
A Charge

Gregory Palamas’s defence of human perfection and deification through the dogmatic distinction between divine essence and divine energy sparked a theological controversy that continues into the present day. One of the charges laid against Palamas is that he introduces divine energies as another mediator between humanity and God, effectively replacing the mediation of Christ in the process. This chapter argues that such a charge is fundamentally flawed and reflects a deep misunderstanding of Palamas’s theology. Through a close reading of his seminal Triads and other texts, it is shown that Palamas’s approach to human knowledge and experience of God (which culminates in deification), far from sidelining the person of Christ, places him at its heart; without the Incarnate Christ, no access to human perfection is conceivable for Palamas.

“The Mystical is Everything Speculative”

2017 ◽  
Vol 91 ◽  
pp. 93-104
Author(s):  
Karl Hahn ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Modern Philosophy ◽  
Natural Theology ◽  
Philosophy Of Religion ◽  
Test Case ◽  
Human Being ◽  
Traditional Religion ◽  
Divine Essence ◽  
Christian Religion ◽  
Philosophical Modernity ◽  
Union With God

Hegel is a towering figure in modern philosophy, and he is interestingly a thinker for whom philosophical modernity and traditional religion are necessary partners in the pursuit of shared truth. In this paper, I use Hegel’s unique rendition on natural theology as a test-case for examining the intersection of traditional Christian religion and Idealist reason in Hegel’s philosophical modernity. Specifically, I raise the question of whether Hegel’s philosophy of religion is faithful to what philosopher William Desmond has called the “religious between,” within which God exists as superior, transcendent other to the finite human being existing in created dependence on Him. I argue that Hegel’s Lectures on the Philosophy of Religion contain a German idealist conception of natural theology that counterfeits this “between” by subordinating it to a pseudo-mystical quest for noetic union with God that obliterates what should be the irreducible difference between the human and the divine essence.

The Use of fNIRS for Unique Contributions to Social and Affective Neuroscience

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shannon Burns ◽  
Matthew D. Lieberman
Keyword(s):  
Infrared Spectroscopy ◽  
Social Interaction ◽  
Near Infrared Spectroscopy ◽  
Near Infrared ◽  
Affective Neuroscience ◽  
Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy ◽  
Psychological Experience ◽  
The World ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
Meaningful Interaction

Social and affective neuroscience studies the neurophysiological underpinnings of psychological experience and behavior as it relates to the world around us. Yet, most neuroimaging methods require the removal of participants from their rich environment and the restriction of meaningful interaction with stimuli. In this Tools of the Trade article, we explain functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) as a neuroimaging method that can address these concerns. First, we provide an overview of how fNIRS works and how it compares to other neuroimaging methods common in social and affective neuroscience. Next, we describe fNIRS research that highlights its usefulness to the field – when rich stimuli engagement or environment embedding is needed, studies of social interaction, and examples of how it can help the field become more diverse and generalizable across participant populations. Lastly, this article describes how to use fNIRS for neuroimaging research with points of advice that are particularly relevant to social and affective neuroscience studies.

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