Theosis

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THEOSIS: PARTAKERS OF DIVINITY WITH GOD PROF. M. M. NINAN Methodism Methodism, or the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity which derive their inspiration from the life and teachings of John Wesley, George Whitefield and John's brother Charles Wesley <strong>Theosis</strong> as a doctrine developed in a distinctive direction among Methodists, and elsewhere in the pietist movement which reawakened Protestant interest in the asceticism of the early Catholic Church, and some of the mystical traditions of the West. Distinctively, in Wesleyan Protestantism theosis sometimes implies the doctrine of entire sanctification which teaches, in summary, that it is the Christian's goal, in principle possible to achieve, to live without any (voluntary) sin (Christian perfection). In 1311 the Roman Catholic Council of Vienne declared this notion, "that man in this present life can acquire so great and such a degree of perfection that he will be rendered inwardly sinless, and that he will not be able to advance farther in grace" (Denziger §471), to be a heresy. Thus this particular Protestant (primarily Methodist) understanding of theosis is substantially different from that of the Roman Catholic, Orthodox, or Anglican Churches. This doctrine of Christian perfection was sharply criticized by many in the Church of England during the ministry of John Wesley and continues to be controversial among Protestants and Anglicans to this day.[Primary 25] More recently, the Finnish school of Lutheran thought has drawn close associations between theosis and justification. Primarily spearheaded by Tuomo Mannermaa, this line of theological development grew out of talks between the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland and the Russian Orthodox Church between 1970 and 1986. Mannermaa argues in his book, Christ Present in Faith, that the real exchange between Christ and sinful humanity, a theme prevalent in Luther's writing, is synonymous with Eastern views of theosis. It is in this real exchange which Mannermaa says "the union between Christ and the believer makes the latter a ‘completely divine [person]." While this departure from traditional Lutheran thought is sometimes hailed as "the threshold of a third Luther Renaissance," other Lutheran scholars disagree and argue that the idea of theosis violates Luther's theology of the cross principles by ignoring the real distinction that is axiomatic for not only Luther, but for orthodox Christianity as a whole. One of the most prominent scholars is Robert Kolb, who primarily roots this critique in Luther's use of marriage metaphors concerning the Christian's relationship 125
THEOSIS: PARTAKERS OF DIVINITY WITH GOD PROF. M. M. NINAN with God. Kolb writes "This view ignores the nature of the ‘union’ of bride and bridegroom that Luther employed so far." The eastern tradition maintains that theosis, the “way” into this deifying union or restoration of the imago dei, comes by way of the mysterious coinciding of a gift of divine energy and human freedom. This transforming union with God, “is not (says Lossky) the result of an organic or unconscious process: it is accomplished in persons by the cooperation of the Holy Spirit and our freedom.” It is just such an understanding of theosis which Wesley seems to employ as the organizing principle of his ordo salutis. And, as Wesley wrote his ordo salutis to the tune of theosis, it is probably better to understand it as a via salutis: that is to say, we are becoming “like” God by the energy of love (coinciding with our freedom) as He was becoming what we are in condescending love. Although these two perspectives are not mutually exclusive, they have quite often functioned that way. And many have attempted, some times quite deliberately, to overshadow the motifs of participation and pardon precisely at the point of the correlation (whether eastern or western) of the doctrines of incarnation and redemption. It was Albert Outler who first proposed the thesis that Wesley‟s legacy and “place” in the Christian tradition lay in his “third alternative,” his synthesis of pardon and participation as “pardon in order to participation,” a synthesis of sola fide and holy living “ EPISCOPAL CHURCH. However there is the vestiges of theosis even in the Episcopal Church. The following collects are illustrative of theosis within the Episcopal Church. • O God, who wonderfully created, and yet more wonderfully restored, the dignity of human nature: Grant that we may share the divine life of him who humbled himself to share our humanity, your Son Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Collect for the Second Sunday after Christmas). 126
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Theosis

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