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#372201 - 11/21/11 09:06 AM The Best Book on Ecclesiology in a Long Time
Adam DeVille Offline
Member

Registered: 01/12/02
Posts: 362
Loc: Fort Wayne, IN
Radu Bordeianu has knocked one out of the park with his first book, Dumitru Staniloae: an Ecumenical Ecclesiology. Details here: http://easternchristianbooks.blogspot.com/2011/11/radu-bordeianu-on-dumitru-staniloae.html

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#372219 - 11/21/11 05:13 PM Re: The Best Book on Ecclesiology in a Long Time [Re: Adam DeVille]
ajk Offline
Member

Registered: 05/22/07
Posts: 1515
Loc: MD
I first read Staniloae some 18 years ago along with such as Lossky, Zizioulas, Meyendorff, Schmemann etc., encountering them without any preconceptions. At that time I found Staniloae (vis-à-vis Catholic theology) the most abrasive, least irenic, least "ecumenical" of the group. Taft takes issue with him on the level of praxis (link) which should be informed by though not necessarily nullifying his academic theological writing. I'd like to read Bordeianu and reconsider Staniloae's eccelsiology afresh and without bias, but unfortunately at ~$80 ($120 list) I'll be waiting for a while if making a necessary purchase is the only option; perhaps the book will show up in an accessible library.

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#372229 - 11/21/11 08:14 PM Re: The Best Book on Ecclesiology in a Long Time [Re: Adam DeVille]
Adam DeVille Offline
Member

Registered: 01/12/02
Posts: 362
Loc: Fort Wayne, IN
Yes, like you, my first encounter about a decade ago with Staniloae did not inspire me to read much more of him. But I assure you that Bordeianu, who probably knows Staniloae better than just about anyone, shows clearly, especially in his first chapter, that Staniloae has been severely misunderstood and often used tendentiously by those with an anti-Western and/or anti-Catholic agenda. By spelling out all of S's views, over the course of his lifetime, Bordeianu is able to show that S is perhaps one of the most ecumenically hospitable of all Orthodox theologians of the 20th century. This chapter was a great surprise, but given all the evidence B amasses, I believe it.

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#372345 - 11/26/11 11:52 AM Re: The Best Book on Ecclesiology in a Long Time [Re: Adam DeVille]
ajk Offline
Member

Registered: 05/22/07
Posts: 1515
Loc: MD
For those not ready to buy Bordeianu's book on Staniloae's ecclesiology, some articles by Fr. Bordeianu on his website (link) may be of interest (see the bottom of his web page for the links); also, they're free and presumably give an indication of his book's content, a précis of sorts. At the very least, Bordeianu's consideration of the topics presented in the linked articles “Orthodox-Catholic Dialogue: Retrieving Eucharistic Ecclesiology” and "Filled With the Trinity: The Contribution of Dumitru Staniloae's Ecclesiology to Ecumenism and Society" presents to a considerable extent a synthesis that has been of great interest to me in that, I believe, it unites East and West, Catholic and Orthodox (and even others) on the most fundamental level: a eucharistic ecclesiology based on the Trinity and consequently and ultimately, the theological concept of person.


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#372672 - 12/05/11 11:41 AM Re: The Best Book on Ecclesiology in a Long Time [Re: Adam DeVille]
Adam DeVille Offline
Member

Registered: 01/12/02
Posts: 362
Loc: Fort Wayne, IN

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#372675 - 12/05/11 01:52 PM Re: The Best Book on Ecclesiology in a Long Time [Re: Adam DeVille]
StuartK Online   content
Member

Registered: 11/09/01
Posts: 6018
Loc: Falls Church, VA
Excellent summary. Thanks for writing it.

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#372693 - 12/06/11 09:07 AM Re: The Best Book on Ecclesiology in a Long Time [Re: Adam DeVille]
ajk Offline
Member

Registered: 05/22/07
Posts: 1515
Loc: MD
Originally Posted By: Adam DeVille
From the link:
Quote:
In particular, Bordeianu argues that the East might be aided by the West in two areas: its understanding of sacraments (including their very number, and their differentiation from "sacramentals"); and a fuller understanding of apophaticism in contemporary Trinitarian theology. In his discussion of sacraments and East-West relations, Bordeianu makes two incautious and inaccurate generalizations when he says that "any baptized Christian can be received in the Orthodox Church through Chrismation without needing a second baptism" and "the Orthodox Church recognizes some of the ordinations of other denominations"(39). In fact, there is no consistent practice for the reception into Orthodoxy of other Christians--as John Erickson showed a number of years ago in an article in St. Vladimir's Theological Quarterly. I know of several cases in which other Christians, including Roman Catholics, have been re-baptized, re-chrismated, and even, in the case of one Roman Catholic priest received into the Russian Church only this year, re-ordained! Many, but not all, Orthodox churches would not commit such sacrilege, but some do--including some Copts whom I know. There is, in fact, no consistency on these questions even within the same Orthodox Church, as recent and contrary examples in the Russian Church alone illustrate. (None of this is surprising, it should be noted: as the late Archpriest Robert Anderson always said to me, "in the East, everything is local custom.")
[my emphasis added]

The Orthodox communion rightly affirms sacramental realism yet in such practices presents a pluralism that is de facto so heterodox that it is tantamount, in (good) theology, to negating a meaningful sense of communion. Thanks for a blunt critique and accurate appraisal.

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#374640 - 01/22/12 04:22 AM Re: The Best Book on Ecclesiology in a Long Time [Re: Adam DeVille]
Eastern Maronite Offline
Junior Member

Registered: 01/21/12
Posts: 9
Loc: USA
How do I purchase this title?

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