Communion and Otherness: Further Studies in Personhood and the Church - Tapa dura

"As with most creative theological proposals, readers likely will find much with which to disagree. Yet, if one takes the time to engage and not simply dismiss, this volume will pay handsome dividends...Those interested in ecclesial theology will find in this volume much worth contemplating and an able dialogue partner." Scottish Bulletin of Evangelical Theology "All who have benefitted from the influential insights of Being as Communion will be eager to read this new sequel, addressing the critical issue of the balance between relationality and difference in ontological thought."--Sanford Lakoff Metropolitan John Zizioulas is generally recognised as the most brilliant and creative theologian in the Orthodox Church today. The publication of a new book from his pen, supplementing his earlier master-work "Being as Communion, "is a major event, of the greatest interest to Western Christians as well as Orthodox. By exploring the theme of 'Otherness', he has developed in an original and illuminating way what he said in his earlier writings about Communion as the basis for personhood and church life. Here is a voice that greatly needs to be heard. --Sanford Lakoff On page after page of this outstanding book, our assumptions are challenged and our minds led back to the most deeply significant aspects of Christian faith. Few will read this book without sensing that they have been invited to rediscover Christianity itself in its richest traditional form. There can be no doubt that this is a major book which will be discussed and quarried even more extensively than the author's earlier writings. A great book and a converting one, a comprehensive model for the whole of Christian theology. --Sanford Lakoff "John Zizioulas is always a challenging, but rewarding read."--Sanford Lakoff ."..this is not an easy read, but very much worth the effort...What I love most about this book is its sense of existence as God's gift to us and to all of creation, a gift Zizioulas places firmly in a eucharistic context. Because existence is a gift, he argues, atheism can be seen as a form of ingratitude. Faith means being grateful to every other being and finally to God himself, the ultimate Other and 'the author of all otherness. This kind of faith offers no security of rational conviction. The only certainty it offers lies in the love of the Other. The only proof of God's existence is his love-demonstrated by our very being, in otherness and communion. We are loved, therefore he exists.'" John Garvey, Commonweal, April 11, 2008--Sanford Lakoff ."..This volume, along with Being as Communion, provides one of the most insightful, contemporary and accessible accounts of Orthodoxy available." Thomas Finger, Christian Century, May 20, 2008--Sanford Lakoff "This work is highly recommended for the upper level student, professor, and churchman or churchwoman seeking a deeper understanding of these important topics. Truly a challenging work." Cecil R. White, Catholic Library World, May 2008--Sanford Lakoff "John Zizioulas, one of the most prominent contemporary Orthodox theologians, continues to develop his understanding of the relation between personhood and communion in eight essays, three published here for the first time. His thesis is that perfect union does not destroy but rather affirms otherness in the triune God, in the relationship between God and human persons and among the members of the Church...A 'must have' for personal and institutional libraries, this book should be used primarily in graduate studies. Zizioulas demonstrates that he is among the first-ranked contemporary theologians and that Orthodox theology is at a time of development influenced by its return to biblical, patristic, and liturgical sources, in a constructive encounter with other Christian theologies, contemporary philosophy, and modern society." -Radu Bordeianu, Horizons, Vol. 34, No. 2, Fall 2007 --Sanford Lakoff "I'm now reading what I take to be the best book written by an Orthodox theologian in the last 20 years...John Zizioulas' Communion and Otherness is a masterpiece that is not only beautifully Eastern, but philosophically erudite and which engages meaningfully with Western theology. Herein Zizioulas further develops, refines, and defends his relational ontology of personhood that he first put forth in Being as Communion."--Sanford Lakoff

Communion and otherness: how can these be reconciled? In this wide-ranging study, the distinguished Orthodox theologian, Metropolitan John (Zizioulas) of Pergamon, seeks to answer that question. In his celebrated book, Being as Communion (1985), he emphasised the importance of communion for life and for unity. In this important companion volume he now explores the complementary fact that communion is the basis for true otherness and identity. With a constant awareness of the deepest existential questions of today, Metropolitan John probes the Christian tradition and highlights the existential concerns that already underlay the writings of the Greek fathers and the definitions of the early ecumenical councils. In a vigorous and challenging way, he defends the freedom to be other as an intrinsic characteristic of personhood, fulfilled only in communion. After a major opening chapter on the ontology of otherness, written specially for this volume, the theme is systematically developed with reference to the Trinity, Christology, anthropology and ecclesiology. Another new chapter defends the idea that the Father is cause of the Trinity, as taught by the Cappadocian fathers, and replies to criticisms of this view. The final chapter responds to the customary separation of ecclesiology from mysticism and strongly favours a mystical understanding of the body of Christ as a whole. Other papers, previously published but some not easily obtainable, are all revised for their inclusion here. This is a further contribution to dialogue on some of the most vital issues for theology and the Church from one of the leading figures in modern ecumenism.