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D E V E L O P M E N T S I N C O N T E M P O R A RY O R T H O D O X T H E O L O G Y
Developments in C ontemporar y
Orthodox Theolog y
One of the most immediate methodological consequences
of the return to the Fathers is that certain areas previ-
ously neglected are now becoming fundamental sources of
theology. These areas are connected above all with worship,
especially the liturgy, and with monastic or ascetic experience.
Thus, whereas in the past no Orthodox theologian would
have referred to the Eucharist as a doctrinal source, an entire
branch of modern Orthodox theology has arisen under the
title of “Eucharistic theology.” Liturgical experience is no lon-
ger treated merely as practical theology, but is seen as relevant
to theoretical subjects such as the doctrine of the Holy Trinity,
Christology, and ecclesiology.
In the same context, the theological significance of the icon
has been explicitly explored for the first time in our century.
Likewise, the ascetic tradition of the Fathers has become inte-
grated into dogmatic theology. Writers such as Pseudo-Dio-
nysius the Areopagite, John Climacus, Maximus the Confes-
sor, and Symeon the New Theologian, once absent from aca-
demic manuals, are now central sources. Works such as Vlad-
imir Lossky’s Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church, to-
gether with renewed interest in the Philokalia and the Sayings
of the Desert Fathers, illustrate this development.
From this reorientation emerge the principal themes of
twentieth-century Orthodox theology.
One of the most important is pneumatology. This has not
simply revived the Filioque controversy, but has raised the
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