Natural theology in the prism of the hesychast vision

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Abstract

Natural theology is an old and influential doctrine stating the possibility of cognizing God via the cognition of Nature. We show that from the Orthodox and especially hesychast viewpoint, its foundations need to be radically corrected and reassessed since they do not take into account that the knowledge of God demands strong anthropological premises including profound changes of man, the cognizing subject. When these premises are taken into account, the knowledge of God becomes integrated into communion with God, i.e. transformed from purely intellectual cognitive paradigm into holistic paradigm of love and communion. The implications of this conclusion for modern discussions of theological problems of cosmology and other physical sciences are briefly pointed out.

General Information

Keywords: Natural theology, Orthodoxy, hesychasm, anthropology, cognition, physics, cosmology

Journal rubric: Theory and Methodology

Article type: scientific article

For citation: Horujy S.S. Natural theology in the prism of the hesychast vision. Konsul'tativnaya psikhologiya i psikhoterapiya = Counseling Psychology and Psychotherapy, 2010. Vol. 18, no. 3, pp. 44–60. (In Russ., аbstr. in Engl.)

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Information About the Authors

Sergey S. Horujy, Doctor of Physics and Matematics, Doctor of Physics and Mathematics, Honorary Professor of the UNESCO Chair, St. Petersburg Department of RNII, Chief Researcher of the RAS Institute of Philosophy, Director of Institute of Synergetic Anthropology, Moscow, Russia, e-mail: horuzhy@orc.ru

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