www.byzcath.org Forums Faith & Christian Life The Christian East & West Term paper on the filioque controversy

I am enrolled in a Theology class this semester. It is Teachings of the Catholic Church, while it is a freshman level class they allow us transfer students who need upper division level classes to graduate to take this class as an upper division class.

As I am in the upper division class the term paper is a bit harder. Instead of doing a 5 to 8 page reflection on a book we have to do a 10 - 15 page on some other topic. The professor (a retired brasilan priest) gave some suggestions and will need to approve our topics. He has already approved this one for me.

I am looking for resources.

I so far have found a book that has a chapter on the early history of the controversy. The Creed by Berard L. Marthaler, that is I think this is the book, I will need to check my notes which I do not have at hand right now.

The other resource is The Filioque: A Church-Dividing Issue?, which is the document put out by the North American Orthodox-Catholic Theological Consultation on October 25, 2003.

Any other suggestions?

In addition to the texts that you have indicated, the following books and articles may be helpful:


Books and articles that for the most part present an Eastern view of the doctrine of the Trinity:

Thomas L. Anastos, "Gregory Palamas' Radicalization of the Essence, Energies, and Hypostasis Model of God." The Greek Orthodox Theological Review 38:1-4 (1993): pages 335-349.

John Behr. "Formation of Christian Theology: The Nicene Faith." (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir's Seminary Press, 2004).

David Bradshaw. "Aristotle East and West: Metaphysics and the Division of Christendom." (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004).

Richard Haugh. "Photius and the Carolingians: The Trinitarian Controversy." (Belmont, MA: Nordland Publishing Company, 1975).

M. Edmund Hussey. "The Doctrine of the Trinity in the Theology of Gregory Palamas." (Ann Arbor: UMI Dissertation Services, 1972).

Vladimir Lossky. "The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church." (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir's Seminary Press, 1998).

Vladimir Lossky. "The Image and Likeness of God." (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir's Seminary Press, 1997).

Andrew Louth. "St. John Damascene: Tradition and Originality in Byzantine Theology." (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002).

G. E. H. Palmer, Philip Sherrard, Kallistos Ware, eds. The Philokalia: The Complete Text compiled by St. Nikodimos of the Holy Mountain and St. Makarios of Corinth. (Boston: Faber and Faber, 1984). 4 Volumes.
(Focus in particular on St. Gregory Palamas' "Capita Physica" no. 36 in volume 4 of the series).

Aristeides Papadakis. "Crisis in Byzantium: The Filioque Controversy in the Patriarchate of Gregory II of Cyprus." (New York: Fordham University Press, 1983).

Dimitru Staniloae, "The Procession of the Holy Spirit from the Father and His Relation to the Son, as the Basis of our Deification and Adoption," found in the book entitled: "Spirit of God, Spirit of Christ: Ecumenical Reflections on the Filioque Controversy." Lukas Vischer, editor. (London: SPCK, 1981).

St. Basil the Great. "On the Holy Spirit." Trans. David Anderson. (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir's Seminary Press, 1980).


Articles from a more traditional Western "Scholastic" perspective:

David Coffey. "The Roman 'Clarification' of the Doctrine of the Filioque." International Journal of Systematic Theology 5:1 (March 2003): Pages 3-21.

Brian Daley. "Revisiting the Filioque: Part One: Roots and Branches of an Old Debate." Pro Ecclesia 10:1 (2001): Pages 31-62.

Brian Daley. "Revisiting the Filioque: Part Two: Contemporary Catholic Approaches." Pro Ecclesia 10:2 (2001): Pages 195-212.


For more texts on the Western position on the filioque you can consult any number of theological manuals, for example:

Ludwig Ott. "The Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma." (Cork: Mercier Press Publications, 1952).

A. Tanquerey. "Manual of Dogmatic Theology." (New York: Desclee Company, 1959). 2 Volumes.


And for a Thomistic / Aristotelian philosophical understanding of the processions in the Trinity:

Thomas Aquinas. "Summa Theologica." Trans. by the Father of the English Domincan Province. (Christian Classics, 1981). 5 Volumes.

Dear Davidb,

You had to ask Todd, did you?

Thank you, Todd, for that comprehensive bibliography!!

Salutations!

Alex

No being American can someone explain what is meant by "freshman level" and "upper division" please? We dont use such terms here at all and I was just wondering where David is in his University course. What is a sophmore(?)as well?

"while it is a freshman level class they allow us transfer students who need upper division level classes to graduate to take this class as an upper division class."

Thanks.

ICXC
NIKA

Pavel - Freshman, 1st year; sophmore, 2nd; junior, 3rd; and senior, 4th. These are distinctions for an undergraduate degree (BS, BA, etc.) and are also used in American high school parlance.

A few other recommendations covering both Eastern and Western perspectives: Ware, The Orthodox Church and The Orthodox Way; Dvornik, Byzantium and the Roman Primacy; Pelikan, The Spirit of Eastern Christendom (Volume II: 600-1700); Runciman, The Eastern Schism; and Sherrard, The Greek East and the Latin West.
FDD

Thank you for this info. I have heard the terms in American films but never knew quiet where it all fitted in. We describe where we are at in our Uni courses by 1st, 2nd, 3rd etc

ICXC
NIKA

If you use Kallistos Ware's "The Orthodox Church," I would recommend using an older edition of the text, since the older edition is more representative of the Eastern understanding of the procession of the Holy Spirit.

Another text that touches on the procession of the Holy Spirit from an Eastern perspective is Dumitru Saniloae's "The Experience of God."

Just to add to what has already been said: lower division classes are courses taken during the first two years of college (i.e., freshman and sophomore), while upper division classes are courses taken during the final two years of college (i.e., junior and senior). The lower division courses tend to be more general in nature, while upper division courses tend to be focused more on your major, at least that is how it was done when I attended San Francisco State University.

Blessings to you,
Todd

Would they be like elective units, not part of the main core of the degree?

ICXC
NIKA

Pavel,
In the first 2-3 years of American University studies many of the classes are unrelated to the Major Degree that one is working towards. Like me for instance, I had to have mathematics, especially algebra, trigonometry, and calculus; a foreign language; english composition; physics; inorganic chemistry; and biology.

The last two years of study were more related to the Biology degree with courses in psychology; many different biology courses; physiology; anatomy; botany; zoology; and organic chemistry.

Many have said that getting people to take classes that have nothing to do with their majors is so that the departments in which no one studies ie philosphy, mathematics, physics, etc... would not fold up due to lack of interest.

Yes and no.

To graduate from the University of St Thomas, where I attend, you need to have 36 upper division upper credits. As I am a transfer student, some of these upper division will fall into the core classes.

Everyone who attends UST is required to have 3 philosophy classes (2 lower division and one upper) and two theology classes. The two theology classes are offered as both lower and upper division. This is to make it a bit easier on us transfer students to get out upper division credits. The class is the same, actually the class is a mix of people takeing it as lower and upper division. The term paper required for the class is what is different. The lower division term paper is much easier.

My plan is to graduate as quick as I can. So I am going to for a Liberal Arts degree. My concentrations are philosophy (6 lower division credits and 15 upper division credits) and theology (9 upper division credits).

So that puts me out with 21 philosophy credits and current the seminary we use, Washington Theological Union, requires 18 - 24 philosophy credits.