Being As Communion: Studies in Personhood and the Church

St Vladimirs Seminary Press, March 1997. Paper Back. New. For twentieth-century Christians, the application of the slogan ''No pain, no gain'' is appropriate to the painstaking absorption of this sometimes difficult, but immensely rewarding work. Written by the contemporary Orthodox theologian John Zizioulas, these studies represent ground-breaking developments over the past three decades in what has come to be known as ''eucharistic ecclesiology.'' It may safely be said that they rediscover for the modern reader the patristic vision of the concept of the person and the Church as ''a way of being... an image of the way in which God exists.'' The reception of this ''way of relationship with the world, with other people and with God'' is for the author not a luxury, but ''an existential necessity'' for the life of the Church today, and is only recovered in the proper understanding and celebration of the Eucharist. The central importance of the Eucharist is underscored as issues such as Christology, Pneumatology, Catholicity, Apostolic Succession, Ministry, and the nature of the local church are discussed in succeeding chapters. It is the author's intent to challenge all Christians, both East and West, to widen their horizons in consideration of the deep bond between patristic philosophy, theology, and ecclesiology, and to apply these lessons to the Church today. 528 pp.