tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8836001125267727609.post2450379264105212405..comments2023-09-27T05:12:31.333-04:00Comments on Ancient Christian Witness: Differences between East & WestJnormhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06749159886390240183noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8836001125267727609.post-30232182004968993412008-05-22T20:41:00.000-04:002008-05-22T20:41:00.000-04:00Wow, you said alot. It looks like I'm going to hav...Wow, you said alot. It looks like I'm going to have to look at the classical western view again. Just to understand it accurately.<BR/><BR/><BR/>JNORM888Jnormhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06749159886390240183noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8836001125267727609.post-74939841672347211042008-05-20T18:43:00.000-04:002008-05-20T18:43:00.000-04:00As far as I know the distinction is not dogmatic, ...As far as I know the distinction is not dogmatic, but the “created grace” discussion has been going on since the middle ages. Uncreated Grace is God Himself; or the Love of God if you prefer. It is our sharing in the Divine Life which happens for example in the indwelling of God in the soul and our union with God in heaven. <BR/>Created grace (at least as I understand it) isn’t so much a separate kind of grace but this terminology rather refers to the created effects resulting from the activities of Uncreated Grace. The Divine Indwelling is Uncreated Grace, but the transformation in our soul that takes place through our life in God, our becoming a “new man,” or a “new creature” can be described as created grace (or graces). Created grace is in a sense the created products or effects of God’s uncreated power and presence in our souls. To be honest I don’t really like the terminology and I think that at times created grace is presented as a kind of “thing” separate from Uncreated Grace. We can speak of discrete graces, such as being given the grace to overcome road rage, and this might be described as a created grace since it effects a transformation in our created being. Put another way, when we receive God’s Uncreated Gift of Himself (Uncreated Grace) our created nature undergoes actualizations (created grace). Perhaps one could say that the principle of our sanctification and deification is Uncreated Grace (God Himself really) but that the temporal actualization of that Grace involves efficacious effects (virtues, powers, et cetera) that can be thought of in terms of the creative and recreative power of grace in synergy with the receptiveness of nature. Unfortunately, I’m having a hard time explaining the matter with any precision… One more attempt at a clear formulation: the divine operation that justifies and sanctifies is uncreated but the manifestation of that operation in the creature (and in time) involve creative and recreative activities. It is to this that the term created grace refers. I should also note that it is possible to elucidate the Roman Catholic perspective on grace without employing this distinction. The Council of Trent provides a splendid theology of grace and as for as I recall the category of created grace is not employed.Laudate Dominumhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10094695040004867392noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8836001125267727609.post-46513239453766141522008-05-17T04:38:00.000-04:002008-05-17T04:38:00.000-04:00Interesting.I never knew that.So why does Rome hav...Interesting.<BR/><BR/>I never knew that.<BR/><BR/>So why does Rome have an extra category? And how does she explain, her form of Uncreated grace? Is it universal or particuliar?<BR/><BR/><BR/><BR/>JNORM888Jnormhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06749159886390240183noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8836001125267727609.post-8710038993420820192008-05-16T23:30:00.000-04:002008-05-16T23:30:00.000-04:00I understand that mainstream Orthodox theology rej...I understand that mainstream Orthodox theology rejects the category of created grace, but what this post fails to mention is that the concept of Uncreated Grace is fundamental to Roman Catholic theology. The difference is not as stark as this post would suggest; it is not that Orthodox assert Uncreated Grace and Latins assert created grace- it is rather that Romans have the additional category of created grace that Orthodox theology lacks for various reasons. My impression too is that the fundamental difference lies in the lack of a central ousia / energeia distinction in the mainstream Roman Catholic theological tradition. This distinction has been asserted all the more in modern Orthodox theology through the greater interest in Palamite theology (via Florovsky, Lossky, Meyendorff, et cetera).Laudate Dominumhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10094695040004867392noreply@blogger.com