Love the deep understanding of the the origins of Christian Theology in the Patristic age. He recognizes that this makes information dependent on an overall sample space and probability distribution, but he fails to consider that it is also crucially dependent on an arbitrary choice of coarse graining, i.e. Dembski is one of those intelligent design eccentrics, and being one of those with strong materialist prejudices against which the book is written, I probably would not have come to it on my own. I read this book many years ago in French, when I was Orthodox in heart. His Eminence, the Most Reverend John (Zizioulas) of Pergamon (b. Despite those areas of disagreement, the work is a good work that encourages the church to be one and yet many. Contest Review 1: Being as Communion Just due to the nature of things, I don't have a lot to say about this one. One almost feels embarrassed for him as his “materialist” interlocutors try to explain the obvious, that natural selection takes a lot of information from the environment–think of all the ways maladapted organisms may come to a poor end! I usually encourage people to read beyond their reading level. I contend that the supposed growth of information that impresses Dembski may well be a mirage of his coarse graining according to his subjective interest rather than any physically-motivated principle. It allows the Eucharist to become the defining element of the church, for that is the moment where the people of God are united in the local body and. For all he is able to show, Dembski’s concerns about natural selection creating information may be beside the point. Zizioulas is much easier to read if you have a good working knowledge of the Christian tradition in the Patristic period (particularly in the East), knowledge of doctrinal development and a workign knowledge of philosophy. this is one of my all-time favorites so figured i should put it up here. One can, therefore, not avoid the question of church and bishops etc. Refresh and try again. This was a pretty tough slog, even for someone with some knowledge of Orthodox theology. 4. It allows the Eucharist to become the defining element of the church, for that is the moment where the people of God are united in the local body and across space and time. People intuitively feel that information is a description of the world, a complete description perhaps, but not the world itself. It's those types of books that make us a better reader. SPU Library: Per BX 1 S34 read it in too small of chunks and sporadically to hold it all as a single thought, but such lovely insight on personhood within Christ and His Bride, particularly by arguing modern paradigms of the individual vs. historical and eschatological paradigms of person. Have read the book several time since and each time I am edified, challenged and convicted anew of the centra. what blocks of sample space count as distinct states. What I do take issue with is that it felt unnecessarily difficult. Hence the first fundamental particularity of Pneumatology is its eschatological character. Being as Communion: a Metaphysics of Information An Overview of Being as Communion, Chapter 1, “Personhood and Being” May 21, 2020 June 27, 2020 / mattersmostpeculiar In light of my post on the value of persons , I thought it would be worthwhile to begin introducing some of my reading of John Zizioulas, for whom the concept of the person is of central importance. In this widely quoted study, Zizioulas argues that the Orthodox understanding of the Trinity as the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in communion with each other is crucial not only for theology but also for how human beings interact together. The future metropolitan was born January 10, 1931. Among Scholastics, potency is usually identified with the material subject (and not only among scholastics–recall Wigner’s definition of an elementary particle as an irreducible representation of the Poincare group, basically identifying the particle with its state space). A few years after my conversion to Orthodoxy, it’s good to read this again, in its English updated version – I believe some passages were not in the French version I read. Nevertheless, he does define information as improbability. A sheer delight. I became aware of this book via a comment by Kristor at The Orthosphere, and it sounded interesting. This is such a cool book to read. The first two chapters deal with personhood and there is a lot of philosophical content about what constitutes "being" and "personhood." Start by marking “Being as Communion: Studies in Personhood and the Church” as Want to Read: Error rating book. What I do take issue with is that it felt unnecessarily difficult. I’m glad I did read it, because I learned that intelligent design doesn’t claim what I thought it did. A sheer delight. The philosophical foundation of the book - that personhood is rooted in relationship, not some independent ontological status, forms the basis of an interesting understanding of the church. The person is an identity that emerges through relationship; it is an 'I' that can exist only as long as it relates to a 'thou' which affirms it's existence and it's otherness. This was the most challenging book I've read in a while and the low rating is more a result of my lack of understanding. To see what your friends thought of this book, Being as Communion: Studies in Personhood and the Church, this is one of my all-time favorites so figured i should put it up here. Fox, Patricia A. He studied patristics under Father. Here’s part of a review … I read this book because my much smarter and better looking friend Jeremy did a thesis on John Zizioulas. zizioulas is a prominent eastern orthodox theologian who proposes a trinitarian understanding of identity in which to truly "be" means to "be-in-relation" to others. Dembski attempts to make good on the promise of John Wheeler, Paul Davies, and others that information is poised to replace matter as the primary stuff of reality. ( Log Out /  The good enough book, fiction, history, novel, scientific research, as … That being said, this isn't for the faint of heart. It also feels as if Zizioulas is writing more to an Orthodox audience rather than novices or strangers to the Orthodox tradition. Being as Communion: Studies in Personhood and the Church by John D. Zizioulas My rating: 4 of 5 stars The Introduction and opening two chapters gave me an intellectual orgasm as they discussed a eucharistic ontology of the person, including a review of key theological developments in the Patristic era. 1931) is a modern theologian and titular Metropolitan of Pergamon, under the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. I've long struggled with elements of this orthodox Trinitarianism, and Zizioulas gives the most profound presentation of it I've read. I took my time... partially due to the fact that the book is somewhat "dense"... and also, when I first read it - I was in the midst of my conversion to EO (so there was a lot of new stuff by way of categories and methodology)... but overall the effort (reading, re-reading, reflecting then re-reading again) was worth the reward! In this review, I will concentrate on what I take to be Dembski’s two core claims, namely his advocacy of an ontology in which information is primary and his arguments that his mathematical work on search algorithms poses a problem for natural selection. If we isolate the 'I' from the 'thou' we lose not only it's otherness but also it's very being; it simply cannot be without the other. I took my time... partially due to the fact that the book is somewhat "dense"... and also, when I first read it - I was in the midst of my conversion to EO (so there was a lot of new stuff by way of categories and methodology)... but overall the effort (reading, re-reading, reflecting then re-reading again) was worth the reward! Read honest and unbiased product reviews from our users. Contemporary edition of Jean Zizioulas’ “Being as Communion: Studies in Personhood and the Church,” first published in English in Being as Communion has ratings and 18 reviews. I make this point while reviewing William Dembski’s Being as Communion. ( Log Out /  in 1956, and his doctorate in theology from the University of Athens in 1965. Yet, his main argument is that Christianity hinges on the eucharistic community. (88-89), I read this in two long stretches - I started it last year, set it aside for a while, and recently finished it. It's challenging in parts, but worth the effort. […] Prime matter:  Do we really need it? This was a pretty tough slog, even for someone with some knowledge of Orthodox theology. ( Log Out /  Taking this process to the extreme, we have as our state space all possibilities, the bare potential for anything, which is precisely prime matter. By the way, Dembski describes an interesting paper by John Hawthorne and Daniel Nolan on what teleological causation would be like. The author seems to assume you understand things exactly the way he does and feels compelled to make the book a lot tougher to follow than it needed to be. Welcome back. Could it be rather that everything is information? In Being as Communion philosopher and mathematician William Dembski provides a non-technical overview of his work on information. It also feels as if Zizioulas is writing mo. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/957980.Being_as_Communion markopolo1. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of, Published He writes in a complicated and compressed way so that it can be hard to follow and one should probably have a basic knowledge of Greek in order to really get the book. SPEDIZIONE GRATUITA su ordini idonei That being said, this isn't for the faint of heart. The first half of the book has some great thoughts on identity that should be useful for anyone with a eucharistic theology. The first half of the book has some great thoughts on identity that should be useful for anyone with a eucharistic theology. Just a moment while we sign you in to your Goodreads account. With profound implications for theology and metaphysics, Being as Communion develops a relational ontology that is at once congenial to science and open to teleology in nature. I possess these in a small measure so I was able to work my way through. Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Being as Communion: Studies in Personhood and the Church (Contemporary Greek Theologians Series, No 4) at Amazon.com. Dembski is one of the most original and rigorous thinkers of his generation. Dembski announces early on that he will not concern himself with precise definitions. It is as such not a book for the interested amateur theologian. He goes so far as to propose that matter is a myth. Possibly, but this would have some surprising consequences. Routledge Science and Religion Series . One of the undisputedly good things about modern scholarship is that women’s history is finally getting its due.... A systematic contemporary presentation of Orthodox ecclesiology. The philosophical foundation of the book - that personhood is rooted in relationship, not some independent ontological status, forms the basis of an interesting understanding of the church. Be the first to ask a question about Being as Communion. The warning is that divisiveness is a infection which wars against God's greater purpose. His thoughts on personhood in contrast to individualism and Christology in combination with pneumatology in order to understand the one and the many is fantastic. The last half or so of the book wasn't really geared toward Christians outside of the Eastern tradition, which I don't fault it for. Part 1 — Review of Being As Communion After some responses to a previous post ( The Cross and the Cradle from two days ago) I promised to give an outline of the first chapter (‘Personhood and Being’) of John Zizioulas’ Being As Communion . Persevering through a challenging book full of foreign concepts is a most rewarding and enlightening experience. His Blood. —Mark Fitzmaurice General Medical Practitioner Sydney, Australia. The most rewarding part of the book for me was the unexpected recapitulation of Aristotelian ideas in new guise here and there. With profound implications for theology and metaphysics, Being as Communion develops a relational ontology that is at once congenial to science and open to … It's challenging in parts, but worth the effort. One of the questions Zizoulas tackles sounds odd to a layman, but to philosophers it's no small inquiry: what is a person? Being as Communion Quotes by John D. Zizioulas. Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read. One might define a particular instantiation of me to be the one at a particular time and place, but in using this event to define rather than merely identify this me, it would be meaningless to say that this me could have been elsewhere at that time. To take Dembski’s favorite subject of natural selection, it is indeed more informative to say that an organism is perfectly adapted to its environment than to say merely that it is not perfectly adapted, but it might be equally informative (i.e. The future metropolitan was born January 10, 1931. Article review: New arguments for 'intelligent design'? zizioulas is a prominent eastern orthodox theologian who proposes a trinitarian understanding of identity in which to truly "be" means to "be-in-relation" to others. “The person is otherness in communion and communion in otherness. The first chapters on anthropology are especially good, and the later sections provide much food for thought for those interested in questions of church polity (not my top interest). The Introduction and opening two chapters gave me an intellectual orgasm as they discussed a eucharistic ontology of the person, including a review of key theological developments in the Patristic era. The Last Supper was celebrated during which Jewish feast? Happy Women's History Month! The Spirit makes of Christ an eschatological being, the 'last Adam.”. God As Communion: John Zizioulas, Elizabeth Johnson, and the Retrieval of the Symbol of the Triune God. by William Dembski (2014). He was professor of theology for 14 years at the University of Glasgow and the University of Edinburgh, and has been a visiting professor at the University of Geneva, Gregorian University, and King's College, London. This work is dense and brilliant. Like the first reviewer, I would agree that if Maths is not your strong suit, then there are going to be chapters where you just have to keep reading and hope for the best - there's a fair bit on probability theory and information theory. Dembski himself stipulates that information is only meaningful as a constriction of a larger “matrix of possibilities”–the state is a region in configuration space, to use more standard terms. marking out an equally small volume of sample space) to say that it is maladapted in precisely one particular way. 2. Who was there at that Mass? this book because my much smarter and better looking friend Jeremy did a thesis on John Zizioulas. Its claim is that life arose from exterior design or teleological features of matter unknown to physics. Thus begins the chapter, Personhood and Being in John D. Zizioulas‘ excellent book, Being as Communion: Studies in Personhood and the Church.It resonates with a theme to which I have been writing: our identity is best found in, and most profoundly defined by the One who made us for Himself. Contemporary edition of Jean Zizioulas' Being as Communion: Studies in Personhood and the Church, first published in English in Be the first to ask a question about Being as Communion this book because my much smarter and better looking friend Jeremy did a thesis on John Zizioulas. I also think, as a Western evanglical that there is a little too mcuh focus on ecclesiology from a Eastern Orthodox perspective. As Communion Being As Communion Right here, we have countless books being as communion and collections to check out. Dembski is one of those intelligent design eccentrics, and being one of those with strong materialist prejudices against which the book is written, I probably would… Natural selection is the way environment (in)forms organisms. —Robert C. Koons Professor of Philosophy University of Texas, Austin. 6. I also think, as a West. This was the most challenging book I've read in a while and the low rating is more a result of my lack of understanding. All those interested in the intersections of theology, philosophy and science should read this book. Being as Communion. Change ), You are commenting using your Google account. 5. Dembski’s rejoinder is “Where did the environment’s information come from? Contemporary edition of Jean Zizioulas’ “Being as Communion: Studies in Personhood and the Church,” first published in English in Being as Communion has ratings and 18 reviews. I read this book because my much smarter and better looking friend Jeremy did a thesis on John Zizioulas. There were some parts that I would disagree with, especially being a Baptist and Zizioulas being an Orthodox Christian. by William A. Dembski. The first two chapters deal with personhood and there is a lot of philosophical content about what constitutes "being" and "personhood." markopolo1. In his celebrated book,Being as Communion (1985), he emphasised the importance of communion for life and for unity. Zizioulas is much easier to read if you have a good working knowledge of the Christian tradition in the Patristic period (particularly in the East), knowledge of doctrinal development and a workign knowledge of philosophy. John Zizioulas – Being as Communion. Collegeville: Liturgical, 2001. Provides something of a model for how Patristic sources can be used in contemporary constructive theology. Zizioulas is one of the leading Eastern Orthodox theologians today. The key is that it would be nonlocal in configuration space, giving higher than locally expected probabilities to system changes that are on the path to some attractive goal. It's those types of books that make us a better reader. Very helpful for his trinitarian anthropology. In Being as Communion philosopher and mathematician William Dembski provides a non-technical overview of his work on information. Compra Being as Communion: Studies in Personhood and the Church. 3. Perhaps the most inspiring of the introductory-intermediate level books on Orthodox theology. Although Dembski doesn’t believe in matter, he does not believe that everything is information. I also really like the view it gives to the ministries of the church, since they are fundamentally relational rather than formed by the passing on of some portion of grace in a way that is independent of the communities in which laity, deacons, presbyters, and bishops serve. A dense book by one of the figures associated with the renewal of interest in Trinitarian theology in the late 20th century. One could “formalize” the state space by embedding it in a larger state space, but then the larger state space would be serving the potency role. Have read the book several time since and each time I am edified, challenged and convicted anew of the centrality of the life and experience we are called to in the Trinity. Persevering through a challenging book full of foreign concepts is a most rewarding and enlightening experience. Really enjoyed this work. But this was a difficult book. At the Last Supper. This book is a collection of essays, the first half dealing with Trinitarian issues and the latter half dealing with the Church. We additionally manage to pay for variant types and as well as type of the books to browse. Being as Communion. God Himself cannot be information because his state is not embedded in a space–to use the traditional expressions, He is pure act. The ending of the book I found the most helpful as he lays out how the church universal and local should interact. If the Son dies on the cross, thus succumbing to the bondage of historical existence, it is the Spirit that raises him from the dead. Zizioulas is one of the leading Eastern Orthodox theologians today. Significant chapters on Eucharist and catholicity, apostolic continuity and succession, ministry and communion, and the local church. 20 New Books on Women’s History. For truly individuated beings, one could again expand their state space to include all possibilities, leaving what Aquinas sometimes called–as I recall–designated matter. His thoughts on personhood in contrast to individualism and Christology in combination with pneumatology in order to understand the one and the many is fantastic. Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Being as Communion: A Metaphysics of Information (Routledge Science and Religion Series) by William A. Dembski (2014-09-13) at Amazon.com. Change ), You are commenting using your Twitter account. Book Review: Being as Communion by John D. Zizioulas | Mboten Being as Communion: Studies in Personhood and the Church by John ZIZIOULAS 260 pages Publication: 1985/1997 - St Vladimir's Seminary Press This book counts for My Dewey Decimal Challenge and for The 2011 Non-Fiction Challenge MY THOUGHTS ABOUT THIS BOOK I read this book many years ago in French, when I was … He prefaces the reader, The Church is not simply an institution. Zizioulas does an excellent study for us in how the Trinity shapes our understanding of the person specifically as it relates to the Church. He was consecrated as a bishop on June 22, 1986 and named Metropolitan of Pergamon. Some chapters in this books is absolutely excellent and probably ground breaking. Faithfully: Being in the communion is intimacy, community, bread and wine, Local Opinion, Woodburn local Opinion, Breaking Opinion alerts for Woodburn city. Change ), Duns Scotus and the richness of Catholic theology, Scholastic investigations – The Orthosphere, If only someone were negotiating on whites’ behalf, A corollary to “things coming to a point”. this book because my much smarter and better looking friend Jeremy did a thesis on John Zizioulas. The author is the Metropolitan of Pergamom, and seems to be knowledgeable in a wide range of theological writings, both ancient and modern. If I am information, then I can be instantiated multiple times. Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. The latter half of the book deal with issues of Eastern Orthodox ecclesiology, focusing a lot on historical development and the eucharist, that isn't all that relevant to me as a member of the C&MA. Being as Communion: Studies in Personhood and the Church (Contemporary Greek Theologians Series, No 4) John D. Zizioulas The voice of John Zizioulas may turn out to be the fresh voice for which theology and especially ecclesiology have long been waiting. There are no discussion topics on this book yet. First Communion Review Questions 1. The latter half of the book deal with issues of Eastern Orthodox ecclesiology, focusing a lot on historical development and the eucharist, that isn't all that relevant to me as a member of the C&MA. Power, Sister! Read honest and unbiased product reviews from our users. Jesus changed ordinary wine into what? 1931) is a modern theologian and titular Metropolitan of Pergamon, under the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. Another peculiarity of a world without matter is that it would be a world without individuals but only types. We’d love your help. […]. Passover. Change ), You are commenting using your Facebook account. Much more argument is needed than is given here to establish its relevance. He studied patristics under Father Georges Florovsky at Harvard Divinity School, receiving his M.T.S. "The identification of God's ultimate being with a person rather than an ousia not only makes possible a biblical doctrine of God (= the Father in the Bible), but also resolves problems such as those inherent in the homoousion concerning, for example, the relation of the Son to the Father." I possess these in a small measure so I was able to work my way through this book, though it was not a quick read. When one thinks about it, this *must* be true even from a merely physical perspective: every particle in the universe is feeling the effect of every other particle (e.g. He began his studies at the University of Thessaloniki but took his first theology degree from the University of Athens in 1955. In a vigorous and challenging way, he defends the freedom to be other as an intrinsic characteristic of personhood, fulfilled only in communion. Pastoral and prophetic, it considers philosophers Heidegger, Levinas, and others. By Philip GagnonWilliam A. Dembski: Being in Communion: A Metaphysics of Information. By matter, he means Aristotle’s prime matter. But this was a difficult book. One may use spatiotemporal contiguity to identify distinct me worldlines, but this is all. However, Dembski–like the early Wittgenstein–proposes an ontology of facts rather than things. Harrison, Nonna Verna. he challenges the roots of individualistic framings of personhood which start with the individual as an enclosed self and thereafter move second-hand to social relations; and proposes in its place an understanding of personhood as inherently and primarily relational: we exist as persons in and through our relations to God / others / creation. In "Being As Communion," Dembski explores and develops the notion that everything that exists is the consequence of information, which is then subsequently in communication with everything else. 269 pages, softcover. For example, in classical statistical mechanics, if one doesn’t coarse grain at all, then the concept of entropy (and hence information) disappears (all states have multiplicity 1, entropy 0), and any configuration of N particles is as informative as any other. Prime matter is indeed an odd theoretical construct, and Dembski would not be the first reader of Aristotle to come away wondering what metaphysical “work” it is actually supposed to do. Certainly not an easy read - but still - one of the most important and significant books that I have ever read. The world may be information “all the way down”, and information is necessarily formal. In Being as Communion: A Metaphysics of Information, noted mathematician and philosopher William Dembski challenges the oft-made claim that mind is a myth and that everything about us—including our thoughts, our ethics, and our decisions—are ultimately the products of unguided material processes.Dembski provocatively argues that the opposite is true: In light of modern information … The question regards uniqueness: what makes you a unique person, as opposed to, say, the 9,487,756,321st human to be birthed since the dawn of man?
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