On 21 June 2023, Associate Professor Doru Costache gave (remotely, via video link) the talk “Chrysostom’s Apophatic Approach to God’s Nature, Providential Activity, and Creation” for the annual event Actualités Chrysostomiennes (news in Chrysostomian studies), held at Sources Chrétiennes, Lyon, France.
Abstract: In his works, On the Incomprehensible Nature of God and Homilies on Genesis, Chrysostom approaches things in an “apophatic” manner. While he may have applied this apophatic lens to other topics, I am especially interested in his treatment of God’s nature, providential activity, and creation—the universe—as mysteries impossible to exhaust by way of definitions and descriptions. It seems to me that by refusing to reduce these objects to the status of easy knowns, Chrysostom invites a humble attitude to reality that helps to circumvent binary (either/or) thinking.
Audio recording
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