Friday, January 3, 2014

Florovsky on the wrong method

If you're not already follow the Fr. Georges Florovsky Orthodox Christian Theological Society on Facebook, I can only hope that the below is added motivation.



"Theologians today, Orthodox, Catholic and others, want to get out of the confusion, but they do so by the wrong method. They start with the wrong problems, which are posed by contemporary thought, and they adjust the Christian message to these wrong questions, and nothing good can come out of these. But the true theological methodology starts with the message and tries to understand the queries of today in light of the message. My impression is that many theologians ask 'how can we adjust the method to the hippies' mentality,' and my question is 'how can the hippy be impressed by the message, how do you present the message to the hippy to impress him with it.' This is a methodological problem. It is true that the physician must start with the illness, but he regards the illness as illness, and if he does not regard as illness, but just as brute fact, he will never heal the illness. People are so impressed by the confusion of today, that they try to adjust the Gospel to it. Well, it is impossible."

- Fr. Georges Florovsky
Unpublished remarks noted by his secretary Maria Vorobiova
Late 1960's

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