Christos Yannaras: The Apophatic Horizon of Ontology

Product Description Basilio Petra sees Christos Yannaras (b. 1935) as a philosopher and theologian whose refiguring, on the one hand, of Heidegger's refusal to define being in ontic terms and, on the other, of Wittgenstein's willingness to admit the inexpressible character of the mystical has led him to articulate a powerful vision of true human existence. This bold interpretation outlines the passage from an ontic 'mode of nature' governed by necessity to a 'mode of self-transcendence and self-offering' beyond the limitations of decay and death. In his native Greece, Yannaras revolutionised the way theology had been done for much of the twentieth century. This book examines the trajectory of Yannaras' thought from his initial encounter with Heidegger's philosophy to his formulation (via the tradition of the Greek Fathers) of a modern critical ontology. It is for both advanced students of philosophy and the growing scholarly audience interested in Yannaras' work. Written in accessible language that does not compromise intellectual rigour, it is the only survey of the development of Yannaras' philosophical thought as a whole. Review By testifying to the superabundance of God incarnate and of the Trinity, apophaticism is the seal of a theological and philosophical reflection which, in fidelity to classical metaphysics, does not shrink from asserting the value of ontology: theology is in reality a theory of being as Trinitarian Mystery. The Greek theologian [Christos Yannaras] proposes a reflection which, precisely because it is apophatic, is also a critical reflection on the Church and on the historical forms that are always inadequate with regard to the free breath of the Spirit-Giacomo CanobbioThis book is a particularly welcome addition to the secondary literature of Yannaras, and it is truly successful as the first ever extensive introduction to the whole spectrum of his thought.-Dr. Solitris Mitralexis, University of Athens & University of Winchester, Sobornost Journal About the Author Basilio Petra is a Roman Catholic priest born in 1946 to Greek parents from Rhodes. He holds a doctorate in philosophy from the University of Florence and a doctorate in theology from the Lateran University of Rome. The author of more than twenty books (in Italian) on patristic and modern theology, he is Professor of Moral Theology and of the Ethics of Marriage at the Theological School of Central Italy (Florence) and Visiting Professor of Greek Patristic Moral Theology at the Lateran University. Norman Russell is an Orthodox translator and patristic scholar of partial Greek descent. He holds a doctorate from the University of Oxford and is an Honorary Research Fellow of St Stephen's House of the same university. His publications include Metaphysics as a Personal Adventure: Christos Yannaras in Conversation with Norman Russell (2017) and Gregory Palamas and the Making of Palamism in the Modern Age (2019).