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Monday, January 03, 2005




THE USE OF SOPHIOLOGY IN TRADITIONALIST INTERFAITH DIALOGUE

Traditionalism concentrates on the similarities that can be found in traditional religions of Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism, and Christianity. (Is Zoroastrianism also included?) The objective is to locate a primordial or perennial philosophy at the base of each of these "traditional" religions...a reductionist technique.

The "Paths to the Heart Conference: Sufism and the Christian East" intended to find a "unified truth beneath their dogmatic differences" (Paths, p. ix). In doing so, mystical concepts in both traditions were compared with a concentration on what constitutes the "heart" in each faith. The "heart" in this case is directly connected to mystical experiences. The book which is composed of the papers delivered at this conference was edited by James S. Cutsinger

My focus on Sophiology in both Sufism and Orthodoxy has resulted from readings in this book, and supplemental readings on the web, about the places where Sufism and Orthodoxy intersect, since this appears to be on the cutting edge of interreligious dialogue. The proposal of the conference, and thus a gateway to a syncretistic approach to the two faiths, lies in finding common ground in this concept of "heart".

The question then arises, what lies at the heart of Orthodoxy and Sufism? God, obviously; but how is God defined? Sophiology seems to hold a common key. What do the Sufis mean by "Sophia"? What do the Orthodox mean?

As evidence that this terminology is critical, I would point to the name of the official magazine of the Traditionalists-- "Sophia". (At the same time I would raise the caution that this is the name adopted by Anthroposophists for their own journal; and that the Anthroposophists are looking to the same concept of "Sophia" as a unifying factor to meld Rosicrucian--or clairvoyant--Christianity with Roman Catholicism, as evidenced by Valentin Tomberg's book Meditations on the Tarot which has an afterword by Cardinal Hans Urs von Balthasar.)

Given these parameters of research, Soloviev, Bulgakov, Florensky, et. al. take on a significance that may not be valid within Orthodoxy proper. Yet their stature grows in proportion to the use made of them in the interests of ecumenism.

It would appear that these Sophiologists offer a pathway to dialogue with Islam. The hope of the Traditionalists seems to be that this dialogue can grow. Likewise the hope of John Paul II is that dialogue with Orthodoxy can grow by concentrating on the teachings of the Sophiologists, especially Vladimir Soloviev.

Justin has suggested in a comments box below that I should move away from this claim for Orthodoxy because it is not mainstream. I would suggest that the fact it is not mainstream within Orthodoxy will not inhibit the international ecumenists from using it. The leadership of Kallistos Ware may, in fact, be persuasive enough to morph Orthodoxy in response. At least that does seem to be the hope of the Traditionalists who have the ear of promoters of interreligious dialogue in the name of peace, and who also have the attention of the Grand Orient Lodge, ala Rene Guenon.

Further evidence of the interest in Sophiology in relationship to the goals of Traditinalism can be found in this article, titled "The Virgin", written by James S. Cutsinger, and published in Sophia: The Journal of Traditional Studies, 6:2 (2000), where you will find these passages:

...the Schuonian doctrine often associates the Holy Spirit with the uncreated
Wisdom of the Old Testament texts...seeing in both an expression of the Divine
femininity manifested in Mary on the human plane. In this respect the
teaching is not unlike that of Vladimir Solovyov, Sergei Bulgakov, Paul
Evdokimov, and other Eastern Orthodox writers who are associated with the
Russian school of sophiology. Like the Catholic saint Fr. Kolbe, these
theologians also draw a close connection between the Holy Spirit and the Blessed
Virgin, but they insist as well on an additional link with Sophia. On the one hand, according to Bulgakov, Wisdom is a name for what all three Persons of the Trinity share: she is "the silence and mystery of the Godhead." But at the same time, in her very mystery and elusiveness, Sophia maintains a special intimacy with the Holy Spirit, which "bloweth where it listeth" (John 3:8), and it is through this same Spirit
that the Divine Wisdom becomes embodied in Mary...(p. 20)

...Schuon's teaching about the Divinity of Mary--based in this case on her identification with uncreated Wisdom--does not mean, despite what a superficial reading might lead one to assume, that he wished to deny her humanity, which was obsviously essential in order that she might become a true locus for Christ's Incarnation. ... (p. 11)

...it is in this way precisely that "she is thus identified with Divine Feminity, or with the Wisdom "which was at the beginning." ... (p. 11)

And yet here is the wonder, of course: that it is precisely in not desiring to emulate God that Mary shows herself to be so organically a part of Him, so fully Divine. ... (p. 11)


And so, much to Justin's chagrin, I will not be backing away from this look at Sophiology, since whether or not it is mainstream in either Orthodoxy or Islam, the impetus for peace provided by Sophiology will continue to be a topic of discussion and, I suspect, of the morphing of theology in both Muslim and Christian faiths, if international religious dialogue continues down the path it is currently taking in both Traditionalism and also in United Religions as Bamford's involvement in Anthroposophy would seem to indicate. Thus Soloviev continues to loom large.






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