What Is Eastern Catholic Theology?: Questions and Answers Revisited and Revised 

Full presentation: Subdeacon Brian A. Butcher, PhD, “What Is Eastern Catholic Theology?: Questions and Answers Revisited and Revised”, Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky Institute of Eastern Christian Studies, University of St. Michael’s College in the University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada, 6 February 2018.
Partial transcript
- Archimandrite Robert Taft, Father Peter Galadza, Father Andriy Chirovsky, Father Myroslav Tatatryn
- 1:40 Catholic Theological Society of America
- 1:55 Many people today do not know what Eastern Catholicism is, not aware of theology. This question is not discussed much among Eastern Catholics
- 2:44 "Eastern Catholic Theology - Is There Any Such Thing?"
- 4:07 Canon law
- 5:17 Robert Taft provides a fascinating survey of where Catholic theology in the past several centuries has been and is headed today. He identifies the key characteristics of Catholic theology
- 6:12 Eastern Catholics are in reaction, cornered, pressured because of indifference encountered in the past
- 7:17 Second Vatican Council
- 7:50 Eastern Catholicism is in the making. It is future oriented rather than oriented toward the past. Jaroslav Pelikan
- 9:30 Eastern Catholics are self-conscious, aware of small size and stature lacking seminaries, institutions, colleges, monasteries, that Orthodox have
- 10:58 Eastern Catholicism is "open and unashamedly eclectic" blending East and West
- 11:48 Madonna House Apostolate, Archbishop Joseph Raya
- 12:47 Eastern Catholicism rejects pseudo-antithesis between East and West, false polarization
- 13:15 Proverb: When a Russian sees a foreigner they say "Huh, might be an enemy." When an Arab sees a foreigner they say "Huh, might be a customer."
- 14:00 Eastern Catholicism forms an integrated whole connected to its ascetic and aesthetic contexts. The theology, liturgy, spirituality, and canon law go together. Is ecumenical seeking to reconcile and unite rather than confute and dominate
- 15:25 Taft has demonstrable mastery of Eastern Catholicism, but has a dyadic view of the church
- 16:05 First millennium of the Church is our reference point, an undivided church. Four families of Eastern Christianity: Assyrian Church of the East, Oriental Orthodox, Eastern Orthodox, Eastern Catholics
- 17:10 We have lost theological, canonical, and liturgical heritage. Eastern Orthodox were byzantinized and lost
- 18:04 Armenian heritage reappropriated by the Catholic Church. Catholic Church considered itself the Latin Church
- 19:01 Eastern Catholics lament the loss of communion with the Greek East and Latin West. Tragedy to lose Syrian tradition, Coptic tradition, Ethiopic tradition, Jacobite tradition, etc.
- 23:20 Orthodox have often, with deep conviction, were unable to acknowledge developments in the west
- 23:52 Peter Galadza, Second Vatican Council, George Weigel "Catholics don't have paradigm shifts"
- 25:20 Helps us grasp trinitarian mystery. Unitatis Redintegratio, Lumen Gentium, Orientalium Ecclesiarum
- 26:20 Move beyond fixation of Orthodox-Catholic axis, Ukrainian Orthodox-Ukrainian Catholic axis
- 28:30 Orthodox theologians, Orthodox examples necessary but insufficient. Move beyond parochialism and a "stultifying particularism" in favour of "legitimate particularity"
- 31:01 Relationship between the one and the many
- 32:25 Andriy Chirvosky, Orthodox in communion with Rome. Most Orthodox tend to see their distinctiveness at odds with Latin West tradition
- 33:22 Eastern Catholic Modus operandi
- 36:30 "Orthodoxy in Dialogue" blog; Can you be Orthodox in communion with Rome?
- 37:36 Chirovsky says East and West end up at the same destination, following different routes
- 38:23 Churches have not just historically criticized each other's position, but anathematized each other
- 40:17 Sheptytsky Institute is the fruit of Chirovsky's vision
- 50:35 Paul Ricœur, On Translation
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