Dogmă și cunoaștere apofatică în gândirea Părintelui Dumitru Stăniloae. Ierarhie și reciprocitate
Dogma and Apophatic Knowledge in the Thought of Father Dumitru Stăniloae: Hierarchy and Reciprocity

Summary/Abstract: According to the Orthodox Christian Tradition, there are two main ways to know God: the caphafatic and the apophatic knowledge. The cataphatic knowledge is related to the intellect and is realised through reason and through faith in the dogmatic statements. The apophatic knowledge is the same as the mystical experience. There is a dynamic relation between these two ways of knowing God, so that each type of knowledge becomes superior to the other, in a continuous movement. This movement in which the hierarchy between the two types of kowledge changes and is reversed provides an indissoluble solidarity between them. In this paper, we analyse the relation between cataphatism and apophatism in the theology of Father Dumitru Stăniloae. First of all, we try to define the concept of dogma and then we present the dynamic relation between the dogmatic and spiritual knowledge. Finally, we make an attempt to solve the contradiction and we show the inseparable unity between apophatic and cataphatic knowledge of God.

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