Ivana Noble, PhD. (1966) is Professor of Ecumenical Theology at Charles University in Prague, and a former president of Societas Oecumenica. She has published monographs and articles on Orthodox theology, theology and culture facing totalitarianism, and the hermeneutics of tradition.

• ContentsIntroduction1 Freedom and Creativity in Spiritual Life1 Why Freedom and Creativity as a Starting Point?2 St Symeon the New Theologian3 St Ignatius of Loyola4 Conversing with St Symeon and St Ignatius on Freedom and Creativity2 The Ladder Connecting Heaven and Earth1 Does Spiritual Ascent Have a Recognisable Structure?2 Inverted Order of Grace as Revealed in Jacob’s Dream3 St John Climacus4 Existentialist Reading of Climacus5 Petre Ţuţea6 The Role and the Problem of Structures in Pursuing Spiritual Life3 The Experience and the Doctrine of Deification1 Deification as Radical Unity with God2 St Gregory Palamas3 Lessons from (Post)Modern Philosophical Mysticism4 Paradoxical Proximities4 Integrating Hesychast Insights into Mainstream Western Tradition1 Modern Revival of Hesychasm2 Cardinal Tomáš Špidlík3 Špidlík’s Followers4 Inculturation of Patristic and Slavic Hesychasm5 Kenotic Spirituality1 Different Interpretations of Kenosis2 Fr Lev Gillet – A Monk of the Eastern Church3 Kenotic Spirituality in the Present Context6 The Transformative Power of Holiness1 The Beatitudes as a Mirror of Holiness2 Mother Maria (Gysi)3 Leonardo Boff4 Integration of the Negative and the Role of Communion7 Mission1 Mission as a Theological Theme2 Georges Florovsky3 Emmanuel Clapsis4 The Mission in which the Orthodox Participate8 Liturgical and Sacramental Vision of Life1 Liturgy and Sacrament2 Communion with God according to Alexander Schmemann3 Sacramentality in Louis-Marie Chauvet4 Participation in the Transformative Feast9 People as “Symbolic Animals”1 Why “Symbolic Animals”?2 Paul Tillich3 Paul Ricœur4 Openness and Roots10 The Common Home1 God Making His Home in Creation2 Fr Dumitru Stăniloae3 The Eschatological and the Practical Understanding of the Common Home11 Redemption1 Problems of Metanarratives2 Theological Tendencies to Metanarrativity in the Doctrine of Redemption3 Vladimir Lossky4 Raymund Schwager5 From the Economy of the Punishment to the Economy of the Gift?12 Pan-Orthodoxy and the Vision of Christian Unity1 Pan-Orthodoxy in the Time of the Rising Ecumenical Movement2 Towards the Pan-Orthodox Council in Crete3 Ecumenical Relations in the Conciliar Documents4 The Aftermath of the CouncilBibliographyIndex

"In gesamten Buch bietet N. ein >>Bild gelebter Orthodoxie<<. Der wahre Wert dieses Buches, abgesehen davon, dass es nicht-orthodoxen Lesern einen Einblick in die Schatzkammer des Ostens gewährt, besteht darin, dass es eine Aussenperspektive von jemandem bietet, der sich während seiner gesamten akademischen Karriere mit Orthodoxie befasst hat. Dat beduetet sowohl Nautralität als auch Objectivität, gepaart mit Sachkenntnis. Meine Empfehlung hier basiert aber in erster Linie auf der wissenschaftlichen Qualität des Buches.", Vladimir Latinovic, Tübingen, in: Theologische Literaturzeitung, Volume 148.4 (2023).

Ivana Noble, PhD. (1966) is Professor of Ecumenical Theology at Charles University in Prague, and a former president of Societas Oecumenica. She has published monographs and articles on Orthodox theology, theology and culture facing totalitarianism, and the hermeneutics of tradition.

• ContentsIntroduction1 Freedom and Creativity in Spiritual Life1 Why Freedom and Creativity as a Starting Point?2 St Symeon the New Theologian3 St Ignatius of Loyola4 Conversing with St Symeon and St Ignatius on Freedom and Creativity2 The Ladder Connecting Heaven and Earth1 Does Spiritual Ascent Have a Recognisable Structure?2 Inverted Order of Grace as Revealed in Jacob’s Dream3 St John Climacus4 Existentialist Reading of Climacus5 Petre Ţuţea6 The Role and the Problem of Structures in Pursuing Spiritual Life3 The Experience and the Doctrine of Deification1 Deification as Radical Unity with God2 St Gregory Palamas3 Lessons from (Post)Modern Philosophical Mysticism4 Paradoxical Proximities4 Integrating Hesychast Insights into Mainstream Western Tradition1 Modern Revival of Hesychasm2 Cardinal Tomáš Špidlík3 Špidlík’s Followers4 Inculturation of Patristic and Slavic Hesychasm5 Kenotic Spirituality1 Different Interpretations of Kenosis2 Fr Lev Gillet – A Monk of the Eastern Church3 Kenotic Spirituality in the Present Context6 The Transformative Power of Holiness1 The Beatitudes as a Mirror of Holiness2 Mother Maria (Gysi)3 Leonardo Boff4 Integration of the Negative and the Role of Communion7 Mission1 Mission as a Theological Theme2 Georges Florovsky3 Emmanuel Clapsis4 The Mission in which the Orthodox Participate8 Liturgical and Sacramental Vision of Life1 Liturgy and Sacrament2 Communion with God according to Alexander Schmemann3 Sacramentality in Louis-Marie Chauvet4 Participation in the Transformative Feast9 People as “Symbolic Animals”1 Why “Symbolic Animals”?2 Paul Tillich3 Paul Ricœur4 Openness and Roots10 The Common Home1 God Making His Home in Creation2 Fr Dumitru Stăniloae3 The Eschatological and the Practical Understanding of the Common Home11 Redemption1 Problems of Metanarratives2 Theological Tendencies to Metanarrativity in the Doctrine of Redemption3 Vladimir Lossky4 Raymund Schwager5 From the Economy of the Punishment to the Economy of the Gift?12 Pan-Orthodoxy and the Vision of Christian Unity1 Pan-Orthodoxy in the Time of the Rising Ecumenical Movement2 Towards the Pan-Orthodox Council in Crete3 Ecumenical Relations in the Conciliar Documents4 The Aftermath of the CouncilBibliographyIndex

"In gesamten Buch bietet N. ein >>Bild gelebter Orthodoxie<<. Der wahre Wert dieses Buches, abgesehen davon, dass es nicht-orthodoxen Lesern einen Einblick in die Schatzkammer des Ostens gewährt, besteht darin, dass es eine Aussenperspektive von jemandem bietet, der sich während seiner gesamten akademischen Karriere mit Orthodoxie befasst hat. Dat beduetet sowohl Nautralität als auch Objectivität, gepaart mit Sachkenntnis. Meine Empfehlung hier basiert aber in erster Linie auf der wissenschaftlichen Qualität des Buches.", Vladimir Latinovic, Tübingen, in: Theologische Literaturzeitung, Volume 148.4 (2023).

Ivana Noble, PhD. (1966) is Professor of Ecumenical Theology at Charles University in Prague, and a former president of Societas Oecumenica. She has published monographs and articles on Orthodox theology, theology and culture facing totalitarianism, and the hermeneutics of tradition.

• ContentsIntroduction1 Freedom and Creativity in Spiritual Life1 Why Freedom and Creativity as a Starting Point?2 St Symeon the New Theologian3 St Ignatius of Loyola4 Conversing with St Symeon and St Ignatius on Freedom and Creativity2 The Ladder Connecting Heaven and Earth1 Does Spiritual Ascent Have a Recognisable Structure?2 Inverted Order of Grace as Revealed in Jacob’s Dream3 St John Climacus4 Existentialist Reading of Climacus5 Petre Ţuţea6 The Role and the Problem of Structures in Pursuing Spiritual Life3 The Experience and the Doctrine of Deification1 Deification as Radical Unity with God2 St Gregory Palamas3 Lessons from (Post)Modern Philosophical Mysticism4 Paradoxical Proximities4 Integrating Hesychast Insights into Mainstream Western Tradition1 Modern Revival of Hesychasm2 Cardinal Tomáš Špidlík3 Špidlík’s Followers4 Inculturation of Patristic and Slavic Hesychasm5 Kenotic Spirituality1 Different Interpretations of Kenosis2 Fr Lev Gillet – A Monk of the Eastern Church3 Kenotic Spirituality in the Present Context6 The Transformative Power of Holiness1 The Beatitudes as a Mirror of Holiness2 Mother Maria (Gysi)3 Leonardo Boff4 Integration of the Negative and the Role of Communion7 Mission1 Mission as a Theological Theme2 Georges Florovsky3 Emmanuel Clapsis4 The Mission in which the Orthodox Participate8 Liturgical and Sacramental Vision of Life1 Liturgy and Sacrament2 Communion with God according to Alexander Schmemann3 Sacramentality in Louis-Marie Chauvet4 Participation in the Transformative Feast9 People as “Symbolic Animals”1 Why “Symbolic Animals”?2 Paul Tillich3 Paul Ricœur4 Openness and Roots10 The Common Home1 God Making His Home in Creation2 Fr Dumitru Stăniloae3 The Eschatological and the Practical Understanding of the Common Home11 Redemption1 Problems of Metanarratives2 Theological Tendencies to Metanarrativity in the Doctrine of Redemption3 Vladimir Lossky4 Raymund Schwager5 From the Economy of the Punishment to the Economy of the Gift?12 Pan-Orthodoxy and the Vision of Christian Unity1 Pan-Orthodoxy in the Time of the Rising Ecumenical Movement2 Towards the Pan-Orthodox Council in Crete3 Ecumenical Relations in the Conciliar Documents4 The Aftermath of the CouncilBibliographyIndex

"In gesamten Buch bietet N. ein >>Bild gelebter Orthodoxie<<. Der wahre Wert dieses Buches, abgesehen davon, dass es nicht-orthodoxen Lesern einen Einblick in die Schatzkammer des Ostens gewährt, besteht darin, dass es eine Aussenperspektive von jemandem bietet, der sich während seiner gesamten akademischen Karriere mit Orthodoxie befasst hat. Dat beduetet sowohl Nautralität als auch Objectivität, gepaart mit Sachkenntnis. Meine Empfehlung hier basiert aber in erster Linie auf der wissenschaftlichen Qualität des Buches.", Vladimir Latinovic, Tübingen, in: Theologische Literaturzeitung, Volume 148.4 (2023).