The Mystical Theology, Chapter 1, What is that the Mystical Theology ?

Mardi 10 juin 2008

Many are wondering about the nature of the Mystical Theology, his place in the Wisdom Theological, its content, its development, its internal order. We will spend hundred articles on this subject that will be developed in the corresponding category "Centuries on Mystical Theology".
This introduction will allow us to locate the place of Theology Mystical in the framework, more extensive, of the Orthodox Theology and, hopefully, to clarify a little what represents this "summit" of the Christian Theology for those who are interested.
The Christian Theology whose Source is the Tradition (Teaching of God the Father forwarded to his Son Of-liked, Jesus Christ, and received first by the Mother of God, the apostles, the saints and the Church) is both a science and wisdom.
The knowledge of the mysteries received in the faith has a radical unit. That is the Father who teaches us. When Pierre proclaims his faith in Jesus, the Christ replied: "Blessed art thou Simon Son of Jonah, because this is not the flesh and blood thee revealed that, but it is my Father in Heaven ".
On many occasions, Jesus teaching recalls that his doctrine does not come from Him, but from the Father who sent him.
The Theology owns its unity of this unity of the Source of Revelation, the Source of the Tradition, the mystery of the Father.
This Revelation's sole purpose of making us participants of the Blessed Life of Three divine Persons, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Any Christian Theology must therefore be moving toward the Mystery of this trinitarian communion, the mystery of our divinisation for which the Christ became flesh, died for us, is resurrected the third day.
However, the Revelation as education or doctrine has been done in a human language. The Christ preached, taught in the synagogues and the Temple of Jerusalem or even on the assembly... He spoke with the human words, employee of symbolism borrowed from the world that we know, spoke in parables or in a more didactic way.
He often commented on the texts of the Old Testament in giving them a new light. The Christ is therefore addressed to the intelligence of his listeners an appeal to their ability to understand, to their desire to know, and he has chosen evangelists, the apostles to pass his education to all nations.
The Revelation is the meeting between an education (doctrine, teaching, which is not from the flesh and blood) and the intelligence of the auditors. This teaching exceeds what human persons have in their intelligence. It is superior to the human intellectual light. This human intelligence, certainly, is able to go very far and even to be open to the contemplation of a First Being, we see this among Aristotle. It can reach a certain human wisdom, and contemplative practice. But what the Christ a taught, no human intelligence could have discovered by itself and no one cannot by its own forces the check.
That is why the Christian Theology is essentially a negative theology. The mistake the more serious in Western theology after the great period of the Fathers of the Church is to imagine that there are two forms of theology : cataphatique and apophatique. The first one could be considered as scientific (developped in a rationnal way), the second one more affective... reserved for mystic persons...The first express a "positive speech" on God, the second would be more mystical and eventually deny everything that has been said to finally enter into a contemplative dimension! It is a serious mistake, and we must denounce because it introduces a kind of division in the Theology and breaks his unit radical.
Any theology is negative, and also for philosophical approach as we can see in the approach of the natural wisdom of Aristotle in contemplation of the First Being wich is "Ousia" and "Energeia" pure (Substance and Act pure) because the contemplation of this First Being discovered by the path of philosophy first provides no experience and no seizure quidditative of what He is.
This way apophatic remains yet in the teaching of Thomas Aquinas, that his followers have often betrayed by reducing its effort contemplative in an effort to build a rational system. In Thomas Aquinas, the way to the contemplation of the Eminence of the First Being is only the fruit of the negative way.
We just can draw near to God with our intelligence in the negative perspective : " how It is not ". It is to say in the approaching of back and not to face!
The Ousia of God we remains hidden, inaccessible. Let it for the moment.
The Christian Theology is therefore a Theology negative. The teaching doctrinal of Christ dont brings to us new concepts, he not give us a new rational system, philosophical again. It gives us to put ourselves in the school of Father who gives us his Son and send us the Holy Spirit.
But if the Source of Theology is One, its development and its contents are such that they will involve a great diversity of gaze.
Let us understand that the Simplicity of the Uni-Trinity is a simplicity that eludes us radically. Just think that God, also knows all his Made (the Creation Visible and Invisible) in one eye ! Consider that eternity envelope the Time and that what we see unfold before us is embraced in a only review by the Most Holy Trinity.If you do not understand, is that you start to enter an attitude apophatique! Who knows what the Eternity?
The Evangelists have given us the Theology in its Source and the Fathers have continued to develop the content of this divine teaching for us. We see that our knowledge of God is based on the analogic knowledge. But faith is more than an analogic knowledge. The faith is the communion in the Wisdom of Christ.
Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, the Epîtres of Paul and James show us the mystery of Christ in different perspectives etc. We see this diversity of gaze on the Christ by the Four Live : the Lion, the Bull, the Face of Man and the Eagle. It is not so easy to understand the Christ. It is already not easy to understand a man, but the divino-humanity of Jesus made him even more difficult to discover . To enter in this communion of faith, we need the action of the Holy Spirit.
The theology will use a diversity of gaze : The biblical theology look at the development of the Revelation through the sacred texts. The dogmatic theology or "scientific" highlights everything that the intelligence can bring in terms of the Intelligibility, of dogma, we use the more intellectual analogies. Theology of the Economy divine look at the Plan of God, his conduct on the Humanity, on the Church. The theology mystical considers the mystery of our Christo-conformation. That is the Summit of the entire Theology because Christ in his Person (human and divin together) becomes the Light of our whole life. That is the Knowledge-Communion of Father and Son talking about St. John in his First Epître. Here we use all the analogies and especially the more sensibles.
With the theology of the liturgy we enter in the mysteries of faith through education by the Liturgy (especially the Holy Liturgy) that gives us the Church. It involves strongly the elements of the mystical theology. The theology called fundamental (especially developed in the West) is a kind of reflection "critical" of Theology on itself. The exegesis can be develop without the faith and cannot claim the status of Theology. It is an element philologico-historical, a tool that can gives to the theologian interesting elements but does not belong to the Theology as such.

Par Frédéric Tavernier Vellas - Publié dans : Centurie on Mystical Theology
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