Contemporary Christian Spirituality: Insights from the Eastern Orthodox Medieval Mystical Tradition

Abstract

This article aims to establish a credible contemporary spirituality through insights gained from the medieval Eastern Orthodox tradition. It argues that such a spirituality is based upon three foundational presuppositions: (a) the creation of the human person in the image and according to the likeness of a Trinitarian God; (b) the renewal of human persons in Christ and the deification of their nature and (c) the possibility for human persons to become participants in the gift of Christ by the grace of the Holy Spirit. In a challenge to both East and West, it proposes that contemporary spirituality should be understood not only in monastic or private terms, that is as an individual's “ascent to heaven” but also as action in the world, as a “descent into the world”.