Original Research

Transformasie, partisipasie en pluraliteit – die Kappadosiese erfenis vir die Sistematiese Teologie in die derde millennium

Tanya van Wyk
HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies | Vol 69, No 1 | a2040 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.4102/hts.v69i1.2040 | © 2013 Tanya van Wyk | This work is licensed under CC Attribution 4.0
Submitted: 01 August 2013 | Published: 25 September 2013

About the author(s)

Tanya van Wyk, Department of Systematic Theology and Christian Ethics, University of Pretoria, South Africa

Abstract

Transformation, participation and plurality: The Cappadocian heritage for Systematic Theology in the third millennium. The aim of this article is to demonstrate how Systematic Theology in the third millennium utilises facets from the legacy of the Cappadocian fathers. The focal point is the influence on present-day Trinitarian theology. Aspects which are discussed include matters of metaphysics, philosophy, morality and spirituality. The influence of the legacy of the Cappadocian fathers concerns the challenge which diversity and plurality create in systematic theology. This legacy is explored by means of the ‘lived experiences’ of the life stories of the Cappadocians. These narratives illustrate a shift from the ‘impersonal’ to the ‘personal’, from ‘disengaged abstraction’ to ‘relational participation’. The latter is referred to as ‘a pastoral doctrine of the Trinity’ by Paul S. Fiddes. The emphasis on ‘economical ontology’ confirms the Cappadocians’ relevance for a present-day ethical discourse and the ‘aesthetics of a feeling for the Other’.

Keywords

Cappadocians; Basil of Caesarea; Gregorius Naziansus, and Gregorius of Nyssa; Systematic theology; Trinitarian theology; economical ontology; aesthetics of a feeling for the Other

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