Proper
Theology is one of the vast areas of theology, we usually find works or books
that help us deepen our knowledge of God, but even so there are questions or issues
that need further exploration.
Over the
decades, different points of view have emerged from Christian faith traditions
about who God is and what He does. There are many differences and also many
similarities, the truth is that each tradition wants to know more about the God
who reveals himself from the hidden.
"Hidden
and Revealed" written by Dmytro Bintsarovsky, is a book that presents the
doctrine of God, from two perspectives: the orthodox and the reformed. Two very
rich faith traditions in theological development and contributions to the
Christian faith. The author's approach is not to address the entire doctrine of
God per se, but rather he is dedicated to considering the hiddenness and
revelation of God, issues that have been of interest to every theologian.
To address
these issues, the author has selected two representatives from both faith
traditions. The orthodox perspective is reflected from the vision and
contributions of John Meyendorff, who shows us the neo-Palamite interpretation
which is dominant in contemporary Orthodoxy. And the reformed perspective is by
Herman Bavinck. The basic approach of this work is: What are the similarities
and the differences between the Reformed and the Eastern Orthodox traditions
regarding the relation between God’s hiddenness and his revelation of him, and
how can these differences be evaluated?
The book is
divided into four chapters, the first is introductory to the subject at hand
and shows us broadly what the Orthodox and Reformed churches affirm about the
revelation and hiddenness of God; chapter two and three show us the development
of each position; to finally in the chapter four, the author make a comparison
and evaluation.
Personally,
I did not have much knowledge about what the Orthodox Church affirms in
relation to these matters like the essence-energy distinction; As for Bavinck,
I have read some of his writings for what seemed most familiar to me. However,
reading these types of books opens our criteria to deeper and broader
considerations about God.
I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. You can get this book here.
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