Πρόσληψη και οικειοποίηση της αρχαίας ελληνικής φιλοσοφίας από τη νεορθόδοξη θεολογία

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to outline the main characteristics of interpretations of classical Greek philosophical texts by contemporary theologians often described as ‘neorthodox’, in order to make possible a first critical assessment. The main theses that are explicitly or tacitly adopted by the defenders of such interpretations can be found in a number of works by Christos Giannaras and Stelios Ramfos. They include a series of claims concerning the peculiarity of Greek epistemology, especially pertaining to the non-repre- sentational conception of vision, the vital function of light and the communal understanding of truth, and the spiritual continuity of the Greek Weltanschauung, through the Christian Orthodox synthesis up to the present. The paper concludes with a summary critique of the metaphysical assumptions and the arbitrariness of most particular construals put forth by the neorthodox theologians. It is pointed out that their overall approach is distinguished by a strange combination of existentialist views with communitarian presuppositions and a historicist and essentialist commitment to ‘Greekness’.