His Standing Among Theologians

Fr. Dumitru Stăniloae is widely regarded as the greatest Romanian Orthodox theologian of the twentieth century and one of the greatest Orthodox theologians of the modern era; he is also read and respected in Western academic theology. This file surveys his standing East and West and the appreciative and critical scholarly literature.

Tradition: Romanian Orthodox

In the Orthodox World

Within Orthodoxy, Stăniloae’s reputation is exceptionally high. He is regularly named the foremost Romanian theologian of the twentieth century and is ranked among the small number of truly major Orthodox theologians of the modern age — in company with figures such as Georges Florovsky, Vladimir Lossky, and Justin Popović (Louth, Modern Orthodox Thinkers: From the Philokalia to the Present, SPCK, 2015, ch. 6, on Stăniloae’s stature; Ware, foreword to Stăniloae, The Experience of God, vol. 1, Holy Cross Orthodox Press, ranking him among the foremost Orthodox theologians of the age). Kallistos Ware, introducing the English translation of his Dogmatics, presented him to the English-reading Orthodox world as a theologian of the first importance, distinguished by the union of patristic depth, spiritual seriousness, and openness to the modern world (Ware, foreword to The Experience of God, vol. 1).

His authority in Romania is of a special kind. As the translator of the Filocalia and the teacher of generations of clergy at Sibiu and Bucharest, he shaped the theological formation of the Romanian Orthodox Church more than any other single figure of his century, and his influence on Romanian church life — spiritual as well as academic — is pervasive (Miller, The Gift of the World: An Introduction to the Theology of Dumitru Staniloae, T&T Clark, 2000, on his formative role in Romania; see Influence on Contemporary Theology). His standing as a confessor who suffered imprisonment adds to his theological authority a moral weight that few of his academic peers possessed (see The Cost of Witness).

In Western Theology

Stăniloae’s reception in the West came later and was slowed by the barrier of language — his major works were written in Romanian, and the full English translation of the Dogmatics was completed only in the decades after his death (see The Experience of God). But as translations appeared he came to be read and respected in Western academic theology, both Roman Catholic and Protestant, as one of the most significant Orthodox voices of the century (Louth, Modern Orthodox Thinkers, 2015, ch. 6, on his growing Western reception). The award of the Tübingen Leopold Lucas Prize in 1992 was one mark of this recognition from Western academic theology (Louth, Modern Orthodox Thinkers, 2015, ch. 6; see Rehabilitation and Recognition).

The scholarly literature devoted to him in English is itself a sign of his standing. Charles Miller’s The Gift of the World (2000) offers a sympathetic introduction to his theology; Emil Bartoş’s Deification in Eastern Orthodox Theology (1999) is a full-length critical study of his doctrine of theosis; and he is treated at length in surveys of modern Orthodox thought such as Andrew Louth’s Modern Orthodox Thinkers (2015) (Miller, The Gift of the World, 2000; Bartoş, Deification in Eastern Orthodox Theology, Paternoster, 1999; Louth, Modern Orthodox Thinkers, 2015, ch. 6). That a theologian writing in Romanian under a communist regime should have attracted this body of Western scholarship is itself evidence of the perceived importance of his work.

Appreciation and Critique

The literature is admiring but not uncritical, and honesty requires noting both. On the appreciative side, Stăniloae is praised for the completeness and originality of his dogmatic synthesis, for the depth of his patristic learning (especially his reading of Maximus the Confessor and Palamas), for the beauty and warmth of his theology of creation and the person, and for the integration of doctrine, liturgy, and spiritual life (Louth, Modern Orthodox Thinkers, 2015, ch. 6; Ware, foreword to The Experience of God, vol. 1; Miller, The Gift of the World, 2000).

On the critical side, scholars have raised genuine questions. Emil Bartoş, in the fullest critical study, probes the coherence of Stăniloae’s account of deification, its relation to Western theology, and whether his synthesis fully succeeds on its own terms (Bartoş, Deification in Eastern Orthodox Theology, 1999, offering a sustained evaluation and critique). A recurring question, noted elsewhere in this guide, concerns his personalism: whether his theology of the person is a faithful rendering of the Greek Fathers or owes an unacknowledged debt to modern (Buberian, existentialist) philosophy (see Method and Sources and Person, Communion, and Deification). [Disputed: the patristic vs. modern character of Stăniloae’s personalism, and the full coherence of his account of deification, are matters on which the scholarship genuinely differs; the guide reports the appreciative reading (Louth) and the more probing critical reading (Bartoş) side by side without adjudicating (Louth, Modern Orthodox Thinkers, 2015; Bartoş, Deification in Eastern Orthodox Theology, 1999).]

An Overall Estimate

The consensus that emerges is that Stăniloae is a theologian of genuinely major rank — not merely a competent systematizer but an original and constructive mind who produced, from within the neo-patristic program, the fullest Orthodox dogmatic theology of the century, marked by a distinctive vision of the world as gift and of the person as communion (Louth, Modern Orthodox Thinkers, 2015, ch. 6, offering this overall estimate). The critical questions do not overturn this estimate; they are the kind of serious engagement that only a substantial body of work invites. That he was also a confessor and a man of prayer, and that his theology grew directly out of the ascetic tradition he translated, gives his standing a character rarely found in academic theology: he is honored not only as a thinker but as a witness — though, as this guide is careful to maintain, a revered witness and not (at present) a glorified saint (see The Question of Canonization).

See Also

References

  • Louth, Andrew. Modern Orthodox Thinkers: From the Philokalia to the Present. London: SPCK, 2015. (Ch. 6: Stăniloae’s stature among modern Orthodox theologians; his growing Western reception; the overall estimate of his achievement.)
  • Ware, Kallistos. Foreword to Stăniloae, The Experience of God, vol. 1. Brookline, MA: Holy Cross Orthodox Press, 1994. (Ranking him among the foremost Orthodox theologians of the age.)
  • Miller, Charles. The Gift of the World: An Introduction to the Theology of Dumitru Staniloae. Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 2000. (Sympathetic introduction; his formative role in Romania; his character.)
  • Bartoş, Emil. Deification in Eastern Orthodox Theology: An Evaluation and Critique of the Theology of Dumitru Staniloae. Carlisle: Paternoster, 1999. (Full-length critical study of his doctrine of deification; appreciation and critique.)