Signs of theology as a science
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Our contemporaries divide any science into three spheres: humanitarian, exact, social. Their differences are in research methods and subjects of study. If the exact sciences are designed to study the material world, based on research and experiments, then the social sciences are aimed at studying human society. The scope of research in the humanities is much wider and does not have clear boundaries. They study man as a phenomenon in the broadest sense.
Theology belongs to the field of humanities. After all, its main task is to study the perception of our Lord by man. If the way the Lord reveals himself can be called Revelation, and equated to the movement from God to man, then theology expresses man’s perception of Revelation, personifying the movement of man towards the Lord.
In the understanding of modern people, theology is more of an academic subject. In ancient times, theology was interpreted as the word sent down by the Lord, which man, through his own efforts, put into song or speech. Only later did theology begin to be perceived as philosophical explanation. One of the areas of Aristotle’s theoretical philosophy was called “theological.” Since the time of the Stoics, theology has gained independence. In the second century AD, it was considered the science of knowing the Lord and communicating with God, containing the idea of the support and participation of the Lord in man’s knowledge of Divine Revelation. During the Middle Ages, theology began to be taught in universities, calling it the science of God.
Theology is the scientific basis of a religious worldview
On March 25, 2021, in the program “Church and the World,” broadcast on the Russia-24 TV channel on Saturdays and Sundays, the Chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, answered questions from the scientific editor of the Russia-2 and Science 2.0 TV channels. » Ivan Semenov.
I. Semenov: Hello! This is the Church and the World program. Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, Chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, comments on current problems in Russia and in the world. Hello, lord!
Metropolitan Hilarion: Hello, Ivan! Hello, dear TV viewers!
I. Semenov: An interesting event is expected in Russian science. For the first time in the history of modern Russia, a dissertation on the subject of theology is being prepared for defense in accordance with the state developed standard. She will be defended by Archpriest Pavel Khodzinsky. Dissertation topic: “Resolution of the problems of Russian theology of the 18th century in the synthesis of St. Philaret, Metropolitan of Moscow.”
The priest, as I understand it, is applying for the academic degree of Candidate of Philosophical Sciences. Translated from Greek, theology is theology. The Church calls only three saints theologians: John the Theologian, Gregory the Theologian and Simeon the New Theologian. And now it turns out that a state standard for certification in theology is emerging? What does it mean?
Metropolitan Hilarion: We have already created the specialty “theology”, which has existed for many years in the register of scientific specialties. Therefore, the very question of whether theology is a science is no longer discussed. It continues to be discussed, but this is a discussion after the fact, because the decision has been made. There are, of course, people who still argue that theology is not a science. As a rule, such voices come from the natural science camp. But we can just as well say that philosophy is not a science.
I. Semenov: Humanities.
Metropolitan Hilarion: Theology is also a humanitarian science. Theology is the scientific substantiation of a religious worldview, which exists in different forms and variants, in different countries, in different languages, in different cultural traditions. Theologians are those people who, as a rule, consider a particular religious tradition from the inside, study it and explain it. Unlike theologians, a religious scholar, as a rule, examines a religious tradition from the outside, paying attention not so much to the internal processes important for this religious tradition, but to the various external factors accompanying it. For example, religious scholars study the situation of Christianity and Islam in the Russian Federation, various processes occurring in church communities and similar issues. And theologians deal with questions that relate to the functioning of the religious tradition: what people believe, have they always believed so, what were the alternative opinions, what is orthodoxy and what is heresy, etc. and so on.
I. Semenov: Confessional educational institutions - theological academies have never stopped awarding academic degrees in theology. Why is it necessary for this to also be within the framework of the state standard?
Metropolitan Hilarion: Because until now, those academic degrees that were awarded by our educational institutions were not recognized by the Russian state. Now such an opportunity appears, and in two versions at once: our religious educational institutions receive state accreditation, the diplomas that will be issued by these educational institutions will be recognized by the state, and in parallel there is a process of building theology as a science in the secular educational space. These are, first of all, theological faculties of secular universities, where theology will develop according to different laws than in a religious educational institution.
But in the end, we must come to the point that both diplomas and academic degrees will be recognized by the state, and the standards by which dissertations will be created will be the same for both structures. That is, now we adjust all our standards, according to which academic degrees are awarded in religious educational institutions, to state standards: we have the same dissertation councils, the same strict requirements, and defenses are carried out just as formally. This didn't happen before. We believe that our theological science should be on the same level as all other humanities in our country.
I. Semenov: Vladyka, nevertheless, the academic degree that Father Pavel Khodzinsky is applying for is a candidate of philosophy, not of theology. Why is that?
Metropolitan Hilarion: This was the decision of the Higher Attestation Commission of the Ministry of Education and Science. I think this is an intermediate and temporary solution. We proposed to immediately award academic degrees in theology, but we were told that we do not have certified and recognized theologians who could award degrees in theology, that is, our dissertation council contains people whose only recognized degrees are in philosophy or history sciences
For example, I have a PhD in theology from the Moscow Theological Academy, as well as a PhD in theology from Oxford University. I have a so-called habilitation - this is what they give in Germany or Switzerland, a kind of second doctorate or professorial degree. The totality of all this made it possible for the Higher Attestation Commission to recognize my Oxford diploma as equivalent to our candidate’s degree, and the Friborg diploma, where I defended my habilitation, as our doctor’s degree, but in philosophical sciences, because we do not yet have a doctorate in theology.
I. Semenov: Vladyka, this state standard of theology concerns only Orthodox theology or can, for example, Catholics and representatives of other religions - Islam, Buddhism - defend themselves according to this standard?
Metropolitan Hilarion: Both Catholics and representatives of other religious traditions, including Islam, Judaism, and Buddhism, can. Our dissertation council is the first, but not the last. Other dissertation councils will be created, including on Islamic theology.
Of course, here from the very beginning we were faced with the question: how should we create dissident councils - on a confessional or inter-confessional basis? And all confessions agreed that it would be strange if, for example, clergy, rabbis, imams would sit in the same dissertation council, and at the same time they would discuss, for example, such a topic as Father Pavel Khodzinsky - the work of St. Philaret of Moscow against the background Russian theology of the 18th century. But above all these dissertation councils there is an expert council, which from the very beginning has an interfaith basis. There are representatives of Orthodoxy, Islam, and Judaism, as well as representatives of non-confessional theology.
I. Semenov: The Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church included in the calendar of holidays, in the calendar, the names of 16 saints who labored in Western countries. Among them was St. Patrick, the educator of Ireland, better known among the people as St. Patrick. It turns out that the educator of Ireland is an Orthodox saint? Why didn't we talk about this before?
Metropolitan Hilarion: All these saints are included in the calendar of our Church at the request of the faithful of our dioceses from Western Europe, in particular from France, Ireland, Great Britain, where they have long been revered as locally revered saints: pilgrimages are organized to the place where their relics rest, they are written icons. The request for canonization was considered by a specially created commission for the study of lives. And it was decided to include 16 saints in the calendar, that is, the calendar of the Russian Orthodox Church. But this process is not over, it is just beginning, for there are other Western saints who are already in line and who, I hope, will be included in the calendar of our Church in due time.
I. Semyonov: Is there any significant criterion for how it is possible to include a Western saint, who was not revered among us, in our calendar?
Metropolitan Hilarion: The main criterion is faith in the holiness of the righteous, great veneration of him by the people. If there is veneration, this is already an important criterion for inclusion in the calendar. There is an additional criterion: the saint must have lived before the church division of 1054. Because everything that happens after is a separate history of the Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church. Another condition is that this person should not be involved, for example, in the fight against Orthodoxy, as has sometimes happened with some Western religious figures. That is, there is a certain set of criteria by which this or that person can be included in the calendar of the Russian Orthodox Church, but the main condition is that he is already actually revered in this or that locality.
I. Semyonov: Ireland is predominantly a Catholic country. And this is their main saint, the most revered in the country. Can we consider this to be a definite step towards some kind of rapprochement with Catholics?
Metropolitan Hilarion: I would not interpret this as a step towards rapprochement with Catholics. I would interpret this as a step closer to the local church reality.
I remember how our parish opened in Dublin. I celebrated my first Liturgy there in 2003, on Holy Saturday. Divine services were and are now being held in the former Anglican church, which, having been purchased, has now become a church of the Russian Orthodox Church.
Of course, in Ireland St. Patrick has been revered from the very beginning. Our parishioners know him, his life is studied in schools. And we did not see any obstacles to its inclusion in the calendar of our Church.
Of the 16 saints that we included in the calendar, if I'm not mistaken, 11 are French saints. These are Herman of Paris, Herman of Auxerre and a number of other saints revered in France.
I. Semenov: An agreement was signed that Hungary at the state level will allocate 2.4 billion forints (this is slightly less than 8 million euros) for the restoration of three Russian churches and the construction of one new church in Hungary. Tell me, are there really so many parishioners of the Russian Orthodox Church in Hungary that it is necessary to build a new church for them?
Metropolitan Hilarion: There are many parishioners of the Russian Orthodox Church in Hungary. These are not only ethnic Russians, but also ethnic Hungarians. Our main cathedral in Budapest was built in the 18th century. During the war, one of the cathedral's spiers was destroyed by a bomb. In 2003, I was appointed bishop in Budapest, and when I was driving from Vienna, driving onto the bridge over the Danube, I saw this cathedral and immediately noticed that there was only one tower. "Why alone?" - I asked, and they explained it to me. And then I thought that our task was to restore the second tower.
I managed to restore the foundations for this tower, that is, its stone part, all that remained was to install the metal spire. Then I left for Moscow. And Bishop Tikhon, who currently governs this diocese, agreed with the Hungarian authorities that funds would be allocated to complete this work. I think this is very important, because the historical appearance of our cathedral will be restored.
Among the four churches for which money is allocated, there is also a Russian Orthodox parish in Heviz. Heviz is a resort where many Russian people go to be treated in the waters. And there is no temple there at all; the church will be created from scratch. It is very important that the Hungarian state bears the financial costs.
In the second part of the program, Metropolitan Hilarion answered questions from viewers submitted to the website of the “Church and the World” program vera.vesti.ru.
Question: Can Orthodox Christians watch TV? Is this considered a sin or not?
Metropolitan Hilarion: If I host a program on television, it means that I proceed from the fact that it is possible to watch television. The TV itself is one of the media in the hands of a person, just like a book or a computer. You can pick up a book of a religious nature, you can take a book of philosophical content or a work of art. And if you suddenly want to read a book with indecent content, who will be to blame for this: you or the book? I think you will be to blame, because you made the wrong choice. It's the same with TV. You can watch news programs, programs related to culture, history, and educational programs on TV. Now there are channels specifically aimed at a particular viewer - the Kultura TV channel, the Rossiya 24 news channel, the church channels Spas and Soyuz, and so on. That is, you can basically watch whatever you want on TV. But if you only watch entertainment programs or, excuse me, pornography, then, of course, it will be a sin. Based on all this, you should answer the question yourself: is it sinful to watch TV or not?
Question: What to do with sin that has been tormenting you since infancy? Please advise something.
Metropolitan Hilarion: Holiness is the ideal that is given to us in the person of Jesus Christ. Few people have achieved this ideal. Their names are included in our church calendar, we see their faces in the iconostases of our churches, on frescoes, on the walls of churches. We read the lives of these people and try to imitate them. But each of us can imitate them only to our own extent.
Liberation from sin is a process that occurs gradually. And sometimes neither 49 years, nor 50, nor an entire earthly life is enough for this, because you have to constantly fight sin. Apostle Paul, one of the two supreme apostles of the Church, says: “For I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh; because the desire for good is in me, but I don’t find it to do it. I don’t do the good that I want, but I do the evil that I don’t want. If I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin living in me. So I find a law that when I want to do good, evil is present to me. For according to the inner man I delight in the law of God; But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that is in my members” (Rom. 7:18-23). And not a single person is freed from this action of the law of sin.
The Church has ways of dealing with sin, just as medicine has ways of treating various diseases. And the main way is confession. A person comes to confession, tells the priest his sins, the priest makes a diagnosis, then they pray to God together, and the Lord forgives the sins that the person confessed. But this does not mean at all that a person has once and for all gotten rid of the sins that he has just repented of. After all, treatment does not always give results immediately. It often takes many years before a person is cured of a particular disease. And sometimes the disease does not completely subside and can last for years, and in order to avoid exacerbation, all that remains is to maintain the person in a certain state.
In spiritual life, constant self-control is needed. And the Church does not know any other means of therapy except confession and communion of the Holy Mysteries of Christ. You also need to read more of the Gospel and the lives of the saints. And, of course, turn to God in prayer, because on our own we cannot get rid of sins. We need the gracious power of God, which is sent to us from above, and only thanks to it can we gradually overcome certain sins within ourselves.
About modern theology
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Every science strives to collect knowledge. Theology is no exception. People recognize the Lord, although they do not see him directly, but they perceive God as the purpose and cause of all things. Like other sciences, theology has knowledge as its main goal, moving towards it consistently. Theology establishes, systematizes, and explores knowledge about God.
Modern theology is a whole complex of knowledge about the history of Christianity, forms of Christian life, historical heritage, and religious scientific research. Today theology can be called a science that studies Christianity and the religious worldview as if from the inside.
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Theology
Theology is also called theology. In fact, this is a very clear and systematic presentation of any dogmas or teachings in religion. Most often, this is a whole complex of individual disciplines that are engaged in research, study, presentation, and defense of various creeds and religions. All this, of course, is directly related to God and his revelations, forms of veneration, and moral standards. At the same time, it is very important to understand that theology and philosophy of religion, as well as religious studies, are completely different.
Now we know what theology is. Let's talk about where this word came from. It should be noted that at different times it was given different meanings. It began to be used as a teaching about faith and God only in the 13th century.
Terminology issue
The terminology of this science in Russian is somewhat complex. O is not considered an accurate translation of the word "theology" from ancient Greek. In Russian Orthodoxy, it is customary to use exclusively the word “theology”, but not “theology”. The fact is that not a single priest will say this, since such an explanation will be perceived as Latinism. At the same time, Russian theologians very carefully, attentively and tirelessly followed the development of theology, often taking something from it with great talent and caution. I. Kireevsky, who is considered the founder of religious philosophy in Russia, believes that theology is scientific theology. At the same time, he emphasizes this in a negative way.
Ecumenical councils
Medieval theology was the most saturated in terms of the number of opinions. After the time of persecution of Christians finally ended, new problems suddenly emerged. These were internal inconsistencies in the teaching, due to which many heresies arose. For some reason, we paid attention to them only at this time, although they were there before.
So, wise people came to the conclusion that in order to stop this and prevent it in the future, it is necessary to create a specific system of church teaching. This was the beginning of the Ecumenical Councils, at which the fate of the teaching was decided. At the first of them, they decided that the Christian faith is a belief in the Trinity. The day off was moved from Saturday to Sunday, and believers in the Savior were allowed not to pray in synagogues.
Modernity
Let us note that during the Soviet era the history of theology practically ceased. Scientists could not even think about it; the subject itself was removed from the educational system. However, in our time there is even a theological specialty that is taught in universities. As an example, let’s take Moscow State University, which has a department of church history. The very concept of theology also began to appear much more often. Thus, the specialty of philologist with knowledge of the basics of theology appeared. Moreover, it is being introduced even into creative specialties. For example, church sewing.
Changes
At the Second Ecumenical Council, nothing concrete was adopted, except that Christians were advised to spend more time studying ancient authors in order to better understand the Holy Scriptures. The third meeting was caused by a dispute between Nestorius and Cyril of Alexandria. The fact is that the first believed that Jesus was a being in two persons. The period of his activity is characterized by the works of such outstanding theologians as Nikita Stifat, Simeon the Theologian, etc. This time ended with the great works of Thomas Aquinas, who relied more on the works of Aristotle and logic.
Despite the fact that Christian theology cannot exist normally without philosophy, since it provides a certain conceptual apparatus, it still pays more attention to reason, which calmly and without criticism accepts faith, trying to explain it. At the same time, the emphasis is placed on the fact that theology itself is quite authoritarian, since it does not recognize other sciences on an equal basis. At this time, two levels are being formed in this science. On the lower level, scientists are engaged in philosophizing and studying, and on the upper level they just shrug their shoulders, since divine truths are incomprehensible to the human mind.
Great minds
Theology is a science that has developed thanks to outstanding thinkers. All of them made a significant contribution, but Anselm of Aosta still stands apart from them. By the way, religious feelings in this man awoke at the age of 15.
What is theology in his opinion? It is faith that wants “understanding.” Many scientists agree that this is the best definition. Moreover, it was Anselm who was the author of the argument, which Kant later called his ontological proof. And even later, Thomas Aquinas used it to refute it. In his first works, which were the most significant, Anselm substantiated faith in God without relying on revelation. He only used the human mind. At the same time, he noted that even his “average” mind succeeded. That is, we understand that it is the mind that plays the key role here, but not the intellect.
Bonaventure, who lived at the same time as F. Aquinas, had a great influence on the formation of theology as a science. He became famous for his lectures, which he gave as a theologian in the countries of modern Europe. Bonaventure also wrote a huge number of theological works, thanks to which he gained fame among later researchers of this issue.
In Christianity
The history of theology has been very long and complex. Augustine said that this is a science that allows you to understand God. He declared that it was categorically different from pagan stupidity and their teachings about the gods. Christian authors have long supported such a direction as triadology. This was the doctrine of the Holy Trinity.
Origen believed that Christ was rightfully the first theologian in the world. In early Christianity, much attention was paid to apologists and apostolic men who wrote various works to explain religion. Most often, these texts were necessary to convert the authorities and the intelligentsia to righteousness.
Comparison
Despite the fact that even now there is no consensus on what is more important - philosophy or theology, there are many interesting thoughts on this topic from outstanding people of our time. Researchers say that it is extremely difficult to understand even the modern capitalist world without referring to the basics of these two sciences. They cannot be put on an equal footing with other disciplines, as they claim to be much more.
A huge number of their statements cannot be verified in practice. At the same time, the theology of any religion is flexible. It is constantly changing and transforming. Let us note that Christian theology in this sense is the most complex, since in the past it changed depending on changes in society. This is due to the fact that in dynamic conditions it is impossible to maintain a static picture of the world. It also changes, and very often in favor of those in power.
In the modern world, philosophy and theology compete, since they both cling to the past, and therefore cannot bring anything new. Although previously they were a huge single force that fought for the supremacy of the human mind. But even today they are partially united, since they oppose themselves to materialistic philosophy.
