Being As Communion
Author JOHN D. ZIZIOULAS
Publisher SVS PRESS
ISBN 0-88141-029-2
I have had this book on my shelf for many years having had it quoted in the notes of a number of other writings on the Trinity and on Personhood. At last I got around to reading it and it certainly demands concentration. As should always be the case, the author begins with God in Three Persons and the Trinitarian relationships drawing from historical writings, especially the early church fathers. HIs purpose is to establish the fact that Personhood is only possible in the context of communion between persons. From this base the writer theologian moves on to the subject of what constitutes the human person and thus the church as a communion of persons called into union and communion with the Godhead. These are my simple words to attempt to express what this man is saying. The way he says it is complex, deeply theological as he draws on the writing of many historical sources. On some of the pages the notes are more copious than the text and this indicates something of the depth into which he goes and the authors he cites. I appreciated this book very much, it strikes a vital clear opening phrase of the music of truth from which church both local and universal can be developed into a kind of symphony. His emphasis on the communion event is penetrating. The simply communion that takes place in the regular life of the churches sets forth the reality of the Holy Communion within the Godhead and in which the church must participate spiritually with God and one another. Liberty as persons is only found within the union and communion of Christ and His body, the church. Here is a snippet that might whet the appetite of some hardy souls who may attempt this book. We must remember that it is a theological and scholarly work, not everyone’s cup of tea but rewarding to those who will slowly make their way through it. “Man is free only within communion. if the church wishes to be in the place of freedom, she must place all the ‘objects’ she possesses, whatever they may be (Scripture, sacraments, ministries, etc) within the communion event to make them ‘true’ and to make her members free in regard to them as objects, as well as in them and through them as channels of communion.”
