ROLAND R. ROPERS

RaimonPanikkarattheageof87(Photo:RolandR.Ropers)

„RaimonPanikkarisoneofthegiantsinthefieldofintrareligiousdialogue“

(LibraryJournal,NewYork)

Christophany&Christology• Theword„Christophany“unlikechristology suggests that theencounterwith Christ cannot be reduced to a simple doctrinal or intellectual

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approach.ItstandsformanifestationofChristtohumansandincludesanexperienceofChristandacriticalreflectiononit.

• Christophany cannot–orbettermustnot– ignoreorabolish traditionalchristologyofthetwopreviousmillenia.

• Anygrowthrequiresbothcontinuityandchange.• Knowledge of Christ, gnôsis Christou (Phil. 3:8), the knowledge whichbringseternallife(John17:3),cannotbeafragmentedknowledge.Partialknowledgecannotbringsalvation,realization.

• Anyknowledgeisfragmented,notonlywhentheknowingsubjecthassplithis knowledge, reducing it to sensitive perception or to rational intelli-gibility, forgetting the knowledge of the third eye, as many traditionsincluding the Christian one maintain (oculus carnis, oculus mentis etoculusfidei).

• Saving knowledge, Christian gnosis or vedantic jnana, is the holisticvision that assimilates the known and the knower. It iswhat scholasticshavecalledvisiobeatificawhenithasreacheditsfullness.

• Who is Christ? A supreme pantocrator? A divine westernprophet?TheprivateGodofChristians?Theuniversalsaviour?Amanlikealltheothers?

• We know that every interpretation depends on the context and culturalapproach of the person who elaborates on it. We know, moreover, thatChristians believe that understanding of Christ is modelled on faith thatilluminatestheChristianintellecttograsp,asmuchaspossible,therealityofChrist.Wealsoknow,however,thatinevery„revelation“,itisuptous,as limited historical beings, to understand the language of „revealedwords“. „Divine revelation“ is received in the „vessel“ of our limitedminds:quidquidrecipituradmodumrecipientis recipitur (whatever isreceivedisreceivedaccordingtothemodalityofthereceiver).The„Divinerevelation“,therefore,becomesalsohumanrevelation.

• PerhapsthepopularfeelingtodayunderstandsChristas„thesonofman“more sympathetically, without being too conscious of the trinitarianprofundity of the intuition that God has a humanmother andman has adivineson.

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• It is understandable that, starting from first raditional images ofchristology, other peoples of the world have seen Christ as an exoticfigure,moreor lessattractiveor, asa suspiciousconstruction,associatedwithforeignconquerorsandinvaders,responsibleformilitaryoperationsthatgofromcrusadestoreconquista,fromcolonialismuptotheGulfwar,andsoon.

• Christology isnotachemicallypureproductofthemind,butithasaSitzimLeben that affects interpretation ofwhat Christianity tries to explain.Christology, briefly, with all its profundity and grandeur, is a westernproductboundtohistoryofaculture.Thisissimplyafact,notajudgmentofvalue.

• Long discussions in the history of Christian spirituality between „lamystique du Christ et la mystique du Dieu“ (Jules Monchanin, thefounderofShantivanam)arestilltributestoamentalitythat, inordertosavearigidmonotheism,fallsintoadualismthatsplitsChristintotwo.

• The existential situation of the world in this end of the century is quiteserious. Theworld is suffering from a human and an ecological crisis ofplanetaryproportions.75%ofitspopulationliveinsubhumanconditions.Since1945warshavebeenkillingmorethan1.200peopleaday;injusticesaremultiplying.Religious intolerance is still verymuch alive all over theplanetasistheongoingconflictamongreligions.

• The situation of theworld is not only a question of justice andgoodness,butalsooftruthandbeauty.

• Wecannotignoretodaythepresentsituationofinterculturality,thatis,thedouble fact thatweareawareof thevaluesofmanya cultureandof thespecific osmosis with the dominant technoscientific culture of Europeanorigin.Encountersofculturesisinevitable.

• That thereareChristians in the five continents is experienced todayas adilemmabyChristiansthemselves,culturallymarginalizedfromtheirownhistoric-culturalbackground.

• Eitherchristologylimitsitselftobeingmonocultural(evenifithasabroadspectrum of subcultures), or it must renounce the right of universalcitizenshipthathadbeenacknowledgedbythecolonialperiod.

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• Christology has only been cultivated inside the cultural frame of theWesternworld.Despiteitstrinitariansoul,asamatteroffact,christologyhas not become detached from the monotheism inherited from theAbrahamictradition.

• ThegreatsageEiheiDogen,whointroducedZENintoJapan,wrotein1233ashortessay,theGenjokan.Thefirstparagraphsays „Now, as all things are contemporaneously authentic things:then illusion and awakening exist, the practice of life exists,birthexists,deathexists...“These words are sufficient to presume that neitherAristotelic logic, nor linear time, nor history, nor„objecttive reality“, nor body-soul difference, norinertmatter,norindividualityenterintotheconcept-tionofrealityunderlyingthis text.Man is justoneofsixmanifestationsoflivingbeingswithconsciousness;things are non-substantial, the creator God does notexist,etc..

• Wearenot interested indiscussingwhether these ideasaremoreor lesstrue inside a worldview which makes them plausible. We simply askourselveswhichmeaningtraditionalchristologycanhaveinsuchaculturalworld.

• Although a Greek word, I use the name christophany to indicate aChristianreflectiontobedevelopedinthethirdmillenium.Christophanydoes not claim to offer a universal paradigm. Neither does it say thathistoricChristianityshouldadoptthismodel.

• Christophany stands formanifestation of Christ toman and includes anexperienceofChristandacriticalreflectiononit.

• Thesubstitutionofthewordchristologyforchristophanydoesnotmeanforgetting the logos, but overcoming themerely rational approach and athematicalpoening to theactionof theSpirit in thestudyof the figureofChrist.TheSonofMan isnot comprehensiblenor realwithout theSpiritwhogiveshimlife.

• Twowordshelpustoconveywhatwemean.Thefirstisphania,i.e.mani-festation,directapparition (without intermediaries) tohumanconscious-nessthatbecomesawareofsomething,evenifitisnotcomprehensibleby

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reason.Thesecondwordisexperience,understoodastheawarenessofanimmediatepresenceandsoastheultimateinstanceinanyhumanactivity.

• Christophanyemphasizesalsoamorepassiveattitude,morefeminine, inreceivingtheimpactofChristonthehumanspirit,incontrastwithamoreaggressive search of reason that aims for the intelligibility of rationalevidence.

• Christophany,asitisopentoadialogueandinsearchofanintegrationofthefigureofChristwithinabroaderworldview,isnotadisciplinecentredexclusivelyonacertainpastevent,buttendstobeawisdomon„theway,thetruthandlife“(John14:6;John5:6).

• Every being is a christophany, as I have been sustaining now for half acentury.ItisnotaquestionofconvertingalltheworldtoChristianity,butofrecognizingthatthenatureitselfofrealityshowsanon-dualisticpolaritybetweenthetranscendentandtheimmanentinallmanifestations.

• Trinityisnotmonotheism(itwouldbedocetism)andGODisnotasubstance(itwouldbe tritheism)oramereuniversalconcept (it would be atheism). Christ opens us to thetrinitarianmystery.

• Divinizationofmanhasbeenahumanthemesinceatleastthebeginningofhistoric consciousness. Even if our body should descend from other lessdeveloped animals and our soul should be the fruit of a bio-neurogicalevolution, the real concreteman is not however a species of ananimalgenre. The awareness of his possible divinization – his aspiration to theinfinite – makes him essentially distinct. There is a spirit in man whichallowshimtoenterintocommunionwiththedivinenature(2Peter1:4).

• The real divinization is full harmonization. Christ divinizesman.ThisdivinizationmakessenseonlyacceptingtheIncar-nation and the Trinity – because it is impossible and blas-phemousinastrictmonotheism.

(Source:“MysticisminShaivismandChristianity”,NewDelhi1999)