The Melody of Theology: A Philosophical Dictionary

by Jaroslav Pelikan

Book Overview

The German Romantic theologian and philosopher Schleiermacher wrote, The virtuosity (or special calling) of a person is at the same time the melody of that person's life, and it remains a simple, meager series of notes unless religion, with its endlessly rich variety, accompanies it with all notes and raises the simple song to a full-voiced, glorious harmony. It is around this melody that Jaroslav Pelikan, a great theologian of our own day, weaves...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0674564723
• ISBN13: 9780674564725
• Release Date: October 1988
• Publisher: Harvard University Press
• Length: 274 Pages
• Weight: 1.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.3" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

A Treasure

Pelikan is absolutely brilliant. If I could choose one of his books to own, it would probably be this one (and he wrote many books that are the best in their field). Here is an intellectual biography of a mature academic. He gives a synopsis of various topics he dealt with during his academic research. This book gives Pelikan's insights into the topics and persons that interested him most. I only wish he would be more partisan at times and tell me his opinion. He is so even-handed in his writing. Even the syle is an homage to Gibbon, who is dealt with in the book. As the other reviews said, the book is arranged in the form of a philosophical dictionary, arranged alphabetically by topic

A Treasure

Pelikan is absolutely brilliant. Here is an intellectual biography of a mature academic. He gives a synopsis of various topics he dealt with during his academic research. This book gives Pelikan's insights into the topics and persons that interested him most. I only wish he would be more partisan at times and tell me his opinion. He is so even-handed in his writing. Even the style is an homage to Gibbon, who is dealt with in the book. As the other reviews said, the book is arranged in the form of a philosophical dictionary, arranged alphabetically by topic

A Melody of Small Bites Autobiography

"Alike a bee, I shall gather all that conforms to the truth... I am not offering you my own conclusions, but those which were laboriously arrived at by the most eminent theologians, ..." John of Damascus Christianity as Beauty: Nicephorus of Constantinople, first to use this expression, when he proclaimed, "Without ceasing and without silence, they praise the goodness of God, in the venerable and thrice-illumined melody of theology." Orthodoxy is presented in words, in prose, in a question and answer catechism-like form. How can just plain words help us to explain the kind of definition of Orthodoxy as "Christianity understood as supreme Beauty"? Perhaps a look at Orthodox worship will help, as Lex Orandi Lex Credendi. Continuity & Creativity: "Applied to the life and faith of the Church, this means that no generation ever begins de novo in a real sense, not even the apostolic generation did, ... When the Church is asked to "give an answer" (1 Pet. 3:15), that answer takes its beginning from the faith of the 318 Fathers of the Council of Nicea. ... For what we have received as a heritage from our Fathers, we must earn if we are really to possess it..., in response to Christological heresy or to attacks upon the holy icons, it was appropriate for the Fathers to recite the Nicene Creed with an extended paraphrase that spoke to these false teachings, then it remains appropriate for us also to locate ourselves within the continuity of the faith of our Fathers and, in the name of that continuity, to speak the Word of God to the world of today." Morever, this relation between "continuity and creativity has been, the central issue of my own scholarly work," Pelikan adds. Small Bites Autobiography: The author sums his agenda for this book, "Any intellectual autobiography is, by definition, an exercise in self indulgence, based as it on the assumption that a sufficient number of readers will have sufficient curiosity (caused by their own personal intellect) about how the author's mind has evolved." I personally think that Pelikan's week point, if any, is his towering scholarship combined with his many diverse and unpretending cultural interests. OCA's Jacob's Well Editor indicates, that probably the best single introduction to Pelikan's wide ranging interests is his Philosophical Dictionary, The Melody of Theology. Described by Pelikan as "a kind of autobiography in small bites -- for it has the beguiling simplicity of being organized by the alphabet" Preface. Even, in spite of the thought provoking glimpse into the mind of the eminent scholar, who tried to maintain both continuity and creativity, this limited Lexicon is selective, and occasionally the themes are interwoven within one entry. Although it bears no dedication, he mentioned that if it had it would have been inscribed to "George Florovsky [d. 1979], who more than any other person except by late father, taught me to sing 'the melody of theology' this way." Jaroslav Pelika